After Hours Support & Resource Sharing Practices/Experiences

CQUniversity Rockhampton, Bundaberg, Gladstone, Mackay, Emerald, Noosaville “International Campuses”: Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Gold Coast. Operated as a wholly-owned subsidiary

Campuses

Clients 20,000 students (14,000 EFTSL) 30% of students flex/distance Reliance on: network/videoconferencing (to 9 or 10pm) 150 hours per week Web-based lectures (on demand) – 100 hours per week Course websites 2,300 staff (Note: Figures based on end 2007 data)

ITD Information Technology Division: 96 established (operational staff) positions Recently: All ICT staff centralised ICT infrastructure centralised Restructured Downsized (from around 125)

Most ITD staff based at Rockhampton Teams of 2 (Field Support) at Mackay, Gladstone, Bundaberg Contracted support for Emerald & Noosaville Helpdesk counter combined with Library service counter

International Campuses International Campuses: Hours of operation vary Reliance on infrastructure in Rockhampton

‘Normal’ Hours of Operation Helpdesk/ITD working hours: 8am – 5pm Mon-Friday all campus Not on public holidays Teaching Space Support/Videoconferencing 7.30am – 10pm, Mon-Fri (teaching weeks) Systems ‘available’ 24x7 ‘Preferred’ Maintenance (system downtime) Window 7pm-Midnight Wednesdays Clients informed of downtime on preceding Monday

‘Normal’ Hours of Operation Helpdesk: Call Centre: 8am – 5pm Mon-Friday (Rockhampton based) Local campus support (larger campuses) 8am-5pm Over-the-counter: 9am – 5pm Mon-Friday (combined with Library service counter)

‘Normal’ Hours of Operation Teaching Space Support/Videoconferencing: 7.30am – 10pm, Mon-Fri (teaching weeks) Telephone hotline After 5pm - Rockhampton-based remote support only, 1 staff member Remote support tools Established “backup plans”/scripts Escalation to senior manager (not formalised)

After Hours Support - now Infrastructure support: On-Call Saturday & Sunday - 8am-6pm (No on-call on weekday evenings) 4 x level 3 staff: Windows Sys Admin + Unix Sys Admin + dBA + Networking Infrastructure event alerts/paging Hotline number -> on call mobile (diversion managed by a web interface) Who can call the hotline? –Library (they work weekends) –International Campus IT support staff (work some weekends) –ITD staff (e.g. Teaching support during extended hours) –Significant service failures only Small campuses: outsource contract includes 3 hour ‘emergency’ response during extended hours

Compensation - now On-call: 7.5% loading after hours on weekdays 10% loading for weekends 15% loading for public holidays 2-hours minimum overtime for call-out Overtime: –150% for 1 st 3 hours –200% thereafter

Industrial Minimum 10 hour break New CQUniversity EBA (UCA): ITD staff are ‘special’: –HEW8 IT staff can be paid overtime (usually cuts off at HEW7) –Infrastructure + Support staff can be asked to work 6am-12midnight, 7 days per week as part of a roster (15% loading if starting at10am or later, Sat & Sun attract 150% pay rate)

Some challenges Infrastructure alerts don’t pick up all of the service issues Network team not big enough to support a shared on-call roster 4 x level 3 staff required to cover all critical systems on-call On-site remote campuses No extra funding Recent sustained period of change & resultant pressure on staff Effect of shift rosters on “day-time” workload After hours helpdesk VS after-hours service support – where should our focus/investment be?

Strategies Self-service –Integrated client CRM/Knowledge base (Onyx/KNOVA) –Web-based password reset facility Build resilient student-facing services –Technical reference group, solution design checked/approved Improve monitoring and alerts –Application-based monitoring Trialling a modest increase in ‘normal working hours’ during weekdays Refine approach: On-call support + monitoring/alerts as a standard part of implementation planning/handover to production On-call/shift work built into all Infrastructure & Support PDs Cross-skilling on-call staff Knowledge base/documentation

Some ideas to explore Teaching space support team work to 10pm now – use them to provide a/h call centre/screening and/or extended hours student helpdesk? Partnering with other organisations Local power company – pays an annual loading to Infrastructure staff, which includes on-call duties + some call-outs

Course Websites – Utilisation Patterns Pages/Hits/Bandwidth