Standards management is driven by two major factors - customer requests and industry direction. Our resources are highly skilled with these software products and can provide assistance at a variety of levels. However, Information Technology support resources also have skills in a variety of other products and will attempt to either provide help or find someone who can help, regardless of whether or not the software in question is part of the standard support suite. Any deviation from standards should have a need justification as to why standard configurations should not be followed. The industry essentially dictates many standards based on availability of software version and equipment.
Early testing is a requirement.
Support resources will focus their training effort on standard supported items to enable an improved level of support for the customers. Revised specifications are announced after the hardware staff has accomplished thorough testing. All new workstations should meet these standards as a minimum. Being able to focus on the UAMS standards will narrow the breadth of what must be supported and lead to improved customer-support and satisfaction. Standards also allow much of the management of the desktop to be done remotely, increasing the speed at which the support can be rendered and lowering the cost by not having to send a technician to the desktop.