Planning and Preparation Activities (A2)

 Thomas Mortimer - Task 2 (Unit 20 - Managing and supporting systems)

System maintenance and disaster recovery

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Contingency Planning

Contingency plans are plans that are devised in place of any type of disasters like a fire, earthquake or flood which will result in the event of a computer system going down due to loss of power or even damage. This will result in the use of this contingency plan, these are usually put in place by either a government or a business as a result of computer systems not being functional and pen and paper have to be used to ensure the vitality of the company assets. 

A good example of a contingency plan would be the use of backups, in this scenario a flood has caused a server containing backups of information, tools and other systems stored on the computer system. This in result will cause irreversible damage to the system due to this a contingency plan is put in place to ensure that this data is protected at all costs and appropriate backups are made to ensure it longevity, then storing this information off-site making sure it is properly protected. The cloud could be used to ensure the longevity of this data backups will be made and sent there for its protection the risking the onsite systems damage to ensure that data's backup.

Strategic Planning

Strategic planning is a road map that plans out the growth of a company planning out assignments and improvements which can be made to improve the day to day of the company allowing employees to be more productive. Doing this allows management teams to assess and improve progress and provides the opportunity for a company to improve and grow and work towards a long term goal. During this process, a company will begin roll out and planning on a computer system upgrade and operating system upgrades.

Code of Practice

The code of practice is a set of rules and protocols of how something has to be carried out. For example, designing a piece of software or installing a network, if an incident was to occur during the process 2 main rules have to be followed (a) where all the rules followed (b) do the codes of practice need to be updated to avoid this from occurring again. 

Supervision/Management of Network Staff and Systems

Network management is the process of monitoring and controlling a computer network to ensure all of its resources both hardware and software are in good shape and are being used productively. This process is overseen by a person network administrator, network manager who uses protocols, systems, devices and applications to ensure the network can keep up with business demands and user expectations. Network management is a huge responsibility. To better understand it's helpful to break things down into five key areas encompassed by the FCAPS acronym.

The FCAPS or fault, configuration, accounting, performance, security protocols are a set of protocols that are responsible for the workings of computer systems. FCAPS uses an ISO model to define management tasks on a computers network.

Advising Senior Management

Advising senior management is another vital management process when it comes to planning and preparing activities. Management is an essential role in any company, managers have the necessary management skills to supply assets and funding to most activities. Managers are essential as they inspire teams and improve working outcomes, this allows them to keep employees working at top form whilst keeping everyone in the loop.