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ITS Activities and Priorities


ITS provides services to members of the Hamilton College community in support of their use of computing, data networking, and the telephone system. At any given time, the activities that are performed as part of these services can be divided into four categories (in order of priority):

EMERGENCY


Emergency activities are those that occur on an unpredictable basis, usually related to the failure of equipment or systems related to ITS services. Our commitment to delivering high quality services requires that emergency activities receive top priority. Examples include failure of a lectern in a classroom or a major network component, an attack on the e-mail system, the spread of a new virus, or a problem with the Datatel system. These kind of activities do occur, and affect the ability of ITS staff to perform normal responsibilities.

SEASONAL


Seasonal activities are those that occur on a regular basis, usually related to the cycles of the academic year. Examples include the fall startup for network connections, e-mail account creations, installations, etc.. These activities require extraordinary commitment of ITS resources and will affect the ability of ITS staff to undertake and complete other activities in normal time frames. During these periods, ITS will supplement its own staff with outside contractors.

PERIODIC


Periodic activities are those that have generally short, predictable time frames to complete (less than 2 days) and are frequently requested by members of the college. Examples include requests for e-mail accounts, password changes, web accounts, network installations, checking system logs, creating I-descriptors for administrative offices, doing backups, etc. A goal for ITS is to develop efficient procedures that minimize the time to completion for these routine activities. In the words of Jim Moss, former Director of Computing at the Naval Academy, the goal for ITS it to "do routine things routinely".

PROJECTS


By a project, we mean an activity that takes longer than two days, can be broken into components, and that is planned in advance (proactive). In keeping with the ITS mission to "Work in partnership with members of the Hamilton community." ITS teams / members commonly undertake projects designed to meet user needs. Often these projects require the contribution of time / effort on the part of members of the community as well as members of ITS. Projects arise in many ways, but the ITS commitment is to:

    •  Arrange a time to meet with parties suggesting a project to clarify the scope of the project.

    •  Help define the components of the project, who will be responsible for completing each component, and how long that component will take to complete.

    •  Develop a project plan showing the total time to complete the project and the total cost.

    •  Commit to a completion date for the project consistent with overall individual, team and ITS commitments already made, other ITS activities, AND the priorities/commitments of others outside ITS in the project.
In short, ITS is committed to working with members of the community to jointly develop an implementation plan for the project in a way that recognizes the commitments and availability of all involved parties.

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