ICT Technician - 37.5 hours per week, home based working with occasional travel within the north west.

Alternative Futures Group is the North West’s largest Mental Health and Learning Disability charity.

With a strong track record over 30 years, we work locally in the community and through our Treatment and Recovery Centres to provide a wide range of innovative and bespoke care services.

We have a vision to create a world where people control their lives.Here at AFG, we pride ourselves on helping the people we support to design, develop and ‘own’ the support they receive by planning this with them; we support people to make informed choices and increase their own independence; and we support people to maintain their own health, wellbeing and living environment. These principles are really important to us.

As a ‘values based’ employer, the people that work for us genuinely care about the people they support, and we are seeking likeminded people to join our AFG family. If you are passionate about working in Health and Social Care and have a real desire to make a positive difference to the lives of the people we support then we would love to hear from you.

At AFG we also recognise the contribution and value that our staff make. We would not be able to provide the life changing support that we do without people like you!

In return for your contribution we will support you throughout your career and we provide a wide range of employee benefits, career development and lifestyle support services to ensure that you too feel supported, fulfilled and valued from day one of your employment with us.

Job Description

The post holder will support the testing, release, maintenance and improvement of ICT services within a region. They will also promote the principles of the ICT strategy within the region and ensure compliance to ICT policies and procedures.

Key Result Areas

People

• To support staff across the region in their understanding, operation and use of technology
• To talk colleagues and suppliers through a series of actions, either face to face or over the telephone to set up systems or resolve issues.
• To be able to support the other regions in an ICT Technicians absence.

Quality

• To provide excellent technical support services for the region,
  • Ensuring all calls are logged and responded to in a professional timely manner.
  • Ensuring technical support is delivered within agreed service levels and timescales
  • Ensuring that technical support is available at all times
  • Resolving all 1st and 2nd line support issues.
• Provide 1st line application support for AFG applications used in the regions.
• To support the maintenance of the appropriate operating systems and related utility software.
• To lead the technical refresh of equipment for the region ensuring that the AFG asset register is updated accordingly
• To carry out the proper installation, configuration, testing, maintenance and troubleshooting of end user hardware, software and peripherals devices.
• To ensure that all PCs, laptops, printers have the appropriate network connectivity.
• To manage the telephony systems within the regions including handsets and mobile phones.
• To ensure backup procedures and the associated testing of restore procedures are completed.
• To set up and maintain access controls and permissions relating to passwords, user access, files.
• To ensure that region acts within the AFG ICT policies and procedures.

Financial

• To ensure that asset register is updated as and when equipment is installed/relocated and returned.
• Make recommendations to the region and to the Infrastructure team leader to improve efficiency.

Growth / Organisational Development

• To analyse the use of technology across the region and make recommendations for improvements.
• To support the bedding in of new application developments for the region leading training sessions, drop in sessions and awareness raising
• To support the Infrastructure team leader with the implementation of key ICT strategic projects/rollouts.
• To lead the ICT set up for new projects within the region.
• To manage the set up and rollout of ICT equipment at services/T&R Centres/offices.
• To research, test and evaluate new technologies.
• To provide ICT training - hardware/software/systems and produce training documentation as and when required.

Person Specification

Essential Experience, Skills & Knowledge:

• Experience of working in a helpdesk environment
• Excellent communication skills
• Excellent customer relations and rapour
• Excellent organisation and time management skills
• Ability to work as part of a team and independently
• To successfully manage own workload for the region.
• Ability to prioritise and work to deadlines
• To be accurate and methodical in approach to work.

Good technical knowledge of the following applications :

• Microsoft Windows (managing roll outs & user support / training)
• Managing Office rollouts & user support / training
• Microsoft Windows Servers administration & maintenance
• Microsoft Exchange Servers administration & maintenance
• Configuring networks including TCP/IP, DNS, WINS & DHCP, VPN configuration.

Applicants will also need a clean driving licence and access to a car.

This role is Band I as per our structure