The Roles of the System Manager
| Most, if not all, businesses today make use of computer systems in one way or another. It might be a very small business with only one personal computer, or a large multinational corporation with huge, complex, networked systems ”the principles are the same. They rely, to a varying degree, on computers for their business to function efficiently and effectively. The increasing reliance placed on computer systems underlines the need for them to be managed properly. In a small business, there probably isn't a system manager as such; rather, a member of the company takes on the role as part of his job. In the larger enterprises , it is a full-time role in itself, with the system manager having responsibility for some or all of the following:
But that is just the direct, tangible side of system management. There is also another side to this: how the provision of these computing services fits in with the objectives of the business as a whole. The budget for the IT department is often quite considerable. This must be managed properly to ensure that the business gets value for money from the services that it is paying for. Quite a large proportion of system management is strategic, as in planning for the future of the computer systems. This is particularly relevant with regard to the Internet and the rapid emergence of e-commerce. System security policies are constantly in need of review to ensure that they continue to protect both the computer systems and the data held on them. The formulation of other important policies, such as these, also comes under system management:
These are just a few of the issues surrounding system management, but they should give an insight into some of the challenges facing today's system manager. On top of all this, tactical matters also must be handled. These include "fire fighting" specific problems and managing the day-to-day running of the IT department. Remember that system management is not just about computer systems. It is about managing resources, and that includes the staff that the system manager is responsible for. The system manager is also a communicator who needs to be able to relate to the customers. At this point, it is worth defining the term customer as seen from the system manager's perspective. This is crucial, as you will see in the discussion of service level management in Chapter 3, "Delivering the Goods." The customer is anyone who makes use of the computer systems under the manager's control. This is pretty vague, but it emphasizes the fact that the customer base is potentially very large and diverse. The system manager's customers are usually colleagues within the company. Even for a mail-order company taking orders over the Internet, for example, the public is not the customer; the Web sales team is the interface between the system manager and the public, and hence, the customer. Figure 1.2 illustrates the relationships between the system manager and the customer base. Figure 1.2. The system manager serves his direct customers, which, in turn , allows them to serve the external customers. The remainder of this section describes in greater detail the roles that the system manager must assume to be able to carry out his duties . If Shakespeare was right in saying, "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players," then the position of system manager is a one-man play. As you will see, the job of system manager is much more demanding and diverse than you may initially perceive it to be, requiring the playing of many roles with quick scene changes. As a system manager myself for several years ”not just in a Solaris environment, but in others as well, and often in a multivendor environment ”I have worn many "hats." I sometimes had to wear several hats at once and resolve the conflicts of interest that can easily arise between them. It is essential that the system manager is acutely aware of which hat he is currently wearing and of the consequences that any actions could have for any of the other "hats" that he will wear in the future. The next section describes the many hats worn by the system manager and the skills employed when wearing them. It also describes the numerous jobs that come under the system management umbrella. The ManagerFirst and foremost, the system manager is a manager. The computer systems are his responsibility. It doesn't matter whether it's a single tape or disk, or a multimillion-dollar computer network ”they're all part of his domain. Flexibility and versatility are often key attributes that lead to success in this job as well as the ability to remain calm under pressure. This requires someone who can not only react quickly to unforeseen events, but who also can foresee potential problems ”and eliminate them ”before they happen. It's one of the only jobs in which complex technical issues have to be related to the business as a whole. The system manager plays a crucial role in ensuring that the IT computer systems provide the necessary services to enable the business to carry out its function. To this end, he must have a good knowledge of the systems, the business, and the corporate objectives and priorities. He must keep abreast of developments within the IT industry and know how they can be used to benefit the business, or be forewarned of an impending threat to the business. In addition, the system manager is also a manager of staff, which can be quite different from managing the computer systems. Career development and continuing training must be addressed, as well as retention initiatives to try and maintain a stable team. The system manager must be approachable and accessible and have the ability to communicate well with other managers ”this is often referred to as "managing across." Like anyone else in a company, the system manager is an employee and, like all other employees, he works as part of a team aiming to achieve a set of objectives. He will have the same concerns as other employees , including job security, pay raises, and annual assessments. The system manager has other specific concerns, depending on what role he is playing at a particular time. Some of those roles, and the corresponding concerns, are discussed in the following sections. InterpreterIn some ways, the system manager can be likened to an interpreter in that technical jargon is translated into plain language. When a problem disrupts service to the customers, senior management will want an explanation at some point of what went wrong and what was done to fix it. The system manager provides the explanation in clear, understandable language, with the objective being to explain things without hearing "And what exactly does all that mean?" from the listener. It isn't just a case of explaining the problems to management ”the system manager also must try to secure the backing and, more important, the money for a new project. The system manager is the person who will fully understand the technical implications and issues surrounding any new venture. He can also relate it to the relevant areas of the business, highlighting the predicted gains to be achieved. Marketing and Sales ManagerThe IT department is one of those areas in which everyone makes use of it to do their own jobs, but it rarely gets an Oscar, much the same as someone working behind the scenes of a major movie production. It falls to the system manager to raise the department's profile and visibility. He has at his disposal a number of opportunities to do this; they must be seized and capitalized on so that senior management is reminded of the important contribution being made to the business. This is crucial if the department is to try to keep up with technological advancements. Some of those opportunities are listed in this section. Giving a computer suite tour is an ideal opportunity to give the IT department some visibility. It's the chance to tell others how good the department is and how much it has achieved ”don't waste it! The system manager is the perfect choice to present the tour because he has technical knowledge and understands all the jargon, but, more importantly, he can talk about a technical subject to a nontechnical audience and relate it to the business. As an added bonus, he can answer those awkward questions that arise from time to time. Take an example: The sales director is visiting, has a nontechnical background, and has adopted the Internet sales Web site as his pet project. This is sufficient information for the system manager to know that anything to do with the Internet Web site, or the systems supporting it, will be of interest and will capture the attention of the visitor. Even better, if some improvements have been made by tuning the system to make response times faster, all this will do no harm at all when asking for more money in the budget next year! But it's not just the computer suite tour that can raise the visibility of the IT department. The system manager will have to provide a regular progress report or summary. This can be a useful vehicle for highlighting instances of considerable success and ensuring that they get the correct exposure to those that matter. It can have a significant impact on the acceptance of future proposals. In some companies, a regular newsletter is distributed to all employees. This is yet another mechanism for raising awareness. If the system manager contributes a regular column, it lets everyone know what's been going on, especially when relevant to major, innovative projects. A Y2K compliance update was a prime example in the last few years of advertising the success of the IT department. Financial WizardAs if managing the systems and staff wasn't enough, the system manager also must be an accountant . The IT budget can be large and complex. Like any other budget holder within the company, the system manager must provide forecast information on a rolling basis throughout each financial year. There is normally pressure to do more with the money that is allocated so that costs can be reduced. It takes a careful eye and considerable knowledge and insight to be able to arrive at the financial year end with the IT budget intact. This topic is discussed in greater detail in Chapter 2, "The IT Budget." MediatorThe system manager deals with many business functions and with many projects. There will inevitably be times when the priorities and objectives of these different projects collide. To make things worse , the system manager is usually involved with both sides. Here, he must act as the intermediary through whom the problem is resolved. At the same time, he must work to arrive at a solution that is acceptable to both sides. This can normally be achieved through negotiation, but occasionally it may be necessary to offer an incentive to one of the parties so that the work can go ahead. For example, suppose that one project manager requests that the system be restarted to implement some system changes that have been made, but another project manager maintains that the system should stay up because of important processing that is being carried out. The system manager could resolve this simply by offering to write a quick script that will check every 30 minutes to see if the processing has finished. At this point, the script will alert the system administrator so that the reboot can go ahead at the earliest convenient time. The outcome is that the processing completes and the reboot is also affected; both sides get what they want, and it takes the system manager only five minutes to write the simple script and submit it as a batch job (cron). This is only a simple example, with an equally simple resolution. Of course, most of the conflicts encountered will not be as easy as this one. This does show, though, that the system manager is in an ideal position to be able to sort out such conflicts. Financial Responsibilities In a larger enterprise environment, teams of accountants and financial experts manage the overall company budget, but it is the system manager's responsibility to ensure that the money allocated is spent wisely and in the best interests of the business. Technical ExpertThe system manager is expected to know most things about computers, not just the ones that he is responsible for, but also in general. One of the greatest skills of the system manager is that of troubleshooting. This is based upon a solid foundation of experience and can prove invaluable when trying to resolve a difficult problem that may not have been encountered previously. In this situation, the system manager can identify quickly where the problem lies, based upon experience, thus avoiding wasted time looking elsewhere. Of course, he won't always know the answer, but he should definitely know where to look. An extension of this role includes passing on some of his expertise to his system administrator(s). This is being done increasingly by companies providing a test environment in which certain faults can be duplicated . In a lab environment, away from the operational pressures, the administrator gets to practice hands-on recovery and diagnosis of problems. This is especially useful for problems that occur very infrequently. Because the system manager is in charge of all things technical, he often becomes the focal point for all the problems in the office relating to electrical equipment. I have been approached many times by members of staff when the kettle in the kitchen is not working or when the fax machine or photocopier is playing up; the system manager is generally expected to be able to sort them out, one way or another. If someone is using an obsolete piece of software, it is the system manager who will get called to look at a problem with it, even though it may no longer be supported ”this just goes with the territory. Available Training Sun provides a number of hardware maintenance training courses as part of its training curriculum. Areas covered include desktop (training code SM-210), enterprise (training code SM-240), and storage systems (training code SM-250), as well as a fault analysis workshop (training code ST-350) that guides students through a set of system faults. See the Sun training literature or its Web site (http://www.sun.com) for full details of the available training. |
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EAN: 2147483647
Pages: 101