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This occupation is found in organisations, large and small, in all sectors, and within public, private and voluntary organisations.
Organisations increasingly rely on computer and communications systems in all areas of their operations and decision-making processes. It is therefore crucial to ensure the optimal performance and maintenance of systems. An Information Communication Technician (ICT) is critical to achieving this.
The broad purpose of the ICT occupation is to deliver efficient operation and control of the IT and/or Telecommunications infrastructure (comprising physical or virtual hardware, software, network services and data storage) either on-premises or to end-users provisioned as cloud services that is required to deliver and support the information systems needs of an organisation.
The occupation includes contributing to the preparation for new or changed services, operation of the change process, the maintenance of regulatory, legal and professional standards, the building and management of systems and components in virtualised and cloud computing environments and the monitoring of performance of systems and services in relation to their contribution to business performance, their security and their sustainability.
The Information Communications Technician makes their contribution through the application of infrastructure management tools to automate the provisioning, testing, deployment and monitoring of infrastructure components.
An Information Communications Technician (ICT) provides support to internal and/or external customers, by using tools or systems to problem solve and trouble-shoot routine and non-routine problems. This occupation supports clients/customers with their systems. They achieve this through monitoring and maintaining the systems and/or platforms to maximise productivity and user experience.
An ICT could be installing and configuring computer systems, diagnosing hardware and/or software faults, solving technical and applications problems, either remotely or in person. Some examples of these issues are slow performance, connection problems, and an inability to access data.
The work of an ICT involves undertaking a vast array of specialist roles supporting business critical requirements and focus on customer solutions. Networking, Server, IT Essentials, Secure Communications, programming, and databases are just an example of typical tasks and projects undertaken within the likely areas of employment.
In their daily work, an employee in this occupation interacts with a wide variety of internal or external users of digital systems, through digital channels, remotely and/or face to face.
An employee in this occupation will be responsible for prioritising systems support tasks as they arise and for monitoring and maintaining system performance. They may work alone or as part of a team but will escalate problems in line with their organisation's policies and Service Level Agreements. For example, if the task may not be completed on premise, it may have to be referred to an external specialist.
The Support Technician role is desk based resolving system user queries and resolving faults in a helpdesk environment. For example, a Support Technician in a Travel Agent would use a system to manage their customer bookings and when the system fails it needs rectifying rapidly in order to reduce the financial impact and damage to customer reputation. The business would contact a Support Technician to report the problem and either get it fixed or escalated to an engineer.
A Network Technician role is usually desk based but may involve visits to client’s premises to resolve issues. For example, a Network Technician working in a university or a college they may be installing a computer lab as a training suite including cabling and hardware requirements. They may be required to install cloud services to support a business expansion and provide better network services.
In a contact centre environment, they may use network management tools to collect and report on network load and performance statistics to improve commercial outcomes.
In a retail bank they may contribute to the implementation of maintenance and installation work using standard procedures and tools to carry out defined system backups, restoring data where necessary.
A Digital Communications Technician may be desk or field-based resolving faults and issues with communications systems. For example, working in a defence organisation operates as an Online Network Technician they would be at the heart of every mission solving complex issues, enabling the secure exchange of mission critical and often Top-Secret information. It would be their responsibility to administer and provide specialist communications and IT equipment including classified information and cryptographic material to guarantee Operational Capability is delivered to the Command.
A digital communications technician working for a large telecom’s organisation could be involved in the build, test and integration of end-to-end customer solutions to support customer order delivery. Not to mention the build, test and maintenance of core and mobile radio access networks, working with both internal and external customers.
A digital communications technician working for a large telecom’s organisation could be involved in the build, test and integration of end-to-end customer solutions to support customer order delivery. Not to mention the build, test and maintenance of core and mobile radio access networks, working with both internal and external customers.
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| Duty | KSBs |
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Duty 1 Provide technical support to customers both internal and external through a range of communication channels |
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Duty 2 Establish and diagnose ICT problems/faults using the required troubleshooting methodology and tools |
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Duty 3 Interpret technical specifications relevant to the ICT task |
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Duty 4 Apply the appropriate security policies to ICT tasks in line with organisational requirements |
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Duty 5 Undertake the relevant processes with the relevant tools and technologies to resolve ICT technical issues |
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Duty 6 Communicate with all levels of stakeholders, talking them through steps to take to resolve issues or set up systems, keeping them informed of progress and managing escalation and expectations |
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Duty 7 Apply appropriate testing methodologies to hardware or software or cabling assets |
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Duty 8 Practice guided continuous self learning to keep up to date with technological developments to enhance relevant skills and take responsibility for own professional development |
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Duty 9 Document or escalate ICT tasks as appropriate to ensure a clear audit trail and progression of issues |
| Duty | KSBs |
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Duty 10 Install and configure relevant software and hardware as appropriate for example: mobile apps, printers, projectors, scanners and cameras. |
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Duty 11 Address IT issues by prioritising in response to customer service level agreements |
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Duty 12 Administer security access requirements and permissions for stakeholders escalating as necessary for example password resets |
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Duty 13 Support the roll out of upgrades or new systems or applications |
K14: fundamental principles of operating systems, hardware system architectures and devices
Back to Duty
K15: principles of remote operation of devices including how to deploy and securely integrate mobile devices into a network
Back to Duty
K16: fundamental principles of peripherals for example: printers and scanners
Back to Duty
K17: principles of virtualisation of servers, applications and networks
Back to Duty
K18: principles of disaster recovery, how a disaster recovery plan works and their role within it
Back to Duty
K19: principles of Test Plans, their role and significance
Back to Duty
K20: fundamentals of purpose, creation and maintenance of asset registers
Back to Duty
K21: approaches to system upgrades and updates and their significance
Back to Duty
K22: approaches to interpretation of log files, event viewer and system tools
Back to Duty
K23: basic elements of network infrastructure architectures including WiFi and wired networks
Back to Duty
S9: Install or undertake basic software upgrades,either physically or remotely
Back to Duty
S10: Establish and diagnose the extent of the IT support task, in line with the organisation's policies and Service Level Agreements
Back to Duty
S13: Identify and scope the best solution informed by the system data associated with the task
Back to Duty
S14: Test and evaluate the system's performance and compliance with customer requirements.
Back to Duty
S15: Escalate non routine problems in line with procedures
Back to Duty
S16: Use basic scripting to execute the relevant tasks for example PowerShell, Linux
Back to Duty
S17: Carry out routine maintenance across systems, (such as IT, Communications), ensuring organisational compliance at all times
Back to Duty
S18: Apply the necessary security, in line with access and/or encryption requirements
Back to Duty
B1: Works professionally, taking initiative as appropriate and acting with an ethical approach
Back to Duty
B3: Demonstrates a productive and organised approach to their work
Back to Duty
Awarding organisation: NCFE
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