Distributed Technology Support
Executive SummaryTechnology is an integral part of both education delivery and administrative support at Tribal Colleges. Technology has become more than the computers sitting on student and staff desks and now includes complex network support systems, internet servers, telecommunications equipment, administrative software, distance education services, video-conferencing stations and satellite systems. Even the best and largest education institutions are challenged to adequately support and enhance the wide variety of technology on their campuses.
This rapid acceleration in the adoption of technology creates numerous problems for Tribal Colleges with small or non-existent technical support departments. Multiple versions of operating systems, wide varieties of hardware, numerous software applications and a myriad of hardware interfaces make it virtually impossible for a small technical support department to know everything necessary to properly design, maintain and upgrade these complex systems. What was technology truth three years ago has changed and the old knowledge has to be unlearned to make way for new concepts and rules. The key to survival in this complex environment is not how to know everything, but how to know where to find the knowledge to solve a problem.
One solution to these problems involves sharing the expertise for technology support among a large base of cooperative and collaborative institutions. Instead of each Tribal College having a large, dedicated technology support staff for all technology we might find a way to rely upon the cumulative knowledge of all Tribal College technology staff to support common technology needs. This idea might be called 'Distributed Technology Support.'
Analysis of issuesThe following table, excerpted from Cause Professional Paper Series #16, illustrates some ideas related to distributed technology support:
The three ages of academic information technology support
Iron Age Industrial Age Information Age Focus Technology Individual Customer Institutional process Approach Explorer and missionary Caretaker; respond to needs Partner, anticipate needs, architect and manage environment Product Neat technology, crunched numbers Excellent service Superb environments Modus operandi Build fires Put out fires Prevent/manage fires Personnel value Technical expertise Customer orientation Whole-systems thinking Scope Individual Institutional Global Organization Centralized Dispersed Distributed, integratedIn the mainframe era a centralized computer services department performed all technology processes, including data entry and reporting. Microcomputers were deployed in the 1980s as a way to distribute workload from the centralized computer department to actual users of the data. This distribution of computer processing had many benefits and created many problems. Technology users were much closer to data processing and experienced users were much more productive. On the other hand, users who were less comfortable with technology required more support and technical resources. Although this trend is showing some signs of reverting back to a more centralized system for processing, with thin clients and clustered servers, the need for skilled technology support is still critical.
The client/server processing models of the 1990s, coupled with the more centralized thin-client environments that are evolving today, are all based upon robust networking and inter-networking systems. The delivery of information, student research, distance education and consumer products via the Internet all rely upon dependable Internet connections. A high speed local network, coupled with an adequate, dedicated connection to the Internet, are therefore absolutely necessary for a Tribal Colleges to deliver and support education.
Important concerns for Tribal Colleges include: 1) How do we find funds to purchase the technology? 2) How do we find funds to support the technology? and 3) How do we find enough highly skilled personnel to maintain the technology? The first two concerns, although sometimes difficult to solve, can be addressed with grants. However, finding skilled technology personnel can evade even the biggest and best institutions.
Sometimes institutions, because of shortage of applicants, must hire technology personnel who have very specific likes and dislikes about technology solutions. This can lead to solutions that include proprietary database environments, less commonly used programming languages, or difficult to administer operating systems. The result is that it can be difficult to find skilled replacement personnel if the original technician leaves. If the school is fortunate to have more that several people working in technology support then the previous scenario is less of a concern. However, most tribal colleges don't have the luxury of even one dedicated technology support person.
As shown in the previous table, many institutions have openly adopted distributed technology support within their institution as a way to provide adequate support. Instead of a large, centralized technology support department the institution maintains a core group to oversee central networking and standards that in turn works collaboratively with technology support people placed within instructional and administrative departments around the institution. This model provides more immediate technology support to departments, via the local support person, but still provides an avenue to additional support if the local technician can't solve the problem. The key to making this work is a common vision and good communication.
Ok, 'Distributed Technology Support' sounds clever, but how will it work? An advantage that Tribal Colleges have in implementing this idea is the number and variety of institutions within AIHEC. Institutional capabilities range from schools with no networks and minimal computers to schools with hundreds of workstations and complex networks. It is highly likely that a college can find another school that has experience with similar software, hardware or network skills.
The kind of technology support that this proposal is concerned with is limited to support for designing, maintaining and upgrading both local networking and connectivity to the Internet. Distributed technology support within this context will involve several concepts:
All tribal colleges must be eligible to both offer and receive technology support. A system for compensation will reimburse colleges who provide support and encourage all institutions to advance the knowledge of their technical support people. A system for creating, distributing, tracking and solving technology requests -- that is accessible via the internet, fax or telephone -- is essential. A model for transition from a grant-based technology support mechanism to a self-supporting system is essential. Service-level agreements among all participants will help everyone understand what services can and can't be provided. How will this idea work?AIHEC institutions, with the help of a coordinator, will identify technology support personnel along with their specific knowledge and specialties at each participating college or university. In addition, commercial technology support agencies may be included in a partnership arrangement to provide additional support in the event the problem needs to be escalated beyond the AIHEC institutions.
A central support department, possibly called the AIHEC Help Desk, with the help of sophisticated 'help desk' software will gather, assign, track and review all requests for assistance. In addition to the help desk software this department can coordinate both purchase and access to 'solution packs' that contain thousands of problems and solutions. An example of this is the Microsoft 'TechNet' CD ROM service.
How do we solve the problem of different institutions requiring different levels of support from the remote technical support centers, or providing different levels of assistance? Each institution, via grant-based support, would be issued 'credits' that could be traded for technology support via the AIHEC Help Desk program, and earned by providing services under the Help Desk00 leadership. Credits would be used instead of cash to avoid the temptation to just say, 00ive me my institution00 share of the funding and I00l spend it my way.00nbsp; All institutions could redeem their credits, via the initial grant-based funds, for services, products or other incentives that support the basic goals of this project. A phase-in process would transfer the grant-based, credit system into a self-supporting program with chargeable fees for support. One question to be solved is whether or not multiple credits would be required to solve complex problems.
A more complex question that will have to be resolved is the issue of liability. What will happen if a technician provides a solution that inadvertently causes larger technology problems? An example might be that an institution is having problems with network 'slowness'. A technician might determine that a particular router has an out-dated version of code in firmware and advises the institution to install a newer version of code. Although this seems to be a straightforward and simple task, one negative scenario might be that another network device is not compatible with the updated router code causing service outage or other problems.
One possible solution to the question of liability is use of 'service level agreements'. These agreements clarify, in detail, what is expected of both clients and providers of technology support. Issues, such as liability, are explained and all parties adhere to the guidelines and expectations in the agreements. Development of these agreements is best done on an AIHEC-wide basis to simplify providing assistance. If different schools have different agreements then it makes the job of service assignment more complex and slower.
A topic that will have to be addressed is whether technicians providing support will be limited to advice or will they provide remote maintenance via dialup modems or the Internet. Security, privacy and liability are all important issues if remote technicians are performing work.
ConclusionThere are many advantages and disadvantages to a distributed technology support program. The key will be to balance the rewards among all institutions so they feel they are receiving comparable access, ability to participate and compensation.
Potential advantages
Small schools will have access to skilled personnel that know how Tribal Colleges work and understand their unique environments. The wide variety of skills and infrastructure at each college give an institution a number of different choices for support. Can provide an avenue for students to participate and learn about technology support. Schools with limited technology support personnel get reasonable access to technicians with a wide-variety of knowledge and skills.Potential disadvantages
Disagreements are likely. A system for remediation of conflicts will be necessary. Service level agreements will be time-consuming to create. Liability questions. Visit with commercial technology firms to learn what they do. Security and privacy are always issues with technology.
