Identify information technology equipment/software and operating systems supported by the organisation
IT equipment and software supported by an organisation 3
Computer equipment 4
A typical workstation 4
Other commonly used equipment 6
Computer networks 6
Networking equipment 7
Equipment vendors 8
Software 9
System software 9
Application software 10
The importance of IT equipment and software in an organisation 12
The asset register 13
Contents of an asset register 13
Storage and maintenance of the asset register 13
Upgrading and replacing assets 14
Service level agreements and warranties 15
What is a service level agreement (SLA)? 15
Maintaining IT equipment 16
Routine maintenance 16
Recording maintenance dates 17
Summary 18
Check your progress 18
IT equipment and software supported by an organisation
IT plays a vital role in achieving organisational goals. Fast and reliable computer systems can increase productivity, improve decision-making and reduce costs in the workplace. Working in an IT environment, you’ll need to be familiar with a range of current computer equipment and software, and develop a broad knowledge of features and capabilities.
So what exactly do we mean by computer systems? Broadly, this includes:
· a range of computer hardware and peripheral devices
· networking equipment and cabling
· software to run the equipment (system software)
· software to perform specific workplace tasks (application software)
· data converted by the system into information.
Let’s start by looking at what a computer actually is, and focus on a typical stand-alone computer system or workstation.
There are many types of computers. A computer can be defined as an electronic device that can be programmed to accept data, process and store it and produce information.
Computers can be classed as special purpose or general purpose. Special purpose computers generally perform a specific task, like a microchip in a microwave oven. However, the common notion of a computer — the one found in workplaces and homes, is the general-purpose type, that can perform a variety of tasks.
We’ll now look at the type of hardware found in all computer systems, as well as other devices that enhance these systems for special purposes.
Computer equipment
A typical workstation
A typical PC or workstation has a monitor, keyboard, mouse and system unit, or main box. There may also be speakers and other bits of hardware. Typically, the different devices are attached to the main box by cables. However, some or all of these cables can be replaced by wireless links.
Figure1: Workstation monitor
The system unit
The system unit includes both the supporting frame and the protective cover for the computer. In some computers the monitor, speakers and system unit are all integrated.
If you look at the outside of the system unit you will see a number of features:
· disk drives (CD/DVD/floppy)
· ports, power supply, lights and switches.
It consists of a main board, or motherboard containing, among other things, the central processing unit (CPU). There are other supporting chips and devices connected by means of circuitry referred to as a ‘bus’. Apart from the main board, the system unit houses one or more hard disks, a power supply and expansion slots.
Peripherals
Peripheral devices are outside the system unit, and are attached to it (or communicate with it by wireless links). The most common devices are the monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers and printer. Some, like the monitor and keyboard are essential to using the computer. However, many other peripherals are commonly used. These include microphones, external storage devices like portable hard disks and flash memory drives, external modems, scanners, trackballs, joysticks, digital cameras, web cameras… and you can probably think of many more.
Devices that allow the user to enter information into the computer are called input devices, and devices that provide some sort of information out to the user are called output devices. Peripherals also require some programs or software to be installed on the computer so the computer can recognise them. These programs are known as software drivers or device drivers.
It is assumed you are fairly familiar with common devices like the keyboard, mouse, monitor and printer, so we’ll look briefly at some other useful pieces of equipment. Even if you are familiar with this equipment, you need to keep up-to-date with current versions. You’ll get a chance to explore these in the practice exercises.
Figure 2: Printer
Scanner
A scanner is an input device that allows the user to scan photos and drawings into a computer. Hand-held scanners are rolled over the image to be scanned, whereas flatbed scanners look like a small photocopier and require the image to be placed face down on a glass surface called a platen.
Both types of scanner work in the same way — they reflect light off the image, and record how much is bounced back into the scanner lens. This information is passed into the computer, which can then construct a replica of the image.
Scanners usually come with optical character recognition (OCR) software, which allows text to be scanned into the computer instead of being typed in. Most OCR software still requires the user to check for mistakes in the scanned text, because it’s possible for the scanner to misread the text it is scanning.
As with printers, an important factor when selecting scanners is their resolution. A 1200 dpi (dots-per-inch) scanner has a higher resolution (that is, it produces a sharper image) than a 600 dpi scanner.
Figure 3: Flatbed scanner
Other commonly used equipment
Personal digital assistant (PDA)
A personal digital assistant (PDA) is a hand-held wireless device with computing and data storage abilities. A PDA normally contains a calendar, at least one database with names and addresses, to-do lists and a notepad. They are also referred to as ‘hand-helds’ and examples include the Palm Pilot and the BlackBerry.
Laptop/notebook computer
Laptops, also called ‘notebooks’, are a small, portable computers — small enough to on your lap. Usually, they can be run for a short time (usually two to five hours) on batteries. Laptops are designed to be carried around, but are not particularly convenient to carry around. They are significantly more expensive than desktop systems.
Computer networks
You will have heard of, or used most of the equipment mentioned so far. However, modern organisations significantly depend on networks and networking equipment.
In simple terms, a computer network is two or more computers that are connected and communicating with each other, in order to share information and/or resources. The most common types of networks are Local Area Networks (LANs) and Wide Area Networks (WANs). The Internet, in fact is just a huge collection of these.
LANs can consist of two to thousands of computers. The most common LAN used by organisations today is called ‘client/server’. These consist of one or more ‘server’ computers, which store the files and runs applications. The computers used by the workers are called ‘client’ machines.
WANs are very large networks of computers. They span large geographical areas, generally covering a several kilometres, sometimes connecting computers thousands of kilometres apart. It can also be a collection of LANs, bringing together many smaller networks into one large network.
Organisations network computers to share valuable resources, to share files and communicate.
Consider a typical department of 15 computers. Individuals don’t need a printer connected to their computer all the time. It would be anyway too expensive to do this. The solution is to share a common printer attached to the network.
In the same department, a team leader may have a file that he wants all his team to access. He can either copy it on to a disk for each person, or he can simply put it in a location on the network which can be accessed by all his team at their own workstations.
Similarly, software programs, if connected by a network, can be shared among several users. Where there are several people sharing a program an appropriate software license is needed.
Another obvious advantage is that staff can use the network to communicate by email or to chat directly online if required.
Networking equipment
Specialised networking equipment is needed to create a LAN or a WAN. The server and client computers that are part of networks have been mentioned.
Some other commonly used devices are explained below. Again, these descriptions are basic — the study of networks is complex and extensive. There are many resources on the Internet that can help you learn much more.
If you are interested in this area, you should explore these.
Router / A router is a device that ‘routes’ packets of data around a network.
Switch / This is a device that filters and forwards ‘packets’ of data between parts of a LAN. Similar to routers, switches split large networks into small segments, decreasing the number of users sharing the same network resources and bandwidth.
Gateway / This is a hardware or software set-up for exchanging information across different networks. It is required if two networks use a different ‘protocol’. The easiest way to think of this is that the Gateway is like a translation service between two computer systems that speak different languages.
Modem / A modem converts digital signals from a computer to analog signals (modulates) for transmission over telephone lines. It converts incoming analog signals back to digital signals (demodulates) for the receiving computer. It may be contained within the system unit, or externally connected. A standard modem such as this is required for ‘dial-up’ access to the Internet.
DSL Modem / This is a device that connects a computer or network to a larger network via ordinary telephone wiring using digital subscriber line (DSL) technology. Modem is a misnomer in this case since there is no conversion from digital to analog.
Equipment vendors
You should familiarise yourself with common vendors of current computer equipment as well as the future directions and developments for that equipment. You can do this by regularly visiting their websites, as well as websites that provide research, technical reviews and updates, subscribing to IT publications, and so on.
Software
So far we’ve discussed hardware, or physical equipment used in an IT environment. Computers, of course, also need instructions called programs or software, as well as a user, to work. The two main categories of software are system software and application software.
System software
System software is a broad term to describe any of the software that is involved with the efficient running of the computer system. A major part of the system software is called the operating system. In general, the operating system co-ordinates activities between the various pieces of hardware. It performs basic tasks such as recognising input from the keyboard, sending output to the display screen, keeping track of files and directories on the disk, and controlling peripheral devices such as disk drives and printers.
An operating system:
· manages the computer’s resources (memory, disk space, printer etc)
· provides an interface between you and the computer’s hardware i.e. it interprets your keystrokes and mouse clicks
· provides services to the application software (for example a word processor simply sends a message to the operating system when a user selects ‘print’).
There are many different operating systems for PCs, the most common being Windows, of which there are several versions (Windows 2000, Windows XP and so on). Some other operating systems include Linux, Apple OS and so on. These operate on desktop or client machines. There is also operating system software for the server side as well. Windows 2003 Server is an example
Apart from the operating system, other common examples of software are also classified as system software. Examples include device driver software that contains instructions for using a particular peripheral, virus protection software, backup software, file compression software, and so on. All of these are related to the smooth and efficient running of the system.
Virus protection software is extremely important for all computer users. Any time you connect with the Internet or another computer, you are vulnerable to computer viruses. Having current anti virus software, updated on a regular basis, is a must. Examples include Norton’s Anti-virus and MacAfee.
Application software
Application software is the software that you use to do tasks in the workplace such as writing reports or searching for records. There are many different companies that develop and manufacture application software. You’ve probably already used several of these applications yourself.
There are two major classes of application software:
· Custom software: Software that is organisation-specific. It is written especially for a particular organisation to meet its specific needs. Computer programmers are hired to do this.
· Commercial software: This is also called ‘packaged’, or ‘off-the-shelf’ software and produced by software companies to meet the common needs of many users or organisations (such as Microsoft Office).
Categories of commercial software
Word processing/desktop publishing
Word processing software is used mainly for creating and editing text. It generally has limited graphic features, for drawing basic shapes such as lines and circles. Data from other applications can be imported or linked to word-processed documents. Microsoft Word is probably the best-known word processing software. When both text and graphics are extensively used and layout and design is important, desktop publishing packages are used.
Spreadsheets
Spreadsheets are used for performing and storing calculations with numbers. Data from other applications can be imported or linked to spreadsheets. The calculated data can be presented in charts, which improve its appearance immensely and allow you to view trends much more easily. Examples are Microsoft Excel and Lotus 1-2-3. A range of people including IT staff and managers, accounting staff and project managers, use this software.
Database management
Databases are used for storing, searching and retrieving records. Data from other applications can be imported or linked to databases. Reports can be produced in different formats for ease of use. Examples are Microsoft Access, Filemaker and Oracle.