IT Support Levels...

[wol]

Im trying to work out how many levels i cover and have been wondering what denotes the level of support you are...

1st line:
Telephone answering, basic problem solving,

2nd line:
Application support, basic AD user creation etc

3rd Line:
Server maintenance, keeping mail servers up etc

4th Line:
WAN - TCP/IP support, possibly on a global scale.

Does that sound about right?
Would i be right in saying that its set by the company that you work for rather than being a global thing?


Wol

[scottyman]

depends on company and staff requirements... within those you often have tiers of responsibility too. My g/f has a very scary document all about it... goes into waaaayy too much detail.
1st line is really just a filter level - i.e. printer isn't working as it's out of paper, or MD has just dropped his laptop in the bog.
2nd. Line deals with routine day to day administrative issues - user creation, new pc setup, basic software install.
3rd line. the only guys who are allowed to touch the servers - day to day administration issues, firewall rule changes, etc.
4th line. infrastructure - routers, backplanes, proper hardware... run around wearing capes with pocket protectors damning people to an eternity of mac use if they even consider touching the RAID arrays.

Sorry I've got a hangover - shouldn't try and be amusing!

[Kezzer]

oooh this is exactly part of my unit 10 i'm currently doing. We went and checked out one of the highest quality businesses over here to see how the user support actually works.

It's interesting stuff kinda ;/

[scottyman]

it doesn't?

I've always found that organisations can show great and exciting innovations, but never implement them - very funny.
Had a few friends around for the old boat race last night, one of them a merchant banker, and the other designs trading systems for merchant bankers - once they realised, it was quite funny with the banker complaining about obsolete systems, and the software engineer insisting that the product the banker was using went EOL 5 years ago!
If you have total control over systems and implementation, the users are unhappy, else if you are installing new and sexy products willy nilly (and giving users control over their desktops) then nobody else is happy, as you'll always be suffering inferior system builds and implementations!

Once you've got a happy medium then you can make sure either a) nobody is every happy, or b) with correct planning and implementation b) everyone is more or less okay with the situation!

In my old company, we had first line who couldn't help, second line who wouldn't, third line down the pub, and 4th line who used to hang out in my office where all the cool toys were.
Their management didn't like engineering as we wouldn't let them have access to my toys, and we didn't like IT as they would flat out refuse to do any work for us.
On the other hand, my g/f's company has got some really excellent IT guys, but they all work in development - all the MIS guys hate development because they keep asking for things! But when new MIS director started, all the good things started happening - new mail servers, new integrated logons, secure wireless access! Now everyone is happy (except the regular line animals in MIS)

[Blub2k]

find it strange to see the level so well defined, surely it depends entirely upon the company? Who defines the levels anyway? First line is some comanies can be quite a lot more involved than filtering. I set up servers all the time and globally and for huge companies yet am not fourth level, for me that would be to contact the devs.

[Moby-Dick]

Its not a global "thing" - It depends on where you are and hwo you work for.

Traditionally I'd say the roles follow a call flow

1st line - Basic Mail/ Phone support. May do some remote desktop support - should not be spending more than 5-10 minutes on a support call before escalating to 2nd line

2nd Line - Can either be helpdesk or on-site based. This is your traditional desktop support role. would be doing software installs, PC builds and other things that require a support function to be physically there.

3rd Line - Responsible for backend systems Would have a call passed to them once you know its not a client-side issue. Should be locked into the server room ( esp when its hot as there is lots of air con in there )

I've never come accross anyone calling themselves 4th lines. It really does vary from company to company, As far as I am concerned, as long as you can resolve the call, it doesn't matter what "line" you are.

[scottyman]

only seen it once, and they're generally the very scary "stallman-esque" chaps who clients and staff aren't allowed to talk to. all the router, firewall, hardware, software config stuff was done by our thirdline chaps... only one consulting outfit I worked with hard 4th line, or last resort.

[wol]

Just trying to get it straight in my head ready for a pay review



Wol

[Jiff Lemon]

I'm with Moby on this one - Never seen a 4th line....

3rd line tends to branch into Specialist Divisions - We've a third line Mail team who deal with, suprisingly enough, mail severs.

What I have noticed is a trend to try and shrink second line. First line support is starting to encompass more and more whilst third line are being asked to deal with trivial stuff they shouldn't have to.

Then again, that's probably specific to this crap company I'm working for (but only for the next 2 weeks cos them I'm off to pastures new!)

[Moby-Dick]

where you'll be everyline