In essence it recognises this commitment and applies it to your career and personal development aspirations. By doing so, the evidence produced for this unit will demonstrate that you can take personal responsibility for your own career development and for evidence-based evaluation of your performance. Effective employees are those who have a high degree of awareness of their strengths and areas for improvement, and have a clear sense of purpose including the relationship between career and personal aspirations.

2. Improving the customer relationship

This unit has been taken from the Customer Service occupational standards. There is an assumption that you will interacting with people both inside and outside your organisation who are using products or services.

This unit demonstrates your ability to maintain good customer/client relations. Customer service skills are frequently quoted by employers as being one of the main criteria considered when recruiting staff.

3. Working with others

Key Skill unit (this means in this qualification that the unit employs the national standards for Key Skills). The ability to be a ‘team player’ and share the responsibility for developing and contributing to your organisation’s objectives is an important skill. Organisations identify this as indicative of an employee’s ability to integrate into the culture of the organisation and local workforce, enabling an employee to make a significant contribution to its success.

4. Problem solving

Key Skill unit. This unit is probably right at the core of what Technical staff do and excel at. This unit focuses on the ability to analyse a situation, rationalise options and find a way forward through to a successful conclusion.

5. Improving own learning and performance

Key Skill unit. Organisations change constantly and, often, very rapidly to meet changes in operational circumstances. Organisations need employees who are responsive to change and take some responsibility for identifying their own development needs to meet new challenges or improve job performance.

6. Make selective use of IT*

This is the first of four units taken from the new (2004) ITQs, occupational standards for those who use IT on a day to day basis. This unit covers how you use IT for complex tasks (eg working out a monthly budget, creating a equipment audit, editing a photo for a poster or leaflet or planning multiple web pages for a web site).

7. Operate a computer*

This second ITQ unit covers the setting up and use of a wide range of different types of hardware safely (eg lap top, PDA, external disc drive, digital camera, web cam or scanner), storage media (eg floppy disc, CD-ROM, DVD, local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN)); and using software for complex tasks (eg keeping a project budget, editing a images for poster displays).

8. Internet and intranets*

The third ITQ unit is about the benefits and drawbacks of different connection methods; understanding how to avoid Internet security risks; using and customising more advanced browser facilities and searching for, finding and evaluating information.

9. E-mail*

The final core ITQ unit involves the use of advanced e-mail facilities (eg for setting up groups of e-mail addresses, adding a signature, using RTF or HTML to alter the design and format of e-mails and compressing attachments).

10.Health and Safety in the workplace

Employers have duty of care to ensure the health and safety of staff and others who use their premises, products and services. However, what is less commonly understood is that individual staff members are also responsible for the consequences of their own actions on the safety and well-being of themselves and others. Successful completion of this unit demonstrates your awareness of health and safety issues and your own responsibilities.

This Unit is a stand-alone Health and Safety qualification in its own right.

11.Manage the use of physical resources

This unit is about effectively managing the physical resources for which you are responsible. It covers planning to use resources you and your team need, obtaining these resources, ensuring the availability of suitable suppliers and monitoring the use of resources.

12.Prepare and develop resources to support learning

This unit covers the preparation of the places, materials and equipment needed for learning and development sessions, and the design and production of learning and development materials.

It covers activities that might include: working out what materials are needed and the range of options; testing materials and making changes; developing written, visual and audio-visual materials; identifying the training facilities and equipment needed.

13.Create a climate that promotes learning

This unit covers the development of a good relationship with learners, supporting learners and proving equal opportunities and access to achievement for everybody.

Activities that it covers might include: creating a good working relationship with learners; giving learners information and advice to help learning; giving access to extra support services; removing unnecessary barriers to learning; and monitoring your own reactions to learners to enable your own effectiveness.

14.Monitor your organisation's compliance with its legal, regulatory, social and ethical responsibilities

This unit is about checking that your organisation complies with its responsibilities in these important areas. These include:

• Legal ? those responsibilities specified in the laws that apply to your organisation such as employment, health and safety, workplace and contract.
• Regulatory ? those responsibilities laid down by a statutory regulator or other industry body which govern what you can and cannot do in your particular industry.
• Social, environmental and ethical responsibilities are determined by your own organisation. For example your organisation may decide to support local initiatives, meet voluntary or other standards or work to a specific code of behaviour.

15.Word processing software*

This unit is another from the ITQ suite and is suitable for you if your work involves using a wide range of tools and techniques to produce professional looking documents (eg producing mail merged business letters and invoices, complex reports and content for web pages).

16.Spreadsheet software*

This unit is suitable for you if your work involves the use of complex formulae and functions (eg mathematical, statistical and financial) and tools (eg monthly expenditure and sales figures, cash flow forecasts and graphs of results).

17.Artwork and imaging software*

This unit is suitable for you if your work involves the creation of complex artwork and images (eg work flow process maps, sketches, edited photos or logos).

18.Database software*

This unit is suitable for you if your work involves modification of simple (eg single table, non-relational) databases, creating queries using multiple selection criteria and reports eg about equipment, order details or project management).

19.Website software*

This unit is suitable for you if your work involves the production of multiple-page websites.

20.Presentation software*

You are likely to be in a role which involves the production of complex presentations (eg slide shows with animation).

21.Specialist or bespoke software*

You are likely to be in a role which involves the selection and use of suitable specialist or bespoke software applications to carry out an appropriate work related task.

22.IT maintenance for users

You are likely to be in a role which involves you carrying out maintenance safely (eg using ‘defrag’ to improve the performance of a hard disc); and knowing what is involved in upgrading hardware and software.

23.IT troubleshooting for users

This unit is suitable for you if your work involves use of skills and experience to solve most types of errors (eg faulty cable connections, broken mouse, software that needs more memory to open or damage to software from viruses); and knowing about problems to do with compatibility.

24.IT security for users

This unit is suitable for you if your work involves the knowledge of how to avoid common security risks and control access to software and data; and using a wider range of methods to protect software and data (eg from exchanging information by e-mail or when downloading software from the Internet).

25.Contribute to the installation of software

The unit is the first of three taken from the 'Installing and Supporting IT Level 2' national occupational standards and describes best practice when assisting in the installation and major upgrading of substantial and varied software. This covers a range of activities such as setting up new personal computers or workstations and installing new or upgraded software on existing systems. No particular system type or platform is implied

It is suitable for anyone involved in installing software, usually under some form of supervision. This covers both the complete installation of system and application software to new systems and major upgrades of existing systems.

26.Contribute to the installation of hardware

The unit is the second of three taken from the 'Installing and Supporting IT Level 2' national occupational standards and describes best practice in the installation and major upgrading of hardware. This covers a range of activities such as assembling personal computers or workstations, connecting and setting up peripherals (eg printers or scanners), connecting workstations and installing upgrades. No particular hardware type or platform is implied.

This Unit is suitable for anyone involved in contributing, under supervision, to major installations of Information Technology hardware eg network or multiple user systems. This covers both the complete assembly of systems and major upgrades.

27.Contribute to the provision of information technology support

The unit is the third of three taken from the 'Installing and Supporting IT Level 2' national occupational standards and covers the process of contributing to providing support to customers including escalation procedures and communicating effectively with supported customers.

This Unit is suitable for anyone involved in contributing, under supervision, to the support of Information Technology users, under a formal agreement. The support may be provided on a third-party basis, by a manufacturer or supplier or by an in-house department and could be telephone support, field or bench maintenance or a combination of these.

28.Manage the performance of teams and individuals

This Unit is one of the Management Standards Units and is about making the best use of your team and its members so they can achieve your organisation’s objectives. It covers allocating work, agreeing objectives, and setting out plans and methods of working, It also involves monitoring and evaluating your team’s work and providing feedback to them on their performance.

29.Contribute to project planning and preparation

A Management Standards Unit at Level 4 that is about helping higher-level managers plan and set up standard or complex projects that have operational of strategic implications for the project sponsor. The sponsor may be internal or external to your organisation.

This Unit is for those who have operational responsibility for activities, staff, resources and budgets in an organisation and make substantial contributions to projects which have a significant impact on the performance of the sponsor’s organisation.

30.Manage the running of projects

This Unit is a Management Standards Unit at Level 5 and is about the successful management of substantial projects of a strategic nature to your organisation. It covers activities that include the motivation and leading of project teams, allocation and application of resources, task scheduling, and providing solutions to problems.

31.Manage the use of financial resources

This Unit is a Management Standards Unit at Level 4 and is about making sure you use financial resources in the most efficient way possible. It covers making recommendations for the use of financial resources and controlling expenditure against budgets.

32.Enable group learning

This Unit is about managing group work to improve learning. It covers areas of work that might include: identifying where group work is appropriate to learning; setting up learning groups; identifying and managing group dynamics and power balances; enabling group activities.

33.Support and advise individual learners

This Unit is about giving learners guidance and support, and helping learners to manage their own learning. It covers areas of work that might include: giving learners relevant information; helping learners to plan their learning; organising and arranging resources to support learning; and helping individuals develop their learning skills.