FITS OM: Why have Operations Management functions?
The FITS OM functions both define all the activities to be carried out and also act as a benchmark to measure the effectiveness of existing operations management. The FITS OM functions also help schools put in place the operations management policies they need. These policies determine how the technology is managed to support the ICT services. The activities in each function allow technical support staff to manage the day-to-day workload within the scope defined in the policies.
On the whole, the network technology and technical support in schools have grown organically over time. Effective planning in order to cover all aspects of ICT infrastructure management have made way for constant reactive fire-fighting just to keep ICT services available as much as possible to the users in the school. When they have time, most network managers and technicians have used their experience and knowledge to put in place activities to keep the network as available and reliable as possible. However, they do not always carry out some of the essential activities, which leaves the school vulnerable to network failures, poor performance and attacks by hackers that will have an adverse impact on the learning, teaching and management in the school.