HNS Level IV

Determine Maintenance strategy

Unit of Competence: Determine Maintenance strategy

LO 1:-- Identify and analyze maintenance needs

Identifying business risk
There are many different types of business risk. Risks can be internal and external to your
business. They can also directly or indirectly affect your business's ability to operate. Risks can
be hazard-based (e.g. chemical spills), uncertainty-based (e.g. natural disasters) or associated
with opportunities (e.g. taking them up or ignoring them).
RISK is 'the chance of something happening that will have an impact on objectives'.
Types of risk
The types of risk you face are specific to your business and its objectives. To effectively manage
risk you should prepare for internal and external scenarios that may directly affect your business.
Direct risks to your business
Some common risk categories are:
 natural disasters, such as floods, storms, bushfires and drought
 pandemic, such as human influenza, swine flu, corona virus or bird flu
 legal, such as insurance issues, resolving disputes, contractual breaches, non-compliance with regulations, and
liabilities
 global events, such as pandemics and interruptions to air traffic
 technology, such as computer network failures and problems associated with using outdated equipment
 regulatory and government policy changes, such as water restrictions, quarantine restrictions, carbon emission
restrictions and tax
 environmental, such as climate change, chemical spills and pollution
 workplace health and safety, such as accidents caused by materials, equipment, or location of your work
 property and equipment, such as damage from natural disasters, burst water pipes, robbery and vandalism
 security, such as theft, fraud, loss of intellectual property, terrorism, extortion and online security and fraud
 economic and financial, such as global financial events, interest rate increases, cash flow shortages, customers
not paying, rapid growth and rising costs
 staffing, such as industrial relations issues, human error, conflict management and difficulty filling vacancies
 suppliers, such as issues within their business or industry resulting in failure or interruptions to the supply
chain of products or raw materials
 market, such as changes in consumer preference and increased competition
 utilities and services, such as failures or interruptions to the delivery of your power, water, transport and
telecommunications.

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 Indirect risks to your business
Consider how these scenarios could affect your business:
 If your suppliers are affected, you may run out of the products you sell, or the materials you
need to make products.
 If your customers are personally affected their priorities may change and you could
experience a reduced demand for your products or services.
 If your general location is affected, you and your customers may not be able to access your
premises, or your utilities could be affected. For example, you could lose power, which could
mean you:
o will not be able to operate your business
o may need to throw out any perishable goods and replace them, which can be costly.
Managing risk in your business
The process of identifying risks, assessing(determine the rate or amount) risks and developing
strategies to manage risks is known as risk management. A risk management plan is an
essential part of any business as it helps you to understand potential risks to your business and
identify ways to minimize them or recover from their impacts.
reduce your true-up costs as an act of good faith if you can prove those installed licenses have not been

Introduction to warranties
Warranty-is the process of promising to repair or replace it if necessary with in a specified
period

 warranty may not cover business uses.)

Spoken warranties
Sometimes a salesperson will make an oral promise, for example, that the store will provide free
repairs. Have the salesperson put the promise in writing, or does not count on the service.

. Documentation Tools
Documentation tools include any technical resources and materials that are used to develop and
support documentation.
Some tools, which can be used to create text, drawings and software specifications, include:
 Word processing software, eg MS Word or Open Office
 Drawing software, eg MS Visio
 Database software, eg MS Access
 Project management software, eg MS Project
 Web page development software, eg MS FrontPage or Dreamweaver ,sublime
text,notepad++

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  Spread sheet software, useful for analysis, eg MS Excel
 Systems analysis and design CASE tools, eg System Architect.
 Help authoring software, eg Help Developers Kit – HDK

INFORMATION SHEET # 2

Unit of Competence: Determine Maintenance strategy

LO 3: Formulate maintenance strategy

Maintenance strategies

Computer repair –the process of identifying ,troubleshooting ,and resolving problems and issue
in a faulty computer.

Computer repair-is a broad field encompassing many tools, techniques and procedures used to
repair computer hardware, software, or network/internet problems.

Is also called known called pc repair

#Maintenance –means protecting a computer before and after it fails.

#Troubleshooting-is the process of identifying and correcting problems

Types of Maintenance

1.Rebuild Maintenance-: refers to the process of updating computer accessories.

Example :RAM ,,,,,Change RAM

2.Incremental Maintenance: refers to the process of pre computed views without having to
build them. Example : RAM ,,,increase RAM 1to 2….

Corrective maintenance is the least cost effective option when maintenance requirements are
high.

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 1.Corrective Maintenance (reactive maintenance)

Corrective maintenance, commonly referred to as 'repair,' is the correction of a problem after

the computer has already broken down. The goal of this form of maintenance is to restore
operability to the system by either correcting the problem or replacing the damaged
components.

Corrective maintenance refers to action only taken when a system or component failure has
occurred.
It is thus a retro-active strategy.
The task of the maintenance team in this scenario is usually to effect repairs as soon as possible.
Costs associated with corrective maintenance include repair costs (replacement components,
labor, consumables), lost production and lost sales. .

2.Preventive Maintenance

Preventive maintenance (PM) is the regular and routine maintenance of equipment and assets
in order to keep them running and prevent any costly unplanned downtime from unexpected
equipment failure.

A successful maintenance strategy requires planning and scheduling maintenance of

equipment before a problem occurs

In preventive maintenance, equipment is repaired and serviced before failures occur.

The frequency of maintenance activities is pre-determined by schedules.

Preventive maintenance aims to eliminate unnecessary inspection and maintenance tasks, to

implement additional maintenance tasks when and where needed and to focus efforts on the most
critical items.

Why is preventive maintenance important?

Preventive maintenance is important because it lays the foundation for successful facility
management.

Preventive maintenance keeps equipment and assets running efficiently, maintains a high
safety level for your employees, and helps you avoid large and costly repairs down the road.
Overall, a properly functioning preventive maintenance program ensures operational
disruptions are kept to a minimum

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Why do you need a preventive maintenance schedule?

A preventive maintenance schedule helps you organize and prioritize your maintenance tasks
(like creating a work order) so that a maintenance technician can create the best working
condition and life span for the equipment. By conducting regular preventive maintenance, you
can ensure your equipment continues to operate efficiently and safely.
Maintaining a preventive maintenance schedule can be very complex when dealing with lots of
equipment, so maintenance personnel often use preventive maintenance software to organize
their preventive maintenance tasks.

Use UPS clean dust from computer

Clean dust from computer

Run and Update anti virus at a time

Clear your web browser

Shutdown properly

Scan hard disk

3.Predictive Maintenance

Predictive maintenance refers to maintenance based on the actual condition of a component.

Maintenance is not performed according to fixed preventive schedules but rather when certain
changes in characteristics are noted. A useful analogy can be made with automobile oil changes.
Changing the oil every 5000 km to prolong engine life, irrespective of whether the oil change is
really needed or not, is a preventive maintenance strategy.

. Good record keeping is very important to identify repetitive problems, and the problem areas
with the highest potential impact.

Reliability Centered Maintenance

Reliability centered maintenance (RCM) involves the establishment or improvement of a

maintenance program in the most cost-effective and technically feasible manner.

It utilizes a systematic, structured approach that is based on the consequences of failure.

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As such it represents a shift away from time-based maintenance tasks and emphasizes the
functional importance of system components and their failure/maintenance history.

Maintenance of software

Software maintenance is the process of changing, modifying, and updating software to keep up
with customer needs. Software maintenance is done after the product has launched for several
reasons including improving the software overall, correcting issues or bugs, to boost
performance, and more

It’s not only the hardware in an organisation that needs to be maintained — software
maintenance is also required. An organisation that has custom-built software needs
programmers to maintain it. This will include:
1.preventative
 maintenance to detect and correct code that may cause future errors (eg to validate input
data)
Preventative software maintenance is looking into the future so that your software can
keep working as desired for as long as possible.
This includes making necessary changes, upgrades, adaptations and more. Preventative
software maintenance may address small issues which at the given time may lack
significance but may turn into larger problems in the future. These are called latent faults
which need to be detected and corrected to make sure that they won’t turn into effective
faults.
2.adaptive
maintenance to adapt the software in line with changes to business requirements (eg to make it
run on an Intranet)
Adaptive software maintenance has to do with the changing technologies as well as
policies and rules regarding your software.
These include operating system changes, cloud storage, hardware, etc.
When these changes are performed, your software must adapt in order to properly meet
new requirements and continue to run well.

3.perfective
maintenance to simply improve the performance of the software

As with any product on the market, once the software is released to the public, new issues and
ideas come to the surface.

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Users may see the need for new features or requirements that they would like to see in the
software to make it the best tool available for their needs.
This is when perfective software maintenance comes into play.
Perfective software maintenance aims to adjust software by adding new features as necessary
and removing features that are irrelevant or not effective in the given software. This process
keeps software relevant as the market, and user needs, change.

 Reactive maintenance to fix software bugs. corrective

Preventative maintenance
Specific devices require different preventative maintenance procedures. However, there are a
few broad areas that can be considered which require preventative maintenance practices. These
include:
 Protection of equipment due to changes in electrical supply: Surges and ‘brownouts’
cause major damage to computer devices. Un-interruptible power supplies (UPS), power
conditioners and surge protection devices are all valuable preventative maintenance tools
for any computerised device.
 Protection from environmental conditions: Humidity, temperature variation and dust
are major causes of computer device failures.
 Protection of data using backups: It is vital that backups of both user data and system
configurations are done regularly.
 Protection of data from threats: Data needs to be protected from viruses, malware,
hackers and so on, through the use of both hardware and software security measures.
 Keeping software updated through service packs, patches and driver upgrades
 Checking integrity and performance by using diagnostic tools: Routine running of
any in-built diagnostics and/or checking for display of maintenance messages generated
by the device.

Protecting critical hardware

Facility protection

Strategies must be in place to protect IT equipment from water damage, fire, contamination,
power failure and theft. Some of these strategies include:
 the implementation of early warning systems to detect water leaks, fire and air-borne
contaminants

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  devices to continue power supply should there be a power failure such as a UPS
(uninterruptible power supply) as well as on-site power generation
 security access to computer facilities such as swipe cards or entry of a security number
 recording serial numbers, asset numbers, location and allocation details of workstations.

Redundancy

Redundancy-means having extra or duplicate resources available to support the main system.
Network redundancy is a communication pathway that has additional link to connect all nodes in
case of one links goes down
If part of a network is interrupted, critical business processes need to be stored as soon as
possible. One way of doing this is by implementing and maintaining full or partially redundant
systems.
This means having an identical hardware infrastructure that can be activated should the main
hardware infrastructure fail. Redundant systems can range from the duplication of entire
networks to the duplication of cabling runs. Where entire networks are duplicated, system
backup facilities are not required. However, full network redundancy is extremely expensive
and, as such, not a commonly used option.
 Partial redundancy is a common option for critical IT hardware.
 An organisation’s disaster recovery plan will include such procedures for recovering
network systems.
Protection from environmental conditions
Temperature
The tolerance of computer components for extremes in temperature is limited — subjecting them
to temperatures outside this range is likely to reduce their life. The room environment as well as
cooling and ventilation systems are, therefore, important in maintaining computer equipment in
optimum operational condition.
Humidity
Computers are also sensitive to humidity and should be kept dry. Protective measures would
include keeping them away from windows, and avoiding food and drinks spills. Ventilation
systems also help prevent problems with humidity
Dirt and dust
Computers should be kept in a clean environment. Dust build-up around fans and on electrical
components becomes a problem because it tends to prevent heat dissipation, and interferes with
the fan’s cooling function. Regular cleaning is, therefore, important. If the equipment is kept in
an industrial environment, additional measures must be put in place to protect it — use of air
cleaners is one useful strategy.
Smoke Cigarette
The particles from cigarette smoke have the same effect as dust — they build up on the surface
of equipment, causing the same sorts of problems.

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 Electromagnetic interference
All electronic devices are capable of producing electromagnetic interference that can cause data
to be lost, problems with picture quality on monitors, and other problems.
Protection of data — backup
All organisations need strategies in place to:
 backup critical data, and
 ensure that data backup is being undertaken according to organisational policies.
This will involve both server backup and workstation backup.

Types of backup

An organisation will have policies that relate to:

 the frequency of backups (daily, weekly, monthly)
 the time of day backups are done
 how long backups are kept
 where backups should be stored.
Also, there are different types of backup. You may not need to back up all files every time you
back up. Different options include:
 backup of selected directories
 incremental backup – backup of only files that have been created or changed since the
last full or incremental backup
 differential backup – backup of files that have been created or changed since the last full
backup.

Protection of data from threats

Because of the widespread interconnectivity of computers today, and the potential for intrusion,
theft, damage, and so on, organisations need to have clear policies and procedures to be followed
to minimise these threats. Control to this will be a number of preventative maintenance
procedures, as outlined below.

Service packs, patches and operating system updates

It has become obvious in recent years that when operating systems are released, they are not
finished products. Because they are so complex, even after a period of rigorous testing, security
flaws are often discovered after distribution. Anti-virus and other security tools cannot protect
the system from operating system holes.

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For critical security holes, as soon as the flaw is discovered, the software manufacturer quickly
develops and releases a patch, which is a small software update to eliminate the hole. A group of
patches is sometimes released as a major update, or service pack.
Microsoft makes these updates available for free.

Anti-malware software

Malware has increased in significance over recent years. Included in this category are:
 Trojans, which appear to be harmless programs, are actually designed to either do
damage or carry out a range of malicious activities
 Diallers, programs that change the number you use for a dial-up modem, causing
increases in charges
 Worms, generally spread as email attachments
 Spyware, adware and browser hijackers collect information from your computer or
change the Internet options in the browser.
Anti-malware software helps to prevent a computer from these attacks. However, installing it
and forgetting about it provides insufficient protection. Regular updates need to be carried out.

Antivirus software

Viruses have been around for a long while, and have been overtaken somewhat by other types of
threat. However, using antivirus software which is regularly updated is still an important
preventative maintenance measure for computer systems.

Firewalls

There are two types of firewalls — hardware and software firewalls. Hardware firewalls offer
the best protection against intrusion, but they are expensive for small companies. Desktop or a
software firewall is useful, but malicious software may find ways to bypass it.

Keeping software updated

Today’s IT equipment is complex, and so is the software that supports it. Often a device is
purchased with a projected life of several years, but in the mean time, other equipment and
operating systems that it is used with are updated. Sometimes this means that a perfectly good
piece of equipment no longer works, or works unsatisfactorily.
So new software for these devices (drivers) is developed and released. Keeping abreast of these
various driver updates is also important in preventing problems before they arise.

Checking integrity and performance

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Computer operating systems are generally provided with an array of diagnostic tools that can be
used to check whether there are either hardware or software problems with the machine, or
whether steps can be taken to improve its performance.
For example, Disk Defragmenter and Disk Clean-up are tools available in Windows operating
systems. A whole range of other utilities is also available from other software manufacturers..
Disk defragmentation- takes all the piece of each file and stores them on one place
It also makes sure programs are each in one place and that unused space on
the hard disk is all together
Disk clean-up- is a maintenance utility that was developed by Microsoft for its windows os
-the utility scans your computer’s hard drive for files that you no longer need such
as temporary files, cached webpages and rejected items that end up in your system’s recycle bin.
=keeps your RAM from over locking.

Common hardware maintenance tasks

While it is beyond this topic to identify all types of maintenance across the range of devices
available in the IT workplace, the following devices and preventative maintenance tasks are
included here as common tasks.

Cleaning

The following table gives suggestions for cleaning the parts of a computer.

Device Type of maintenance Resources

Keyboard Keyboard covers; regular ‘dusting’ with Original system documentation

compressed air will recommend cleaning
material instructions
Mouse Cleaning mouse ball and rollers; replacing ball Original system documentation
mice with optical mice will solve most problems will recommend cleaning
materials
Monitor Wiping of screen — be careful of the cleaning Original documentation will
products used as some may damage the screen. recommend cleaning materials
Consult the manufacturer’s instructions for the
monitor.
CD/DVD Cleaning drives with CD/DVD cleaning kit CD/DVD cleaning kit
drives documentation
Floppy disk Cleaning drives with FDD cleaning kit FDD cleaning kit
drives documentation

Whole system maintenance

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Maintenance of a computer system will also involve:
 checking system event logs regularly
 viewing POST results
 routine checking using system monitoring utilities that track system temperatures,
voltages and fan speeds
 checking for dust accumulation, particularly around fans and vents
 updating drivers for printers, modems, soundcards, video cards and so on, as needed
 updating operating system and applicationsoftware with the latest service packs; eg
later versions of Windows allow updates to be automatically downloaded and installed, but
this can be disabled
 updating anti-virussoftware and virus definitions.

Hard disk maintenance

Software for carrying out hard disk maintenance is provided by the operating system utilities, as
well as by third party software. Typical maintenance will include:
 removal of unwanted files — this can include old files, temporary files, downloaded files,
corrupt files, Internet cookies, and browser history
 removal (uninstalling) of unwanted software
 backup — this may be by means of standard backup/restore software, or through imaging
software such as Norton Ghost
 cleaning up the registry
 defragmenting files
 creating system restore/boot disks
 scanning for viruses, spyware, adware, malware, and so on
 disk checking using standard diagnostic tests.
Many of these activities can be scheduled to occur automatically. We’ll discuss scheduling in the
next section.
Printers

Most maintenance on printers relates to print quality and paper handling. Maintenance on
printers may include the following.

Component Type of maintenance Resources

Laser printer Cleaning/replacement. Some printer replacement cartridges Printer

drum include the drum, requiring less maintenance. Others may documentation
require a separate maintenance procedure for the drum.

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 Consult the manufacturer’s instructions.
Ink print Cleaning/replacement. Some printer replacement cartridges Printer
heads include the ink print heads, requiring less maintenance. Others documentation, in-
may require a separate maintenance procedure. Some print built printer
heads also require alignment. Consult the manufacturer’s cleaning utilities
instructions.
Paper rollers Purchasing quality paper, ensuring a dust free environment Printer
and feed path and regular cleaning. Consult the manufacturer’s instructions. documentation

Tape backup systems

Tape backup systems are listed as a separate item here due to their importance in the IT
workplace.
Device Type of maintenance Resources

Tape drive Cleaning drive heads. This should be done Head cleaning kit and original
regularly. Consult the manufacturer’s instructions. tape drive documentation
Backup Regular viewing of backup logs for errors Backup software documentation
software
Tape media Checking media for errors and tape age against the Backup software documentation
recommended tape life. Perform test restores to and media specifications
confirm reliability of media and backup process.

Low maintenance devices

Many devices such as hubs/switches, scanners and USB devices are normally considered
‘maintenance free’. However, these units may benefit from the following types of maintenance.
Device Type of maintenance Resources

Hub/switch Checking systems log and port statistics for large Original manufacturer’s
error counts documentation
Scanner Glass cleaning with recommended products; Viewing POST diagnostics test
ensuring a dust free environment results
Other devices Viewing POST diagnostics test results; running Viewing POST diagnostics test
regular tasks to ensure the device is functional results

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 Developing a preventative maintenance schedule

In developing a preventative maintenance schedule, it is important that as an IT Support person

you are aware of the main aims of preventative maintenance. They are:
 to meet the needs of the business
 to extend the working life of equipment
 to reduce the amount of emergency downtime caused by faults that can be prevented
 to be practical
 to make the IT system more cost effective.

Cost effectiveness

It is important that any preventative maintenance be cost effective. It is possible to spend

significant amounts of time cleaning and testing devices such as keyboards and mice to extend
their life. However, the replacement cost of those devices, including the cost of having an
inventory of such items on hand, may mean that it is cheaper to purchase new devices rather than
extend the life of the existing devices.
Every maintenance issue must be examined from a cost point of view.

Minimize downtime

It is important that preventative maintenance focuses on items that may cause significant
downtime and cost to the business if they were to fail. Such items may include hard disk drives
(HDD) of servers. Should they fail, emergency downtime may occur at a significant cost to the
business. As a result, such devices should be considered high priority in a maintenance schedule.

Practicality

Preventative maintenance must be practical within the working of a business. If the process of
preventative maintenance causes a major interruption to the daily working of a business, the
maintenance program will fail. Always try to consider the impact on the users of the computers
when considering a preventative maintenance program.

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