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IT Support at the Coal Face. Sarah Lawson IT Manager Harris Manchester College. Who am I, and why am I here?. IT Manager for Harris Manchester College Secretary of ICTF Steering Committee Evening Demonstrator OUCS help desk IT Officer Oxford Doctoral Course in Clinical Psychology
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IT Support at the Coal Face Sarah Lawson IT Manager Harris Manchester College
Who am I, and why am I here? • IT Manager for Harris Manchester College • Secretary of ICTF Steering Committee • Evening Demonstrator OUCS help desk • IT Officer Oxford Doctoral Course in Clinical Psychology • IT Officer Farmington Trust • Here to tell you what it’s like working in IT as part of the University of Oxford
Personal history • Started with ambitions to be a lawyer – • Ended up (via a few diversions) managing IT • Started at Oxford University about 6 years ago. • Worked for 2 years at Corpus Christi College as IT support assistant. • Took on the IT manager role at Harris Manchester College 4 years ago.
College setup • Systems • Five windows 2003 servers • One public subnet / DHCP • OWL wireless network • People • 150+ students • 15 Admin staff • Endless conference guests… • Lots of academic visitors • IT Staff – JUST ME!!! • Computers • 2 public computer areas • Printing & Copying • Network support for all PC’s/ Macs and personal computing in the college Day to day work can be hugely varied….
Daily life Daily life generally requires very little in depth IT knowledge, just a General ability to help users with quite often simple things.
Daily life 2 Since Joining HMC I have had the opportunity to manage many interesting projects: • Redesign and rebuild the fibre network. • Design and build a new purpose built computer coms room. • Set up and design an Windows 2003 Active Directory Infrastructure. • Set up VOIP telephony and install video conferencing. • And of course help people with the standard IT support assistance – turn the computer off and turn the computer on!
Help! Where do I find the answers? Because I don’t spend a lot of my daily job on complex IT problems when They do occur I often need to look for help - FAST • ITS3 and ICTF – Support for support staff • OUCS web pages : www.oucs.ox.ac.uk • Email Discussion Lists (Itss-d and itss-a) • OUCS Help desk email:help@oucs.ox.ac.uk • ICTF –Forum for College and Departmental IT staff • Web developers discussion forum • College IT Staff Group • Lunchtime and evening ICTF social events
ICTF – Conference & Exhibition • The annual Conference run by and for the IT support staff of the University of Oxford. • Also the AGM of the ICTF – Elections of officers • An opportunity to meet and network with many different people. • Designed to be informative, social and interactive. • Good food, and the all important conference goodies. • Also each year the EML suppliers exhibition – lots of interesting exhibitors where IT staff can get ideas and source products. This year December 18th at the Exam Schools.
How I keep In touch Working as a loan IT support officer it is very important to keep in touch With what is going on – here is how..... • Mailing lists: College IT Forum, ITSS discuss etc. • Read ITS3 weekly bulletins. • Attend the various lunch time and social sessions advertised on ITSS-d. Friday evening etc. • Contribute to the various projects and work being undertaken by the University – for example Groupware. • Share knowledge and increase knowledge • Take courses offered by OUCS.
Conclusion • The University has a wealth of specialist knowledge. So there is always someone out there to share your knowledge with or seek advice from……………. • Use the IT discussion emails and discussion groups to enhance your knowledge and allow others to share your expertise. • Come along to the ITSS Conference and Exhibition • It would be difficult to find a job with such a wealth of different people, activities and new experiences…..
Thank you • Now Coffee • And a tour -