In this lesson, we're going to talk about
steps four and five of the troubleshooting methodology,
which is to establish a plan of action
and to implement the solution or escalate as necessary.
Now, CompTIA likes to word this
as establish a plan of action to resolve the problem
and implement the solution,
and also refer to the vendor's instructions for guidance.
Now, when we're establishing a plan of action
to resolve the problem, what we are trying to do
is figure out how are we going to solve
that underlying probable cause that we identified
back in step two and verified in step three.
At this point, we haven't actually solved the problem,
but we've identified it
and we've verified that that problem exists
and we know what the problem is.
So now we need to establish our plan of action.
For example, if we are dealing with a power problem
and we've identified that the power supply is bad,
we can then do a couple of different things.
We could repair it, we could replace it,
or we can issue a workaround.
Now, when we repair something, we need to determine
how much is it going to cost to repair something.
For example, my kid has an iPad
and they actually cracked the screen on it.
Now I can fix that screen, but what I found out
was it wasn't worth the repair.
The cost to get a new screen for that iPad was about 350
to $400, and that's if I was going to install it myself.
The cost of a brand new iPad was only about 450
to $500 on sale that week.
So I just decided it wasn't worth repairing
this 2-year-old device,
and so instead, I opted for option number two,
which is to replace the device.
Now, in this case, instead of replacing the screen,
I actually replaced the entire iPad
because it made more fiscal sense
to replace the entire device
and get a new one that's going to last another two
or three years than it was to repair that single component
because other components could then start failing as well.
So this is one of those judgment calls
that you're going to have to make,
and generally in an organization, you're going to get some left
and right guidelines of when it makes sense to repair
versus replace a given component or system in your network.
Another option you have is a workaround.
Now, not all problems you encounter are going to be life
and death critical things that must be solved today
at all costs.
Now, in some cases, it might be too time consuming
to repair something or too expensive to replace it,
and in those cases it may be better just to do a workaround.
For example, let's say I'm on a business trip
and I have a really expensive laptop with me.
But as I was out there working, I actually dropped it
and the screen cracked, and now I can't work on this laptop.
Now I'm not going to be home from this business trip
for another two or three weeks,
and I need to have this machine working right now.
So I have a couple of options.
I can actually replace the screen right now
by going and doing an emergency overnight fix
that might cost me two or three times as much money.
Or I can actually delay
because I know somebody there has the tools, technology,
and ability to replace that screen for me
at a very low cost.
Now, in the meantime,
I still need to be able to get work done.
So do I want to spend $2,000 to fix this machine right now
that'll last me in the next two weeks.
Or if I wait two weeks until I get back to the office,
it might only cost me $200.
Well, there's a third option, I can create a workaround.
In this case, and I might go to
the local office supply store and buy a $99 monitor
to use for the next two weeks
while I'm working out of my hotel room.
That would work just fine as a workaround,
but not as a long-term replacement
because this is a laptop after all,
and I don't want to have to always carry around
a big monitor with me every place I go.
So in this case, I might buy $100 monitor,
set it up in my hotel room, use it while I'm there,
and then donate it to charity as I leave that city.
I've actually done this several times,
not because of a broken monitor,
but because when I'm working in a hotel room
and I'm going to be someplace for three or four or five weeks,
I don't want to have to work off a little 13 inch monitor.
So instead, I might go to the local store and buy a 20, 24
or 27 inch monitor for about 100 or $150,
use it for the three to five weeks that I'm in that area,
and then donate it to a local charity before I leave.
That way I can use the large screen that I need
for that three to five weeks
without having to carry it onto a plane
as I fly all over the place
and so I've actually done this several times,
especially when I'm going to someplace
for a longer period of time.
If I'm only going to be there for a day or two,
I'll just use my smaller laptop monitor.
But if I'm going to be gone for a significant amount of time,
I will buy an extra monitor as a workaround
to give me the larger screen that I need when I'm working.
So keep this in mind.
When you're dealing with a problem,
usually you're going to have three main things you can do
as part of your plan of action.
You can repair it, you can replace it,
or you can create a workaround.
Now, in addition to figuring out what you're going to do,
you also need to plan how it's going to be done,
and this is known as establishing a plan of action.
Now, when you devise your plan of action, you're going to say,
how much resources, how much time,
and how much cost is there going to be associated
with the given solution you're choosing?
Also, if there's any impacts to the other users
or other systems, you need to identify those as well
and depending on your corporate policies
and procedures, you might need to seek permission
to be able to go through with your plan.
For example, when I was the IT director
for a large organization, I couldn't just reboot the servers
anytime of the day or night that I felt like it.
I had to go up to the executives
and say, "Hey, here's my plan for the upgrade
"we're going to do, I want to reboot the servers.
"We're going to have five minutes of downtime
"during that reboot period.
"What is a good time for the business
"for me to be able to do this?"
And they might say,
"Between two and three in the morning
"would be a great time to do it because everyone's asleep.
"You don't want to do it in the middle of the afternoon
"in prime business hours
"when we're trying to use the network."
And so these are things you're going to have to figure out
based on your organization
and how you're going to implement your plan of action.
Another thing to keep in mind
is that a lot of systems work together,
and so if you're working on a single machine,
such as an end user's machine, it probably isn't going to be
that big of a deal and you can reboot it without permission.
But if you're working on a server, like a file server,
a print server, or a domain controller,
this can have a massive effect across the organization.
For example, if you're working on the domain controller
and you reboot that, this can prevent users
from being able to log into their own workstations
because the domain controller isn't available
to do that authentication.
On the other hand, if you're doing something
like a file server, this is actually going to disconnect
all the users from the file server, but they can still print
and they can still log into the servers
because the print server
and domain controller may still be up.
So it's important to understand what is the impact
of your particular solution that you're doing
as part of your plan of action.
Once you have that plan of action in place
and you've got the authority to move ahead,
you can then implement your solution.
This might be installing a new update,
replacing a piece of hardware or rebooting a system.
Regardless of what it is,
you need to make sure you stick with the plan of action
you've created and follow the steps that you've outlined
because that's what everyone is expecting you to do.
If you have a change to that plan,
you're going to need to go back and get authorization again,
because remember, any changes could implement
the larger system and other things across the network
that you may not be aware of.
So you need to keep that in mind
and make sure you're always working
as part of the larger team
when you are establishing your plan of action
and implementing your solution.