The consulting function should be similarly distributed between the department and central resources. OCs should be the first contact for questions. If they need help in solving the problem, they have a direct line to the experts in the IT organization. If the OC is not available, the department might arrange for central support to provide temporary backup. If the same question keeps coming up, the OC can provide, or even impose, training in that area.
Departmental support is the primary source for training and consulting specific to a discipline.
An OC assigned to the Spanish department can best develop the training materials for the use of the Spanish keyboard and dictionaries. In our distributed model, however, the central support staff would be aware of the special capabilities of the department. In this manner, the institution benefits from both the depth and breadth of training and consulting capabilities. Developing technology tools for distributed support. Both consulting and training needs are reduced when the information infrastructure is reliable and consistent.