Network Support Partnership: EITS and Client Responsibilites

Client Responsibilities 

Establish a Customer Liaison

The Customer Liaison is typically a member of the unit’s IT support staff who understands the customer organization, its work processes, and its people. As a member of the customer organization, the Customer Liaison is able not only to report network problems, but assist EITS NSP support staff in how to best help both the organization as a whole and the people who work in it.

The Customer Liaison:

  • Ensures that all requests assigned to EITS NSP are properly defined, and that the relative priorities of multiple tasks are clearly established.
  • The Customer Liaison and the EITS NSP support staff work as a team.
  • As an expert on the customer organization and its people, the Customer Liaison contributes an analysis of the organizational and human context of the support environment to the decision making process.
  • EITS NSP support staff, as experts on the needs of the network, contribute an analysis of the technical content of the support environment to the decision making process.
  • Both are necessary for making sound decisions about assigning tasks and customer priorities.
  • As task assignments and priorities are planned, EITS NSP normal and required basic networking maintenance tasks must be included and assigned priority consistent with maintaining a secure and repeatable standard of performance for all customers.
  • Maintains regularly scheduled contact with the EITS NSP Program Manager and:
    • Provides immediate feedback to the EITS NSP Program Manager and EITS Associate Director when problems with the delivery of EITS NSP services arise.
    • Understands that a minimum communication standard requires a brief conversation between the Customer Liaison and the EITS NSP Program Manager on a monthly schedule. Either the Customer Liaison or the Program Manager can initiate the communication.
    • Developing thorough regular conversations establishes a rapport that is crucial in problem situations, including unplanned outages and emergencies.
  • Represents the customer organization, and is expected to understand the responsibilities of the customer organization as the owner of data transmitted over the network. Although EITS NSP, as the custodian of the customer’s network, plays an important role in helping the customer organization meet its obligations under the University’s policies, the customer organization’s delegation of operational support does not abrogate its overall responsibilities under University policies.

EITS Responsibilities

  • In terms of the networking equipment, the EITS NSP support staff is expert on the equipment’s needs, and has knowledge about both the routine tasks that need to be accomplished and how to address problems that arise.
  • Maintenance task priorities are assigned by the Customer Liaison, who not only takes into account the organization’s priorities and the needs of individual users, but also the routine technical tasks necessary for proper network operation and maintenance required by EITS NSP. It is the responsibility of the EITS NSP support staff to communicate these essential tasks and their importance to the Customer Liaison.
  • Ensures that all tasks assigned by the Customer Liaison are clearly understood, and that the relative priorities of multiple tasks have been clearly established.
  • When appropriate, EITS NSP support staff will provide a written status report to the NSP Program Manager, EITS Associate Director, and the Customer Liaison. These reports will be required if significant work has been performed, if significant support activities for the near future are planned, or if there are any concerns with the unit’s network and/or network equipment.
  • If the EITS NSP support staff feels, at an time, that proper maintenance of the network cannot be accomplished, regardless of the reason, it is the EITS NSP support staff’s responsibility to contact the Program Manager immediately so that a quick resolution of the problem can be achieved.
  • Keeps TeamDynamix tickets, logs, and documentation up to date.
  • The EITS NSP technical support staff is responsible for supporting the unit’s network.

EITS NSP Program Manager Responsibilities

The EITS NSP Program Manager manages the activities of the EITS NSP support staff. The Program Manager ensures that the network equipment is serviced correctly and punctually and that customers are satisfied that they are receiving high quality service delivery from EITS NSP support staff.

The Program Manager:

  • Maintains regularly scheduled contact with the Customer Liaison.
  • "Regularly scheduled contact" means at least a brief conversation with the Customer Liaison on a monthly basis. The regularity of this conversation is an important part of the quality assurance process.
  • If the Program Manager feels, at any time, that there is a problem with any aspect of the delivery of EITS NSP services, it is the Program Manager’s responsibility to contact both the Customer Liaison and the EITS NSP support staff immediately so that a quick resolution of the problem can be achieved.
  • Ensures that a survey of the unit’s users is performed at least once a year in order to determine their level of satisfaction with EITS NSP services.
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