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In this lesson, we're going to talk about

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steps four and five of the troubleshooting methodology,

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which is to establish a plan of action

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and to implement the solution or escalate as necessary.

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Now, CompTIA likes to word this

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as establish a plan of action to resolve the problem

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and implement the solution,

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and also refer to the vendor's instructions for guidance.

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Now, when we're establishing a plan of action

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to resolve the problem, what we are trying to do

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is figure out how are we going to solve

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that underlying probable cause that we identified

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back in step two and verified in step three.

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At this point, we haven't actually solved the problem,

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but we've identified it

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and we've verified that that problem exists

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and we know what the problem is.

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So now we need to establish our plan of action.

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For example, if we are dealing with a power problem

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and we've identified that the power supply is bad,

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we can then do a couple of different things.

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We could repair it, we could replace it,

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or we can issue a workaround.

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Now, when we repair something, we need to determine

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how much is it going to cost to repair something.

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For example, my kid has an iPad

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and they actually cracked the screen on it.

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Now I can fix that screen, but what I found out

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was it wasn't worth the repair.

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The cost to get a new screen for that iPad was about 350

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to $400, and that's if I was going to install it myself.

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The cost of a brand new iPad was only about 450

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to $500 on sale that week.

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So I just decided it wasn't worth repairing

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this 2-year-old device,

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and so instead, I opted for option number two,

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which is to replace the device.

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Now, in this case, instead of replacing the screen,

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I actually replaced the entire iPad

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because it made more fiscal sense

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to replace the entire device

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and get a new one that's going to last another two

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or three years than it was to repair that single component

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because other components could then start failing as well.

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So this is one of those judgment calls

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that you're going to have to make,

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and generally in an organization, you're going to get some left

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and right guidelines of when it makes sense to repair

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versus replace a given component or system in your network.

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Another option you have is a workaround.

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Now, not all problems you encounter are going to be life

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and death critical things that must be solved today

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at all costs.

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Now, in some cases, it might be too time consuming

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to repair something or too expensive to replace it,

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and in those cases it may be better just to do a workaround.

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For example, let's say I'm on a business trip

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and I have a really expensive laptop with me.

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But as I was out there working, I actually dropped it

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and the screen cracked, and now I can't work on this laptop.

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Now I'm not going to be home from this business trip

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for another two or three weeks,

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and I need to have this machine working right now.

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So I have a couple of options.

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I can actually replace the screen right now

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by going and doing an emergency overnight fix

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that might cost me two or three times as much money.

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Or I can actually delay

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because I know somebody there has the tools, technology,

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and ability to replace that screen for me

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at a very low cost.

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Now, in the meantime,

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I still need to be able to get work done.

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So do I want to spend $2,000 to fix this machine right now

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that'll last me in the next two weeks.

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Or if I wait two weeks until I get back to the office,

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it might only cost me $200.

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Well, there's a third option, I can create a workaround.

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In this case, and I might go to

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the local office supply store and buy a $99 monitor

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to use for the next two weeks

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while I'm working out of my hotel room.

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That would work just fine as a workaround,

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but not as a long-term replacement

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because this is a laptop after all,

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and I don't want to have to always carry around

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a big monitor with me every place I go.

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So in this case, I might buy $100 monitor,

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set it up in my hotel room, use it while I'm there,

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and then donate it to charity as I leave that city.

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I've actually done this several times,

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not because of a broken monitor,

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but because when I'm working in a hotel room

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and I'm going to be someplace for three or four or five weeks,

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I don't want to have to work off a little 13 inch monitor.

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So instead, I might go to the local store and buy a 20, 24

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or 27 inch monitor for about 100 or $150,

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use it for the three to five weeks that I'm in that area,

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and then donate it to a local charity before I leave.

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That way I can use the large screen that I need

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for that three to five weeks

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without having to carry it onto a plane

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as I fly all over the place

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and so I've actually done this several times,

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especially when I'm going to someplace

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for a longer period of time.

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If I'm only going to be there for a day or two,

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I'll just use my smaller laptop monitor.

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But if I'm going to be gone for a significant amount of time,

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I will buy an extra monitor as a workaround

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to give me the larger screen that I need when I'm working.

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So keep this in mind.

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When you're dealing with a problem,

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usually you're going to have three main things you can do

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as part of your plan of action.

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You can repair it, you can replace it,

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or you can create a workaround.

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Now, in addition to figuring out what you're going to do,

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you also need to plan how it's going to be done,

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and this is known as establishing a plan of action.

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Now, when you devise your plan of action, you're going to say,

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how much resources, how much time,

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and how much cost is there going to be associated

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with the given solution you're choosing?

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Also, if there's any impacts to the other users

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or other systems, you need to identify those as well

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and depending on your corporate policies

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and procedures, you might need to seek permission

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to be able to go through with your plan.

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For example, when I was the IT director

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for a large organization, I couldn't just reboot the servers

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anytime of the day or night that I felt like it.

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I had to go up to the executives

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and say, "Hey, here's my plan for the upgrade

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"we're going to do, I want to reboot the servers.

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"We're going to have five minutes of downtime

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"during that reboot period.

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"What is a good time for the business

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"for me to be able to do this?"

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And they might say,

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"Between two and three in the morning

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"would be a great time to do it because everyone's asleep.

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"You don't want to do it in the middle of the afternoon

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"in prime business hours

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"when we're trying to use the network."

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And so these are things you're going to have to figure out

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based on your organization

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and how you're going to implement your plan of action.

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Another thing to keep in mind

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is that a lot of systems work together,

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and so if you're working on a single machine,

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such as an end user's machine, it probably isn't going to be

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that big of a deal and you can reboot it without permission.

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But if you're working on a server, like a file server,

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a print server, or a domain controller,

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this can have a massive effect across the organization.

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For example, if you're working on the domain controller

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and you reboot that, this can prevent users

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from being able to log into their own workstations

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because the domain controller isn't available

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to do that authentication.

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On the other hand, if you're doing something

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like a file server, this is actually going to disconnect

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all the users from the file server, but they can still print

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and they can still log into the servers

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because the print server

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and domain controller may still be up.

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So it's important to understand what is the impact

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of your particular solution that you're doing

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as part of your plan of action.

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Once you have that plan of action in place

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and you've got the authority to move ahead,

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you can then implement your solution.

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This might be installing a new update,

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replacing a piece of hardware or rebooting a system.

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Regardless of what it is,

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you need to make sure you stick with the plan of action

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you've created and follow the steps that you've outlined

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because that's what everyone is expecting you to do.

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If you have a change to that plan,

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you're going to need to go back and get authorization again,

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because remember, any changes could implement

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the larger system and other things across the network

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that you may not be aware of.

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So you need to keep that in mind

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and make sure you're always working

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as part of the larger team

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when you are establishing your plan of action

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and implementing your solution.