FITS PRACTITIONER QUALIFICATION - DO YOU HAVE ONE? WORTH IT?

[janharper]

I'm considering the FITS (Framework for IC Technical Support) Practitioner qualification and wonder if you have any comments or feedback about it? Was it worth the investment (circa £500) and did the training pay off? Thanks for any thoughts.

FITS Practitioner Course | The FITS Foundation

[john]

@GrumbleDook is certainly a fountain of info on FITS and will know a few members who have been involved in it

[russdev]

I'm considering the FITS (Framework for IC Technical Support) Practitioner qualification and wonder if you have any comments or feedback about it? Was it worth the investment (circa £500) and did the training pay off? Thanks for any thoughts.

FITS Practitioner Course | The FITS Foundation

 

I did the course a while back...

 

EduGeek.net - Making IT Support FIT: A Course delivered by XMA that every ICT Support Technician Should Attend.

 

Russ

[GrumbleDook]

*NB Declaration of Interest - I Am a FITS Trainer and have been involved with supporting in during its Becta days and sat on the advisory group for The FITS Foundation*

 

FITS as a framework to help your school with managing, deploying, supporting and choosing the right technology for the school (whether to keep the school running or as tools to meet the curriculum needs) is pretty spot on ... most with a background of service management will say it is common sense, and it is easier to explain to SLT than ITIL is.

 

If you haven't delved into ITIL (or other service management models) or PRINCE2 (or other project management models) in the past then it is also a good grounding which will help you develop.

 

As an investment to get better jobs, I would say that it can be when backed up by the relevant demonstration of application. Personally I think pretty much all certification works best that way anyway when job hunting.

 

There are historic materials around for FITS 1.5 if you want to do a bit of self-study but there are some significant differences in FITS 2 (in the same way there are in ITIL v2 and v3) and there are a number of use around who have either done the courses (including the advanced / manager course) or are trainers.

 

If you are asking would it pay off in your existing school ... then yes it can do, but you need buy-in from your SLT. They need to recognise that it can bring significant improvements to the school, as well as cost savings. IIRC The FITS Foundation do have some case studies around this, and I have copies of some of the old ones from Becta days if needed. I know that Trevor at The FITS Foundation can also run an SLT based awareness session to a group of schools the help them understand the benefit.

 

FITS is still recognised by the DfE within their procurements for IT based services as the IT Support and Management standard within Education.

 

The downside ... the course, due to it now only being a 2 day course with minimal pre-study, is NCF level 3 (it used to be level 4) via SQA. It still makes it very useful and transferable, but you also need to do the Advanced course (level 4) to transfer any credits. Any transfer on credits is a case by case basis by most universities (including Open University). You might also find that some of the roles and activities you come across in the course (inc financial management, etc) are taken already by others within your school and the politics involved in having to manage this is a very personal thing, so it is not covered by the course. The course also does not cover staff management, including supporting the development of your staff ... but it is only a 2 day course ... you can't expect everything in there (and there are plenty of other courses out there which cover this, including via the ILM).

 

If you do have any other questions then feel free to PM me.

[janharper]

Thank you for taking the time to let me have this feedback - it is much appreciated!

[EliteCommander]

Here's a reply I just posted on a non-educational forum for someone looking for help in re-structuring his helpdesk and support methods

 

I have just attended and qualified for the Practitioner level, and although with my background in Helpdesk and support roles, most of it was fairly obvious, it does make you consider best practices and can help to get your team all "singing from the same book"

 

In short, I agree with Grumbledook, even if most of it seems to be common sense it can still prompt you to think about methods and thought processes of those you are supporting and working with

[GrumbleDook]

Here's a reply I just posted on a non-educational forum for someone looking for help in re-structuring his helpdesk and support methods

 

I have just attended and qualified for the Practitioner level, and although with my background in Helpdesk and support roles, most of it was fairly obvious, it does make you consider best practices and can help to get your team all "singing from the same book"

 

In short, I agree with Grumbledook, even if most of it seems to be common sense it can still prompt you to think about methods and thought processes of those you are supporting and working with

 

Welcome.

 

Good to see folk are still buying into FITS ... for many schools it can make a significant difference in support management. It would interesting to hear your experiences as you put elements into practice. Some examples are bound to need posting Behind The Red Door though ;-)