Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. 833 Chapter 24 Customer Support, Communication, and Professionalism Inventory Management Traditionally, a business will have two kinds of hardware inventory: capital inventory for depreciable items with multi-year life, and expenses inventory for consumable items. Expenses inventory is sometimes referred to as M and O inventory because the supplies are often related to maintenance and operations. Capital inventory, such as a desktop or laptop computer, usually receives a diffi cult-to-remove asset tag. Bar codes may be used as part of the asset tag. Because this inventory is part of the taxable base for the company, it must be disposed of for- mally with appropriate documentation. Consumable inventory may also have bar coding to speed up the maintenance of inventory activities, such as cycle counting. With asset tags or bar codes, you as a computer problem-solver must let the client know when you are performing an activity that removes the tags or signifi cantly aff ects the defi nition of what the machine is and its purpose or usage. Change Management Best Practices Change management refers to guidance from a business or organization that pre- pares, equips, and supports individuals within the business or organization to adopt or incorporate changes. Just as with documentation for customers, there are specifi c activities that constitute best practices for change management. Th ese activities in- clude documenting business processes, stating the purpose of the change, outlining the scope of the change, performing risk analysis, planning for change, allowing end-user acceptance, creating and maintaining a change board, drafting a backout plan, and documenting the changes once they take place. When considering and implementing changes, remember that people generally do not respond to change well. Be patient and open-minded. Documented Business Processes One good way to document business processes is to look at existing standards that require such documentation. For example, ISO-9000 and Sarbanes-Oxley specify the kinds of documentation required to meet those standards. Th e structures for such documents are available for free or, sometimes, a modest fee. For computer-oriented documentation, you can use Military-Standard-498, the IEEE standards, or stan- dards from other countries in which you will be doing business. Consider adding diagrams to the textual documentation as a means of illustrating before and after states. Purpose of the Change Stating the purpose of the change is necessary for both employees and customers. Imagine being a regular customer for a business that provides IT support. If that company suddenly changed how service calls were received, estimated, or executed, you would likely be upset, or at least confused. Now imagine being the employee who now has to change the way the work is handled and answer questions from customers regarding those changes. By stating the purpose of the change clearly, as well as providing a brief outline for how the change is to be implemented, the com- pany is providing transparency to interested parties. 1002: 4.1 1002: 4.2 1002: 4.2