Definition

Support services are designed to help for the use of a tool or a service. They also contribute to the update and maintenance for a service an institution provides. This type of contribution includes help-desks (services charged to answer requests from the users). It can be an automated help-desk (email address). On a second level, support services can be the components helping to maintain the configuration for a software. It can be human support, on the base of a service level agreement, or a help-desk providing the information for the maintenance of a service.

Enterprise Viewpoint

Community

Support Services IKC comprise of the following community.

  • Support Provision Community: Community providing, maintaining and receiving the support services.

Support Services Roles

  • Support Provision Subsystem (passive role): the community component that represents the support provision community as a whole.
  • Support Provider (active role): the agent who provides the support activity (e.g. institution)
  • Support Implementer (active role): the agent/or system who performs the support service
  • Support Receiver (active role): subject of the consultancy. The agent who instantiates the request for support and receives the outcome of it.
  • Support Provision Service System (passive): the system and/or policies used to run a support service.

Support Services Behaviours

  • Support Management: the behaviour of the Support Provider, who overviews the running of the support services, and ensures the maintenance of the service.
  • Support Execution: the behaviour of the Support Implementer, who maintains the service.

Information Viewpoint

Differently from the Enterprise viewpoint (where the community was central), for this type of in-kind contribution the information type represents the core of the investigation. The information type needs to be considered in itself, with no reference from the community that created or is responsible for it.

Information Object Types:

  • Data:
    • Support Documentation: the documentation component of the support service (Helpdesk)
  • Agents:
    • Support Provider: the agent who legally provides the support activity (e.g. institution)
    • Support Implementer: the agent/or system who performs the support service
    • Support Receiver: the agent who instantiates the request for support and receives the outcome of it.

  • Service: AAI (authentication subsystem): system to authenticate the user in order to access the support service.

  • Contracts:
    • Support Service Contract: Service Level Agreement between the Support provider and the Support implementer, that provides a support activity