Annex 1
THE FCO'S
SUPPORT ARRANGEMENTS
FOR ITS
DESKTOP INFORMATION
SYSTEM (FIRECREST)
There are slightly different support arrangements
at home and abroad.
Overseas, spares for key components in the Post's
desktop architecture are held on site in case of failure of PCs,
printers, disc-drives etc. The systems administrator and (in some
Posts) a resident technical specialist are responsible for replacing
components when a fault is reported. Unless the faulty item can
be easily repaired it is then either shipped back to the FCO or
is examined and repaired by the local office of Compaq with whom
the FCO has a world-wide support contract. Faults reported to
the local systems administrator are recorded at our central support
facility to ensure that the FCO support services are aware of
any equipment failure trends. Stocks of spares at Posts are replenished
as soon as possible.
In the UK spares are held centrally, and are
dispatched and installed by dedicated support staff once a fault
reported to the helpdesk is diagnosed as requiring a replacement
component.
It is very rare for an FCO user at home or overseas
to experience downtime of more than half a day as a result of
failure of a desktop IT system. In most cases the user has a working
system again with one to two hours of reporting the fault. Extension
of FTN to Posts is also allowing us to explore new methods of
remote support.
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