quiz one

chapters 1-4 of cst 4700

Systems Management

The activity of identifying and integrating products and processes to provide a stable and responsive IT environment.

Stability

The metric ensuring systems are always up and accessible as scheduled, measured by uptime availability, MTBF, and MTTR.

Responsiveness

How quickly batch jobs and online transactions are processed and completed by an IT system.

Computer Environment

The ecosystem of hardware, software, data, and networks working together to process information and provide services.

Batch Job

An automated IT process grouping large amounts of repetitive data that runs without human intervention during off-peak hours.

Throughput

The number of batch jobs processed per hour.

Turnaround Time

The average time required to complete a batch job.

Response Time

The average time in seconds to complete an online transaction or completed transactions per second.

Business Case

A document providing clear cost justification for investing in new systems by comparing itemized costs to expected financial benefits.

Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF)

A reliability metric calculated as 1 divided by Failure Rate or Total Hours divided by Number of Failures.

Mean Time to Recover (MTTR)

The average time required to repair, restore, and bring a system back to full operational status after an outage or failure

Failure Rate

The percentage of failures occurring over a total time period, calculated as Number of Failures divided by Total Hours.

Overlooked Costs

Frequently omitted business case costs including recruiting, training, physical office space, software enhancements, and maintenance.

IT Infrastructure

The hardware, software, network conduits, and facilities that underpin an organization's IT applications and services.

Strategic Planning

Long-term planning focused on broad objectives and answering "What are we doing?".

Tactical Planning

Short-term operational planning focused on immediate steps and answering "How will we get there?".

World-Class

A term describing a person, thing, or activity that is among the best in the world.

Moment of Truth

The initial interaction at the service desk where a customer forms a lasting opinion of IT quality based on ring count, menu setup, and agent attitude.

Process Owner

An individual responsible for designing, leading, implementing, documenting, and reporting metrics for a specific ITSM process.

Capacity Planning

The process of estimating required computer hardware, software, storage, and network resources over a future period.

IT Systems Management Unit

A dedicated department reporting directly to infrastructure leadership that manages critical IT processes.

Full-Time Equivalent (FTE)

A standardized workload capacity metric representing the hours worked by one full-time employee (40 hours per week).

Skill Set

Technical familiarity with a specific software product, architecture, or platform.

Skill Level

The depth of technical expertise and length of experience an individual possesses.

Onboarding

The HR process of integrating a new external employee into an organization and its culture.

Inboarding

The process of transitioning an existing internal employee into a new infrastructure role.

Attitude

An employee's outlook and demeanor, including eagerness to learn, willingness to follow procedures, and teamwork.

Aptitude

A candidate's natural capacity or potential to learn and retain new technical skills.

Applicability

An individual's ability to put their existing skills and experience to immediate, effective use.

Depth of Experience

The level of technical complexity a person has mastered with a given product or process.

Variety of Experience

The number of different platforms or environments an individual has worked in using a specific technology.

Currency of Experience

How recent and up-to-date an individual's technical experience is with a given technology.

Attrition

The reduction of staff through normal means such as retirement, resignation, or career transitions.

Consultant

An external expert hired for high-level strategic or analytical tasks such as audits, capacity studies, or process re-engineering.

Contractor

A technical worker hired to perform specific, hands-on operational deliverables such as coding or interface configuration.

Service Level Agreement (SLA)

A documented, negotiated agreement between IT and an end-user department defining performance metrics and expected service quality.

Mission-Critical

Hardware, software, or services vital to the continuous functioning and core business operations of an organization.

Legacy System

An outdated computer system or application, typically involving mainframes or batch processing.

Key Customers

A small representative group of users whose success critically depends on IT services and whose feedback measures customer satisfaction.

Key Services

Essential IT deliverables required by key customers that directly support their core business functions.

Key Processes

The underlying operational workflows that produce and deliver key IT services.

Key Suppliers

Individuals or vendors who provide direct input, products, or technical support to key IT processes.

Customer/Supplier Matrix

A customer service tool integrating key customers, key services, key processes, and key suppliers into a single framework.

Four Cardinal Sins

Four major judgment errors that undermine IT customer service: assuming non-complaining users are satisfied, assuming you have no customers, measuring only what IT wants, and relying solely on written SLAs.