Assignment Title

Assignment 3 - Install
and Maintain
Hardware

Assignment Ref

AS14-03-14

Student Name

Jack Anyon

Assessor Name

George Carr

Due Date

8/11/14

Date Submitted

This Brief has been verified as being fit for purpose

Assessor

George Carr

Signature

Date

07/10/2014

Internal Verifier

Adrian Bowers

Signature

Date

07/10/2014

Authenticity Statement:
I agree that the work submitted is my own unaided effort, (with the exception of assistance from
my tutor or group activity), and does not include any unacknowledged excerpts form books,
articles, internet sites or any other published media.
I understand that if any of the work submitted for this assignment is found to be plagiarised, none
of the work submitted will be allowed to count towards the assessment of the assignment.

Candidate
Name:

Jack Anyon

Candidate
Signature

Date of
Signature

03/11/14

Assessment Record
Criteri
a
Refere
nce

Criteria Description

Learnin
g Aim
Target

Task
No

Criteria
Achieve
d?

Date

P4

Install and maintain hardware in a

technology system that includes the:
repair of at least two different
internal
hardware component faults
upgrade of at least two different
internal hardware components
installation of at least one
additional external hardware device.

Task 1

Yes

12/11
/2014

P5

Test the modified technology system for

functionality against the purpose and
repair any faults as necessary.

Task 3

Yes

12/11
/2014

M3

Install and maintain hardware in a

technology system, using appropriate
tools and techniques to protect the data
and system settings, demonstrating
awareness of the user requirements and
taking account of usability.

Task 2

Yes

12/11
/2014

M4

Test the modified technology system and

gather feedback, and use it to improve
the technology system for user
experience.

Task 4

Yes

12/11
/2014

D3

Refine the modified technology system in

order to improve performance, taking
account of feedback.

Task 5

Yes

12/11
/2014

Final Assessment Comments

This is a thorough set of work that has studied the question carefully and put forward
a strong argument that meets all criteria.

The purpose and client requirements for maintaining hardware in a

technology system are well detailed.
A plan for installing and maintaining hardware in a technology systems has
been produced which details the important information well
A more detailed plan including reasons why alternative ideas for installing
and maintaining hardware has been included and discussed well.
You have explained how the technology system will fulfil the stated
purpose and client requirements, and also discussed constraints with
good justification
Summative Comments

This is excellent work and you are continuing the positive impression for me about
your work, you clearly worked hard at this again and it shows. Some things that I liked
that was demonstrated in the assignment was your research to answer the question
and the thought you put into your answers
Resubmission Authorisation
(All resubmissions must be authorised. Only 1 resubmission is possible per assignment. )

Resubmission Date:
Assessor Signature:
Date of Assessor Signature:
IV of Assessment Decision:
IV Name:
IV Signature:
Date:

Overall Scenario
You work as a consultant for an IT company that specialises in maintaining
technology systems.
For this scenario, a client, Wrexham Employment, is a small company with
employees who use technology systems. The client is an employment
agency, placing potential employees into suitable job roles. They have two
banks of customers, prospective employers and their possible employees.
Their role is to match candidates to vacancies. They need to maintain client
data, have good communication systems and provide both sets of
customers with relevant information (both electronic and hard copy).

You have developed an action plan to fulfil this brief and you
should now use your practical skills and knowledge to complete
the work.
Learners must adhere to all health and safety guidelines when
undertaking practical activities.

Begin to include your work below this line:

Task 1 (outcome P4)

Use appropriate tools and techniques as identified in your plan to install
and maintain the hardware in the technology system.
You must use appropriate fault-finding tools to identify and repair the faults
outlined in the brief.
You must also install and configure at least two internal components and
one additional external hardware device as defined in your action plan. You
should work in pairs or small groups to take pictures or video of each
individual in the group carrying out the task. The individual recorded should
then include the pictures in a document and add commentary (either written
or spoken) to describe the activities recorded.
Task 2 (Outcome M3) - Part 1
You should add to your commentary on the Document to show how you
have demonstrated good practice to protect data and system settings when
maintaining hardware. You should highlight the use of appropriate tools and
techniques to safely backup the data prior to making any modifications to
the technology system. You should also comment on how you have safely
restored the data and system settings after the modifications were
completed.

Task 3 (Outcome P5)

You should follow your test plan to test for functionality and purpose against
the original requirements of the modification.
You may experience some technical difficulties as you install and maintain
the hardware. If this occurs you should troubleshoot the difficulties and
resolve them, finding and repairing any internal hardware faults. You should
add appropriate comments in your plans and test plans about any issues
you have discovered and how they were resolved.
You should work in pairs or small groups to photograph or video each
individual in the group carrying out the task. The individual recorded should
then edit the document and add commentary (either written or spoken) to
describe the activities shown.
Task 4 (Outcome M3) - Part 1
You should test the functionality of the system; ensuring that the data is
safely backedup and that system settings can be restored. This testing
should be recorded in the form of a written record. A table would be ideal
for this, using the headings: test method, expected result, actual result,
further action required.

All of this work will be contained in Action Plan activities which you
will submit as separate document.

Task 2 (Outcome M3) - Part 2

Finally you should explain in commentary how the modified system
demonstrates your awareness of purpose meets the clients requirements
and improves the usability of the system.
7

Client Brief
Looking at the client brief, the client wanted the computer to boot up
faster and so that his computer could run more software at one time
without the computer slowing down, to help this i installed new RAM.
The client also wanted increased disc speed and improved capacity so i
installed a new Hard Drive.They have also requested for the computer
not to randomly shut down, so i decided to clean the fans.
The Client also wanted the computer to read disks at all times so i
decided to clean the lense with a cleaning disk and finally, the client
wanted to communicate with his solicitor so i decided to install the
webcam and its software. Also i backed up his data and used a system
restore so it protected all his data and that the system ran effectively
so it doesn't affect his business
Task 4 (Outcome M4) - Part 2
Learners should complete user-experience testing with the help of the tutor acting as
the client. The Client should comment on the usability and user-experience of using
the modified system, you should record this feedback as part of the testing process.
This feedback should be recorded in the form of a written record. It is suggested that
you prepare a questionnaire for your client to complete. A table could be used for this.
I have been asked by the client to make a few
tweaks to the system, one of the tweaks i have been
asked to do is to help with the lagginess of the
webcam.
Firstly i will check the local internet speed, it is
recommended to have at least a connection of a 128
mbps or faster, this ensures that there wont be any
lag.
Also check if the correct or updated drivers and the
latest software are installed as the webcam may need the
latest drivers and software to work correctly and up to speed.
8

It is always best to have your webcam inserted into a USB 2.0 port, this will mean
the connect will be faster and will mean better video quality.
After checking the internet quality and changing the USB
to a high speed port, if you are having lag either end its a
good idea to change the resolution of your webcam.
If the resolution is too high, you can experience laggy
videos. You can do this by accessing the webcams software
settings and changing the resolution, this should help
towards a smoother picture.
Also it helps the picture if the room is fully lighted and not
dull as low lighting decreases the picture quality.
To help stop the lagginess, its a good idea to change the
computers graphics hardware acceleration, you can do this
by clicking on start then typing in display in the search box,
click on change display settings and go to advanced
settings, then click the troubleshoot tab then click change
settings and move the slider to the left, this now will
reduce the hardware acceleration.
Also its a good idea to see if any firewall or antivirus is
stopping any connections or trying to stop the webcam
software itself as this could cause problems on both
ends and could cause worse problems than just lag if not
sorted out. You want to allow both programs to make
sure that it is connecting and tell the firewall and
antivirus that what you are doing is safe so it will let you
connect to the other user.

Task 5 (Outcome D3)

The process of installing, maintaining and testing hardware is iterative. You
now need to refine the system to improve its performance. Some of these
refinements may be based on your test results and feedback; they may
involve customising the hardware to suit the client. Other refinements
could include accessing the advanced settings of the hardware
components or external devices and customising them to make full use of
the features and capabilities for the user. If there are possible refinements
which you are unable to apply due to system constraints or other reasons
then you should explain how you would apply these and what benefits they
would bring for the user.
This process could also involve cleaning the internal components, such as
the power supply unit or CPU heat-sink to prevent overheating. Your
refinement process should take into account all the ideas from testing,
reviewing and receiving feedback. All practical work should be video
recorded or photographed and commentary added, it would be useful
to have this part as a table.
I have been asked by the client to make a few tweaks to the system, the other
tweak is to maintain the hard drive.
I will use the Cleanup utility included by
Windows to clear cookies, cache and internet
history.
The cleanup tool will also get rid of unneeded
files left on the hard drive such as left overs
from the recycle bin and log files, this clean
up or free up more space on the hard drive
and make it run faster after all the unneeded
files are gone off the system.

10

Its best to do a full virus and spyware scan to get rid of

any damaging virus/spyware on the pc, if a virus is found
and removed, the performance of the pc should improve
and your pc will now be safe from any dangers such as
Malware and Spyware. You can use a free antivirus, for
example AVG or use the Windows built in Windows
Defender.
Another step you can take is to Defragment your hard drive
so your computer can run smoother, defragmenting mean the
computer defragments different files and puts them in
order which means your hard drive can run faster as it can
find the files faster.
Its also a good idea to go to control panel and look at the
unneeded programs installed on the hard drive
and uninstall them as the space they are taking
could be much useful somewhere else and will help
the hard drive speed up even more.

11