Systems Services Section

 

Fifth in the series...

In this issue, we have chosen a functional unit under Systems & Network, the Systems Services Section. A diagram showing the organizational structure of the Computing Services Centre is illustrated below :

Systems Services Section

Objective and Scope of Service

The Systems Services Section (SS) performs the administration of the central computer systems and provides technical support to all staff and students in the City University, so that they can enjoy working in an advanced and stable computing environment.

Organization

The organizational structure of the Systems Services Section can be summarized in the chart below.

Under the supervision of a systems manager, the SS section is divided into two groups : the operation group and the programming group. The systems manager plays an important role in the co-ordination, management and decision making of different tasks. The operation group, which consists of senior computer operators, operators and technicians, handles the daily operation of each computer system and processes student enquiry. The programming group, with computer officers and assistant computer officers as its group members, is responsible for the administration of various computer systems in the Computing Services Centre (CSC).

Services Provided

Services of the SS can be broadly categorized into three major areas : the administration of all the central computer systems (DEC and Sun machines), the operation of computer room, and the management of the service counter. To maintain our high quality of services, different duties and activities are shared among our experienced team members. The following chart depicts the grouping of these services.

Interactions with Others

The SS Section works closely with all other sections within the CSC, especially the Network Services Section, to provide services to staff and students in this university. This section also works closely with the Technology and Planning Section in exploring new and advanced technology. The members of this section always interact with staff of other departments in order to understand their requirements and serve them better. We also have close links with some universities in China in sharing our experience in the area of system administration.

Challenges

Our primary goal is to provide a favourable environment for the users to work in. To cope with the rapid expansion of this university, the members of this section have to be well prepared to face a lot of challenges in serving the staff and students.

To provide uninterrupted service, team members have to equip themselves continuously to meet the changes in any software, hardware, operating system, applications and layered products etc.. As the technology in the computer world is rapidly changing, team members always have to look ahead to new technology trends and study the possibility of incorporating it into our systems to provide better service.

Furthermore, the members have to work under great pressure to make prompt decisions and accurate choices during diagnosis of any software and hardware problems to avoid any delay of normal services. To cope with the resource and time constraints, members have to schedule their jobs in a smarter and more effective way. If necessary, they have to work during weekends and public holidays to minimize the impact on users.

Future Direction

The work handled by the SS Section is fairly labour intensive and time critical, workload is sometimes unpredictable and highly specialized skill is required to administer different computer systems. Hence, temporary secondment of other CSC staff to this section on an ad-hoc basis to improve services is not feasible, especially when we are constrained by the existing limited manpower. However, if CSC and other departments can partner to maintain a clear communication channel on matters regarding system development and requirements, with careful planning and coordination, these challenges can be surmounted.

This section will keep on providing high quality technical support to our staff and students in a complex and dynamic environment. As more and more new systems and services will be launched in the future, each member must keep upgrading himself/herself with the state-of-the-art technologies to achieve the necessary calibre. All the computer systems, both existing and new, will be monitored tightly to ensure that they will be rendered smoothly and efficiently, and that all user requirements are met with satisfaction. Similar to the other sections in CSC, this section is constantly reviewing its internal processes so that even under limited manpower, a balance can be struck between what users need and what this section can provide.

Computing Services Centre City University of Hong Kong ccnetcom@cityu.edu.hk