Information Technology

Information Technology Training

Department Computer Support Staff

Outside of LSAIT, but within the College, departments with the resources are able to hire their own direct support computer personnel based on their own criteria. In larger units, several computer support staff may report to a Manager of IT for that Department. Computer support personnel that report directly to their department should clarify with their hiring supervisor the expectations for their position within the department and then participate with the larger College and University IT organizations as they feel appropriate.

Responsibilities of the Department Systems Administrator

For convenience, LSAIT often refers to the computer support personnel of a unit as "department systems administrators" or DSAs. This term is not an official job title within LSA but, rather, the recognition that these individuals have been hired to provide some level of direct, end-user support to their respective unit. The expectation of most units is that the DSAs will be experts in the hardware and software used by the unit and, in some units, DSAs are also expected to have at least a basic understanding of their user's academic interests. DSAs are the liaison for the unit to other computer support groups across the campus at the college and university level. It is common for units to hire other personnel who support or are hired for specific technology interests (e.g., web editing positions, instructional support positions, A/V technicians). The responsibilities listed below refer only to those that might be appropriate to a department system administrator-not to those responsibilities held by other computer personnel in the unit.

A DSA could be responsible for the following services (depending on the size of their unit and their unit's goals):

  1. Provide frontline support for all OSs used by the faculty, staff and students of the unit. This might entail:
    • Configuring new systems for use in administrative offices, faculty offices, faculty homes, portable machines, and research labs.
    • Consulting for PC, Macintosh, and Unix purchases with faculty and staff users for administration, instruction, and research.
    • Maintenance of existing Windows accounts using Microsoft Enterprise Administrator tools.
    • Maintenance of UMCE accounts for e-mail and AFS or contacting LSA Accounts for assistance.
    • Maintenance of Mpathway (via Mpathways) accounts.
    • Providing documentation and training or training recommendations to local faculty and staff users.
    • Software Distribution-via SMS or the Software Licensing Site for Windows and via other methods for Macintosh and Unix computers.
    • Providing remote administration/support to departmental PCs using SMS.
    • Moving and/or disposing of equipment and tracking these changes.
    • Maintaining an inventory of hardware purchases.
  2. Physical workstation repair-PC, Mac, Linux -to the extent that the DSA is trained and expected by their unit to do so.
  3. Provide printing services (local or basic IP printing) and printer repair. (College-owned, blue tagged workgroup printer parts may be supplied by CSG, contact csg-info@umich.edu for more information.)
  4. Activate network jacks, manage and distribute IP information.
  5. Advocate for the unit's computer interests/concerns to LSAIT and represent their unit's computer interests to the College.
  6. Create unit policies on computing within the structure of the University's Standard Practice Guide and any existing LSAIT computing services policies.
  7. Interact with any existing faculty or staff computer user groups.
  8. Provide some level of testing (time/staff permitting) to College-wide infrastructure projects, e.g., packages or automated OS builds.
  9. Maintain professional computer expertise pertinent to their job in the unit.

In large or complex departments the DSA may have additional responsibilities as well. These may include:

  1. DNS management through Unix.
  2. DHCP management.
  3. Server management for departmental servers - Windows, Unix, MacOSX.
  4. Maintain a hardware collection for setup and repair, e.g., network cables, NICs, Hard drives, Flash drives, CDRs, RAM, tapes, etc.
  5. Support lab and/or classroom research and instruction - providing lab accounts, file space, permissions, projector support/training, mandatory profiles, and auto-loading.
  6. Providing server-based printing solutions - Windows, Unix.
  7. Providing loaner equipment (where funded) for projectors, CDRW, laptops, and hot-swap spares for desktops.
  8. Providing color-printing services for transparencies, instructional documents, and grant related research printing.
  9. Maintaining a trouble ticket system and/or monitoring work flow within the computer support group.
  10. Providing backups for local disaster recovery.
  11. Providing setup and support for instructional and colloquium settings (dealing with laptops, projectors, and other AV equipment for presentations).
  12. Providing user forums with faculty for discussion of how to improve departmental computing resources.
  13. Supervising other computer support staff and/or work-study students.
  14. Preparing budget requests for either department or LSAIT review.
  15. Coordinating faculty and/or staff computer upgrades.

Where these DSAs are Located