Lesson 11 - Implementing Operational Procedures

Question 1

What is a policy?

Answer 1

An overall statement of intent

Question 2

What is an SOP?

Answer 2

A standard operating procedure is a step-by-step list of the actions that must be completed for any given task to comply with policy. Most IT procedures should be governed by SOPs.

Question 3

What are guidelines?

Answer 3

Guidlines are for areas of policy where there are no procedures, either because the situation has not been fully assessed or because the decision-making process is too complex and subject to variables to be able to capture it in a SOP. Guidelines may also describe circumstances where it is appropriate to deviate from a specified procedure.

Question 4

What is a ticketing system?

Answer 4

A ticketing system is a database software designed to implement a structured support process by identifying each case with a unique job ticket ID and with descriptive fields to record how the issue was resolved.
A ticketing system manages requests, incidents, and problems.

Question 5

What is ITIL?

Answer 5

IT Infrastructure Library is a popular documentation of good and best practice activities and processes for delivering IT services

Question 6

What is configuration management?

Answer 6

Configuration Management is a process through which an organization’s information systems components are kept in a controlled state that meets the organization’s requirements, including security and compliance.

Question 7

What is change request?

Answer 7

A change request is generated when a fault needs to be fixed, new business needs or processes are identified, or there is room for improvement in an existing SOP or system.

Question 8

What is an AUP?

Answer 8

An acceptable use policy sets out what someone is allowed to use a particular service or resource for.

Question 9

You are writing a proposal to improve a company’s current support procedures with a ticketing system. You have identified the following requirements for information that each ticket should capture. Following the CompTIA A+ objectives, what additional field or data point should be captured?
User information
Device information
Problem description/Progress notes/Problem resolution
Categories
Escalation levels

Answer 9

This list contains no means of recording the severity of the ticket. This field is important for prioritizing issues.

Question 10

What role do barcodes play in managing inventory?

Answer 10

An inventory is a list of assets stored as database records. You must be able to correlate each physical device with an asset record by labeling it. A barcode label is a good way of doing this.

Question 11

What are the two main types of network topology diagrams?

Answer 11

You can create diagrams to show the physical topology or the logical topology. The physical topology shows how nodes are connected by cabling. The logical topology shows IP addresses and subnets/VLANs. There are lots of other types of network topology diagrams, of course, but physical and logical are the two basic distinctions you can make. It is best practice not to try to create a diagram that shows both as this is likely to reduce clarity.

Question 12

What is the purpose of a KB?

Answer 12

A knowledge base (KB) is a reference to assist with installing, configuring, and troubleshooting hardware and software. KBs might be created by vendors to support their products. A company might also create an internal KB, populated with guidelines, procedures, information from service tickets, and answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs).

Question 13

The contract ended recently for several workers who were hired for a specific project. The IT department has not yet removed those employees’ login accounts. It appears that one of the accounts has been used to access the network, and a rootkit was installed on a server. You immediately contact the agency the employee was hired through and learn that the employee is out of the country, so it is unlikely that this person caused the problem. What actions do you need to take?

Answer 13

You need to create an incident report, remove or disable the login accounts, isolate the infected server and possibly any user computers that communicate with the server, and remove the rootkit from the server. In terms of wider security policies, investigate why the temporary accounts were not disabled on completion of the project.

Question 14

When you arrive at a customer location to service a network printer, the user is upset because the printer is not working and therefore he cannot submit his reports on time. How should you approach this user?

Answer 14

Demonstrate empathy with the customer’s situation, use active listening skills to show that you understand the importance of the issue, and make the customer confident that you can help. Then use closed-questioning techniques to start to diagnose the problem.

Question 15

You are trying to troubleshoot a problem over the phone and need to get advice from your manager. How should you handle this with the customer?

Answer 15

Advise the customer that you will put him or her on hold while you speak to someone else, or arrange to call the customer back.

Question 16

You are troubleshooting a print problem, which turned out to be caused by user error. The user is not confident that the problem is solved and wants more reassurance. You have already explained what the user was doing wrong in some detail. What should you do?

Answer 16

Run through the print process step-by-step to show that it works. It is very important to get a customer’s acceptance that a problem is closed.

Question 17

You are working on the training documentation for help-desk agents. What should you include for dealing with difficult situations?