The definition for Technical Support as developed by approximately 100 Thought Leaders (mostly Chief Technology Officers and Chief Information Officers) through three meetings and follow-up surveys to gain consensus is:
Technical Support refers to services that entities provide to users of technology products or services. In general, technical support provides help regarding specific problems with a software, hardware or network product or service. In some organizations it may include training. — This definition was adapted from Wikipedia with input from national IT Thought Leaders.
After the “thought leader” meetings, subject matter experts (SMEs) for this "Technical Support" cluster were recruited to attend meetings held to discuss, rank, and revise a pro-forma list of tasks, knowledge, skills, and abilities. The meeting discussion and vote results were synthesized and presented again to the SMEs who participated in the meetings for verification.
Note: The goal of this grant is to consider these all “living documents” subject to ongoing revision quarterly based on additional SME comments submitted below. While the time required to provide SME comments may vary, the estimated completion time for all 4 sections below is 45- 60 minutes. SMEs can choose which sections to comment on.
*Anyone is welcome to use, modify, and/or distribute ITSS findings and data, but you must give clear attribution to the source of this material by citing “IT Skill Standards 2020 and Beyond (NSF ATE project grant DUE 1838535).”