Requirement

UT Austin Information Resources and Security Policy, Section 18.4
 

18.4 Technical Support Training.  Owners and Custodians must provide, based on role, appropriate technical training equivalent to current industry standards for Information Security Administrators and employees providing Information Technology help-desk or technical support for Information Resources under their authority.  

18.4.1 All Technical Support Staff (e.g., help desk, desktop support, server support) responsible for managing university owned IT devices are required to obtain an industry recognized certification, based on an IT training program defined by the Information Security Office working in conjunction with campus IT Governance, as a way of demonstrating professional skillset. Access to specific university IT tools and services will only be made available to professionally trained IT Support Staff. 

18.4.1.1 IT Support Staff are expected to obtain and document continuing professional education credits each year as defined in the IT training program. 

18.4.1.2 Certification exceptions will apply for IT Support Staff who have already clearly demonstrated mastery of necessary IT skills. 

Compliance

  • Supervisors are responsible for ensuring proper training for all new IT support staff is taken in a timely manner. While SANS certifications are highly recommended by the Information Security Office, it is understood that supervisors may need to choose a certification that best fits the role and responsibilities of the IT support staff in their organization.
  • Supervisors must also identify the new IT support employee role in the central group / role management resource (e.g., OHS). Only employees in designated IT support roles will be able to access various IT support tools).
  • Supervisors are responsible for ensuring their IT support staff receive on-going training and professional development.
    • It is recommended that the supervisor designate approximately 1-2% of their IT support salary budget to ongoing IT training efforts.
    • Additional opportunities for ongoing training include attending technical seminars or online events, reading technical publications or books, attending a technical product presentation by a vendor, attending technical training for a vendor product, attending general IT training, teaching an IT related course, hosting an FYI on campus.

Exceptions

  • All IT support staff with existing IT certifications and/or 5 or more years of technical IT experience will be considered compliant with this requirement. There is no requirement for additional documentation to be provided to the Information Security Office.
  • Supervisors will be empowered to evaluate the compliance of their respective IT support staff with this requirement based on skill-set, experience, and specific employment requirements and objectives. There is no requirement for additional documentation to be provided to the Information Security Office.

Available Training Resources