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HomeMy WebLinkAboutITS Internal Policies Nov 2015Page 1 Administrative Policies and Procedures Title: Financial Policies Resolution No.: Section: Internal ITS Policies Date of Version: Nov. 2015 SECTION I - INTRODUCTION This document defines Information Technology Services Division policies and procedures. These policies cover the use of computer and information technology and related services at the City of Iowa City, under the direction of the Information Technology Services Division, referenced as ITS in this document. Computer and information technology refers to the usage of City- owned computing equipment, machinery, applications, computers, peripheral equipment, or other materials and services used in conjunction with the operation of the City of Iowa City. These policies do not replace the City of Iowa City personnel policies. Where two policies conflict the City of Iowa City personnel policies will take precedent. These polices will not address items that are already addressed in the City of Iowa City policies. It is recommended that everyone read both sets of policies and understand them. If questions arise, please discuss those with the ITS Coordinator or the Human Resources department. SECTION II – DOCUMENTATION A. All members of the ITS support group are required to document all ITS- related equipment, applications, projects, and hardware. B. Documentation is required to allow for future reference during support of, configuration of, and recovery of, the entire ITS infrastructure. C. Service Desk is the current documentation system for help desk calls and related solutions. D. http://Docs is the current system for all other ITS documentation. E. Excel is used to record configuration data. Page 2 SECTION III – CROSS TRAINING A. Cross training is required on all applications in the ITS division. 1. The documentation that is required is the sole responsibility of the primary support person training the backup person. 2. Ensuring that a backup is trained on each hardware device or application is the responsibility of the primary support person for each hardware device or application. 3. The backup person must confirm he/she understands the hardware or application and are able to support it when the primary is out of the office. 4. If a hardware device or application goes down or needs service and a backup person is not trained, the primary support person will be held accountable. SECTION IV – CHARGEBACK A. Services provided that are not part of the standard support model will be charged at a rate of $100.00 per hour. SECTION V – BACKUP AND RESTORE A. Information Technology Services conducts routine file backups and maintains relatively current copies of backup information. File backups run on a transactional basis daily, and full backups run over the weekend. Backups are stored both onsite and offsite to ensure the integrity of system information in the event of a disaster. Electronic mailboxes do not follow the same backup schedules and account holders should take care to delete or archive e-mail on a regular basis. B. ITS staff has the ability to restore some files accidentally deleted. Account holders should address restoration requests to the ITS HelpDesk (ext. 5411). Account holders are advised that file restoration is time consuming and should not be used as a safety blanket, as not all files are restorable. C. Backup rotation follows the Grandfather-father-son structure. This will allow for restore of different versions of the data in the event we have a virus or corrupt file that we need to restore, and we can restore the file before the event took place. D. Backup Schedule: 1. Daily incremental backup tapes are run every day Sunday thru Friday. 2. Weekly full backup tapes are run every Saturday for the Monthly pool of tapes. Page 3 3. Last tape run for the month is kept for a year. 4. Yearly full backup tapes are run at fiscal year end and calendar year end. E. Daily Tapes (Son): 1. Kept for 30 days from the time written to and then written over as needed. 2. Stored in a secure room with the tape library in ITS. F. Weekly Tapes (Step-father): 1. Kept for 6 months from the time written and then written over as needed. 2. Most recent tapes stored in a secure room in Tower Place until the next week. 3. All but current tapes are stored in fire resistant cabinet in risk management area. G. Month-end Tapes (Father): 1. Kept for 1 year from the time written and then written over as needed. 2. Most recent tape stored in a secure room in tower place for one week until the next weekly tape is written, then moved to risk management area. 3. All but current tape is stored in fire resistant cabinet in risk management area. H. Yearly Tapes (Grandfather): 1. Kept in accordance with the State of Iowa and City of Iowa City data retention policies determined by the respective division and legal requirements. 2. Tapes are stored in fire resistant cabinet in risk management area. SECTION VI – APPLICATION ADOPTION AND DEVELOPMENT A. Project Initiation and Approval 1. Analyze the request to determine business needs. a. Determine if current software facilitates need. 2. Review/document the current operation. 3. Identify users and support personnel for the project. Page 4 4. Develop scope document and receive concurrence. a. Assumptions b. Constraints c. Roles and responsibilities d. Project change control process e. Issue management plan f. Risk assessment and mitigation plan g. Expected deliverables h. Determine milestone dates for deliverables. 1. Sponsor requirements 2. ITS person availability i. Cost benefit of the project determined by sponsor. 1. Must be a measurable benefit. 5. Obtain sponsor’s approval to design. 6. Obtain ITS Coordinator approval to proceed. 7. Document the project in service desk. B. Analysis and Design 1. Complete conceptual design and receive concurrence. 2. Identify the project stakeholders and team members. 3. Identify deliverables and determine the activities (project tasks) needed to complete those deliverables. a. Estimate the resource requirements for the activities. b. Create the work breakdown structure in a logical sequence. c. Create tasks in service desk with deliverable due dates. d. Communicate complete project time line to project sponsor. 4. Obtain sponsor’s approval to proceed to development. 5. Obtain ITS Coordinator approval to proceed. Page 5 C. Development and Unit Testing 1. Complete project activities according to project scope. 2. Complete project testing to ensure satisfaction of scope requirements. a. Review test results. b. Obtain sponsor’s approval to proceed to user testing. 3. Communication a. Assigned ITS person will communicate with sponsor at each project milestone or every 5 project days whichever is sooner. D. User Acceptance Testing 1. Develop test plan from the project scope. 2. Develop test cases. 3. Test according to plan. a. Review test results. 4. Develop and document new software procedures. 5. Communication a. Assigned ITS person will communicate with sponsor during testing on a daily or weekly basis depending on agreed upon time line to ensure project success. 6. Obtain sponsor’s approval to proceed to deployment. E. Deployment 1. Develop implementation plan and obtain sponsor’s approval. 2. Implement according to sponsor requirements. 3. Monitor operation. 4. Communication a. Assigned ITS person will communicate with sponsor during deployment on a daily or weekly basis depending on agreed upon time line to ensure project success. 5. Obtain sponsor’s approval to proceed to project completion at completion of deployment via email or other written document. Page 6 F. Project Completion 1. Conduct post implementation meeting with all team members and project stakeholders. 2. Obtain feedback: a. Did the project meet the specified requirements? b. Is the user satisfied with the end product? c. Were the budget goals met? d. Was the schedule met? e. Were risks identified and mitigated? f. Did the project management methodology work? g. What was done well? h. What can be done better in future projects? 3. Complete post project report. 4. Obtain sponsor’s approval to close the project. a. Written document documenting project sponsor’s acceptance of project completion. 5. Obtain ITS Coordinator approval to close the project. Section VII: CHANGE CONTROL A. Information Technology Services staff will provide as much advance notice as possible in the event of a change in the current computing environment. Account holders are advised that changes are frequent and often unsuspected. Temporary interruption of service may be experienced; thus, users should safe guard their work often. Scheduled service will be announced at least 8 hours in advance and will take place before or after normal business hours. B. Emergency changes can come without advanced warning. Section VIII: ITS TICKET SYSTEM A. A new time tracking software has been purchased and is being implemented. Service Desk will replace Time and Billing as the time usage documentation product. Page 7 B. All user interactions that require an ITS Support Staff person must be tracked with a Service Desk ticket. C. Projects that require development and testing will be tracked in Service Desk with a category of project. D. Daily or more frequent updates to the progress of a project will be required. E. All time tracked will be an accurate accounting of time spent working on the issue. F. Time entries in Service Desk will be completed every day. G. When creating tickets, make sure to fill out all fields and provide as much information as possible in the description. 1. Once the ticket is complete, make sure to complete the ticket in Service Desk and provide as much information as possible in the resolution area. 2. If you find a situation that required a great deal of troubleshooting or the problem you encountered is out of the ordinary, create a document about it in the solutions area. H. Ticket Service Level Agreement (SLA): 1. First response to high priority tickets is within 1 hour. 2. First response to a standard ticket should be no longer than 4 hours. 3. All tickets should be completed within 8 hours unless outside support or parts are required. 4. If the problem requires extended service the user is to be given status of the situation with follow-up so they are aware of the time frame and when they can expect resolution. 5. Put notes in the tickets detailing the status and the reason for the delay. 6. Put the ticket on hold in service desk. 7. First response is the first contact with the user and that should be via phone or in person to gather information and resolve the issue, if possible. I. Provide history of the problem, machine, user, and development project. This also provides management with an idea of the amount and type of work being addressed by the ITS support group. We can also determine if the system needs to change or if the user requires more training, which we can offer them. J. Failure to follow this policy will result in disciplinary action, up to, and including, termination.