Routine IT Tasks

[Ya_know]

Do you kick the users off for an hour while you defrag their workstations??

Only in 9x...

[jimmm33]

Most networks I deal with are 2-10 machines. Defrag as the employee leaves for the day or at lunch, or any way it can be done. In a big network with dedicated IT staff, I don't know if the boss would like that. For the purposes of documentation, you may want to schedule defrag once a month during after hours.

I guess it comes down to you companys needs. If you find that after a month, then machines are only 5-10% fragmented then check after two months. Maybe schedule defrags for every 3 months on workstations.

Point is to pack the documentation full of duties you perform to prove your value.

[machineman]

If they are not technical, they're gonna look at your list and think you sleep. We went through this a few years ago and looked light duty on paper. If your list looks thin, get the "other" list ready that has: spent two days patching for new virus, troubleshoot connection issue, fix failed back up, run restore, all day phone with vendor for repair, bust hump, ect.

Unless your a showman, they rarely remeber this.

Our "they"s have a bigger list of duties then they know what to do with now that we use a help desk package.

And that cost them 30 to 60 minutes a day per tech for work tickects.

[RickyDink]

I have had to document the "who to call" list for emergency and routine on call procedures.

Also a complete inventory of all IT assets to determine availability and lease return/replacement schedules. This can be an annual inventory or more frequent.

[ScorpioIlya]

How do you guys run printer maintenance if you're not a printer tech...we have 3 HP laserjets...2 of them have print servers installed....so what sort of maintenanc do you do? Physical, or self -running...

[Ya_know]

How do you guys run printer maintenance if you're not a printer tech...we have 3 HP laserjets...2 of them have print servers installed....so what sort of maintenanc do you do? Physical, or self -running...

Cleaning and install maintenance kits when needed. Should include transfer roller, fuser, and pickup and feed rollers for HP products. I don't know about other brands...

Anything beyond that, I take them outside, blow them out with a little compressed air, looks for ware on gears...paper shrapnel caught in paper paths. Check paper drawers for missing or broken pieces, and test all paper paths.

Then if it's something I can't fix with any of the above, call a local certified printer repair company. Let them handle it!

[ScorpioIlya]

Cleaning and install maintenance kits when needed. Should include transfer roller, fuser, and pickup and feed rollers for HP products. I don't know about other brands...

Anything beyond that, I take them outside, blow them out with a little compressed air, looks for ware on gears...paper shrapnel caught in paper paths. Check paper drawers for missing or broken pieces, and test all paper paths.

Then if it's something I can't fix with any of the above, call a local certified printer repair company. Let them handle it!

Okay but how often do you replace all that? Once a year? 2 years?

[Ya_know]

Okay but how often do you replace all that? Once a year? 2 years?

Maintenance kits are to be replaced after a certain page cycle, most are around 100,000. That doesn't mean that they have to, but the manufacturer recommends it. I typically go until the printer shows troubles with bad product, or difficulty picking up pages, or pieces of the fuser drum coming off . As long as you get it before it causes serious problems with the printer, such as grinding gears or serious mechanical issues, you should be alright. I’ve made it well over 200,000 between kits on a 5si…

You should inspect the printer every time there is an issue with it, and if you rarely have to look at it, at least twice a year clean it up inside, and do your inspections them...and keep track of the page count between major maintenance, and check that periodically.

Lastly, it's important to know when to draw the line. If you don't know what you are doing, it is cheaper to call someone in to do a repair then mess things up, and have to replace more parts...

[mrl1te]

Be Careful! Maybe I am just being paranoid, but usually there is a reason behind the Powers that Be asking for such things. Oh, like all the passwords to the server. Seen this happen to a few friends of mine where they were asked to document everything and once they turned it in, they got a check and a smile to leave and let a consultant take over their job.

This doesn't always mean it is going to happen, but it just helps to keep your ear to the ground when things like this are in the air.