IT Support Best Practices, Tips & Tricks

[Foo]

I think there's a fair few of us here working in the IT support field at one level or another. I'm back working in the field again after graduating and I'm looking to build up a decent knowledge of best practice.

Stuff like:
How deep do you go with asset tracking? Do you keep a running log of every desktop, monitor, printer and other device that comes in, and do you track what gets handed to who and when? Does this include assets distributed within the IT department itself, or just to non-IT personnel/locations?

How do you handle re-ordering of items, on a 'when we run out' basis or as required? If you ship out items to various locations, how do you track/manage these shipments?

On the personnell side of things, how do you handle time management and issue assignment? Is it an advantage for each support person to maintain a daily timesheet detailing what call # they worked on and for how long, or is this kind of granularity not necessary?

TIA for any insights you guys can put forwards, and I appreciate that some situations where you work may not be appropriate for discussion in public. Generalities is better than nothing

[+JuggerNaut+]

check your PM's.

[FragaGeddon]

So if you don't keep track of what you give to who and something goes missing, it's probabaly at my place or I sold it.

[Underpants?]

I'm also interested in what you guys are doing with this.

Asset control is always an issue. Our policy flows along the competitive Sarbanes-Oxley edge, so 'pocketable' components such as usb burning devices, usb keys, pen drives, etc. aren't a concern. I tag and burn fixed/wireless phones, pcs and peripherals and that's about it.

Budgeting being a widely variable practive, I personally reckon that our corporation has only 2 mission-critical backends, three pieces of network hardware and roughly 8 clients that can have 0 downtime, therefore I structure the bulk of my backups, hardware replacement around those machines.

[+JuggerNaut+]

check your PM's.

[Underpants?]

got it, thanks jugg

[+JuggerNaut+]

*smooch*

[GODLIKE]

Asset control: Anything that runs software, I try to get some kind of stutus agent running on it. SNMP traps and heartbeat type stuff is okay to let you know it's still "alive", but I like agents that report in how much RAM a PC has, or how much hard drive space, what programs are installed, etc... It gives me asset control AND a whack of information I can use when it's license renewal time.
MS SMS is pretty good, although we mostly have a bunch of webclient apps written in house... and we use Solar Winds or Symantec SESA for SNMP stuff. (Although, I hate SESA!)

Personell tracking: Again, we have custom written SQL apps with a web client (either a web browser, or little apps that use HTTP to communicate)... But I know people who are doing a great job of this with MS CRM. CRM 3 is really quite a good product, finally.. Although you still need a muscular server to run it. I find that for staff training, sick days, and staff replacement... Detailed notes on everything the previous/new guy did is really helpful. And, it all ties into billing... Departments and customers are billed according to the time our guys spend with thier cases, and they can sign on to a secure web site to get reports.

[Tormentius]

How deep do you go with asset tracking? Do you keep a running log of every desktop, monitor, printer and other device that comes in, and do you track what gets handed to who and when? Does this include assets distributed within the IT department itself, or just to non-IT personnel/locations?

I track any item worth more than $500. Keeping logs will come in handy when you're inevitably asked questions.

How do you handle re-ordering of items, on a 'when we run out' basis or as required? If you ship out items to various locations, how do you track/manage these shipments?

IMO its usually better to have a spare or two of everything on hand so that users don't have to wait around, especially if they are on a deadline.

On the personnell side of things, how do you handle time management and issue assignment? Is it an advantage for each support person to maintain a daily timesheet detailing what call # they worked on and for how long, or is this kind of granularity not necessary?

You will probably be asked to justify costs at some point if you are contracting out services so fairly detailed tracking is a good idea to cover your own ass. Web apps (as Godlike suggested) are a great way to track and report on time.

Just keep in mind that when you start an admin position don't get overexcited and start making changes to existing IT processes until you've felt the situation out a little (at least a few weeks). There may be a reason for things being done a certain way.

[raw]

For the enterprise company I work for, everything is tracked when it comes to decent sized items. Accessories like bluetooth headsets and stuff like that are just accessories.

We track things like laptops, destops, phones, and any server-type equipment since those are high-priced items.

We track everything that is done in HEAT which is our application we use for Change/Management and trouble tickets. EVERYTHING is logged in here and reports are run weekly by our management and reported to upper-management. Every task on the network is delegated out to each team member and each team member has a backup in case the primary is out or on vacation.

[JB]

*squeeze*

[Foo]

We're going to move to HP OpenView some time in the near future, anyone here using it?

Also we're halfway through an ITIL implementation, it seems to be doing good things so far, as long as they don't take it all too far to the point of impracticality.

I heard some noise that SAP might be on the horizon, which is a nightmare. Been through a SAP rollout before.