Staffing

Introduction

Training

Funding

Procedures & Finance

Health And Safety

Staffing

Introduction

Staffing is one of those tricky areas in that as organisations grow, someone has to take responsibility for the ICT. At what stage do you have enough staff to consider having dedicated IT staff? How do you know if you are employing the right skills and then how do you manage them when they are talking a language alien to you? It sounds like a minefield, but remember first and foremost that IT staff should be managed just the same as any other staff; given appraisals, monitored, have performance targets etc. In other words they have to be managed as people first.

Staff Issues

Nine times out of ten staff issues are Human Resource or management issues, but sometimes they involve ICT. When examining a problem, consider carefully if the issue is the ICT or does this mask a more fundamental problem. For example a member of staff using a computer at work for personal use might imply that the member of staff has too much time on their hands. So, although the Acceptable Use policy might be used to deal with the situation, the issue is about time management.

Here are some human resource guidelines.

Help with decisions

Often you have to make decisions about things you don't fully understand and so you read up on it, gain a little knowledge and then make your choice. Like you decide on which car to buy. The same applies to ICT, but of course it has more variables... and everyone has an opinion... and there is always more than one way to crack a nut! Net:gain is a training programme for CEO's designed to improve their ICT management skills and knowledge which provides you with a way forward.

Some hints and tips on making decisions.

Effective ideas and solutions

A good starting point is to acknowledge that ICT has to be managed and this means that it should be explicitly identified as someone's job. Include ICT (as a separate item) in reviews, reports and budgets. Make sure that people involved with training, human resources and health and safety also incorporate ICT into their work. The ICT hub is in the process of getting a guide to good ICT management published.

The problem with making the right decisions with respect of ICT is that they can be costly. However, you may feel that you do not have enough technical knowledge. This is not your job. Your job is to clearly define what it is you are attempting to achieve. This is a business objective. It is up to the technical people to provide the solution. So, you could state;

We need all staff to have fast access to the internet and each to have personalised email which comes directly to their computer.

The response from suppliers, consultants, staff could be:

In order to acheive this we will do the following. it will cost this much. As an alternative we could do that which will cost that much.

All you need to do now is look at the parameters to make a decsion. These should include (and therefore you need to ask your people for bullet points as to the relative merits or downsides to each of the options:

does the system address the defined requirements
cost
total cost of ownership over say 5 years
warranties and licences
software implications
does our existing equipment work with the new system
hidden costs
downtime and disruption
does this include installation costs
what is the training requirement
if the system does not achieve what you say it will, how will it be resolved
how will the system be looked after in the event of dispute or supplier leaving
does anyone else use this system - their experiences
when will it be billed

Below are some pointers to consider in your decsion making:

If you feel you are floundering or need some help, Virtual Riders can provide you with some specific support or identify a specialist consultant to work with you. The best advice is to talk to other people and see if anyone else has had any experience addressing your specific issue.