Technical Support
As access to technology has increased in our schools, so has the complexity of maintaining that equipment. Trained technicians with a reasonable number of computers to support are needed if we are to manage our investment in technology and continue our progress.
Guilford County’s technical support is provided by full-time employees of the district and is augmented by contracted positions. In October 2000, a plan was proposed and accepted that allowed Technology Services to reduce the number of contracted positions and transfer operating funds into salaries. Even so, the technician to computer ratio is 1:870 due to the constant increase of computers in the district each year.
Network Analysts and Technical Support Specialists address the task of implementing and maintaining our local area networks and desktop equipment. Their duties include network design, server installation, email services, desktop configuration and continued support of users.
The technical support staff is divided into teams to better address specific needs (Deployment and Central Servers, Central Office and School Administration, Elementary Schools, Middle/High Schools, Career & Technical Educaton, and Help Desk). In addition to major replacement projects, the technical support team completed over 26,000 help desk requests last year. The average completion time for all requests was .8 days
Job descriptions for all positions in the Technology Services Department can be found at:
Job Descriptions
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User Support
Several employees are assigned to user support.
The Help Desk is responsible for helping users open tickets, assigning tickets to correct teams, answering users questions and assisting them when possible.
A User Account employee is responsible for setting up new accounts, creating and managing distribution lists, home directories and passwords. They also support the Help Desk.
A Program Specialist serves as a liaison between the Curriculum Improvement Division and Technology Services and is involved with evaluation and deployment of district software. Also, often coordinates and participates in training activities.
Trainers are dedicated to assisting schools with successfully using technology at their individual sites. They communicate with the technical teams and provide support to school users on technology requests, issues and upgrades (handouts, web sites, courses).
A Web Technician trains and assists the schools and central office departments with the development and updating of their webpages withing the GCS website.
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areas of the school system, administrative as well as instructional. The staff is responsible for network engineering, technical support, user support, software maintenance, web resources, infrastructure, Internet access, security and repair of all computers in the district. The department is also responsible for the web site and all major business applications including student information management.