IT Network Systems Administration

WorldSkills Occupational Standards (WSOS)

Occupation description and WSOS

The name of the skill competition is

Description of the associated work role(s) or occupation(s)

An IT Network Systems Administrator works in small or large organizations in the commercial and public sectors, offering a wide range of IT services which are critical for the operation of daily business. Any ‘downtime’ is costly for an organization therefore the IT Network Systems Administrator has a responsibility to work professionally and interactively with users in order to meet their needs and ensure continuance of the systems and service levels they require to perform their roles effectively. The IT Network Systems Administrator also offers advice and guidance on the development of systems and services to take the organization forward.

The IT Network Systems Administrator works in diverse environments including network operations centres, internet service providers, data centres, e.g. Amazon and climate-controlled server rooms. He or she offers a wide range of services based on user support, troubleshooting, design, installation/upgrading, and configuration of operating systems and network devices.

The IT Network Systems Administrator may at some stage in their career specialize in user support, design, installation of operating systems or configuration of networking devices. Irrespective of this, work organization and self-management, communication, and interpersonal skills, problem-solving, a dedication to research/keeping up to date with industry developments and a consistently methodical and investigative approach are the universal attributes of the outstanding IT Network Systems Administrator.

In a mobile labour market, the IT Network Systems Administrator may work in teams, or alone, or both from time to time. Whatever the structure of the work, the trained and experienced IT Network Systems Administrator takes on a high level of personal responsibility and autonomy. From ensuring businesses remain consistently in operation, with limited IT systems breakdowns, to contributing to the design of new systems, every process matters and mistakes cost the business money.

With the fast globalization of IT systems and the international mobility of people IT Network Systems Administrators face rapidly expanding opportunities and challenges. For the talented IT Network Systems Administrator there are many commercial, public sector and international opportunities; however, these carry with them the need to understand and work with diverse cultures, and to keep up to date with fast changing industry developments. The diversity of skills associated with IT network systems administration is therefore likely to expand.

The WorldSkills Occupational Standards (WSOS)

General notes on the WSOS

The WSOS specifies the knowledge, understanding, skills, and capabilities that underpin international best practice in technical and vocational performance. These are both specific to an occupational role and also transversal. Together they should reflect a shared global understanding of what the associated work role(s) or occupation(s) represent for industry and business (www.worldskills.org/WSOS).

The skill competition is intended to reflect international best practice as described by the WSOS, to the extent that it can. The Standard is therefore a guide to the required training and preparation for the skill competition.

In the skill competition the assessment of knowledge and understanding will take place through the assessment of performance. There will only be separate tests of knowledge and understanding where there is an overwhelming reason for these.

The Standard is divided into distinct sections with headings and reference numbers added.

Each section is assigned a percentage of the total marks to indicate its relative importance within the Standards. This is often referred to as the “weighting”. The sum of all the percentage marks is 100. The weightings determine the distribution of marks within the Marking Scheme.

Through the Test Project, the Marking Scheme will assess only those skills and capabilities that are set out in the WorldSkills Occupational Standards. They will reflect the Standards as comprehensively as possible within the constraints of the skill competition.

The Marking Scheme will follow the allocation of marks within the Standards to the extent practically possible. A variation of up to five percent is allowed, if this does not distort the weightings assigned by the Standards.

WorldSkills Occupational Standards

Section		Relative importance (%)
1	Work organization and management	5
	The individual needs to know and understand: Health and safety legislation, obligations, regulations, and documentation The situations when personal protective equipment (PPE) must be used, e.g. for ESD (electrostatic discharge) The ability to seek assistance from peers when lacking in experience or knowledge in a particular area The importance of integrity and security when dealing with user equipment and information The importance of safe and secure disposal of waste for re-cycling The techniques of planning, scheduling, and prioritizing The significance of accuracy, checking, and attention to detail in all working practices The importance of methodical working practices Collaboration and research methods and techniques The value of managing own continuing professional development The speed of IT systems change and the need to maintain currency
	The individual shall be able to: Follow health and safety standards, rules, and regulations Maintain a safe working environment Identify and use the appropriate Personal Protective Equipment for ESD Select, use, clean, maintain, and store tools and equipment safely and securely Plan the work area to maximize efficiency and maintain the discipline of regular tidying Regularly schedule, re-schedule, and multi-task according to changing priorities Work efficiently and check progress and outcomes regularly Undergo various certification requirements, such as: Cisco, Microsoft, and Linux, specializing in at least one specific area Use thorough and efficient research methods to support knowledge growth Be enthusiastic to try new methods, systems, and embrace change Collaborate with work colleagues effectively to maximize efficiency and learning Work effectively as a member of a project team
2	Communication and interpersonal Skills	5
	The individual needs to know and understand: The importance of listening as part of effective communication The roles and requirements of colleagues and the most effective methods of communication The importance of building and maintaining productive working relationships with colleagues and managers Techniques for effective teamwork Techniques for resolving misunderstandings and conflicting demands The process for managing tension and anger to resolve difficult situations
	The individual shall be able to: Use strong listening and questioning skills to deepen understanding of complex situations Manage consistently effective verbal and written communications with colleagues Recognize and adapt to the changing needs of colleagues Pro-actively contribute to the development of a strong and effective team Share knowledge and expertise with colleagues and develop a supportive learning culture Manage tension/anger and give individuals confidence that their problems can be resolved
3	Data Transfer Networks	25
	The individual needs to know and understand: OSI model and the TCP/IP protocols stack Operational principles of data-link, network and transport protocols Roles and functions of different network components Network topology types and usage scenarios Network segmentation with VLAN Security protocols to secure local and wide area networks IPv4 and IPv6 network addressing concepts Routing and switching concepts Load balancing principles Common types of attacks on network protocols and mitigation methods Active network equipment management methods Network function virtualization concepts and principles Controller-based and software-defined network management approaches
	The individual shall be able to: Perform basic initialization of active network equipment Configure access, aggregation and core level switching Provide enterprise-wide connectivity using internal and external gateway routing protocols such as OSPF, BGP and EIGRP Provide network load balancing & fault tolerance at routing and switching levels by using GLBP, HSRP, VRRP, LACP, PAgP, etc. Apply basic security configuration for control and data plane Provide network connectivity between remote branches using VPN technologies such as IPSec, SSL VPN, Direct Access, OpenVPN, DMVPN, GRE, etc. Use network discovery and traffic analysis tools such as CDP, NetFlow, Syslog, SNMP and tcpdump
4	Network and System Operations	25
	The individual needs to know and understand: Principles of common application protocols operations Client-server application interaction models Modern application delivery models Operating systems embedded functionality for applications deployment Dependencies structure between different groups of services, applications and systems Enterprise services implementation options using variety of operating system
	The individual shall be able to: Install and manage enterprise directory services (ADDS, LDAP) Install and manage domain name services (Windows DNS, BIND) Install and manage dynamic host configuration services Install and manage network address translation services Install and manage network time services Install and manage remote network access services SSH Remote Desktop Services Install and manage authentication, authorization and accounting services Install and manage IT infrastructure resources monitoring systems Icinga2 Nagios Cacti Windows Resource Monitor Install and manage e-mail exchange systems using SMTP, IMAP and POP with or without encryption. Setup public key infrastructure services Active Directory Certificate Services OpenSSL Install and manage sharing services SMB DFS NFS FTP Install and manage web hosting services using modern web servers e.g. Apache, Nginx and IIS. Install and manage terminal access services SSH Remote Desktop Services Telnet Install and manage backup systems Windows Server Backup rsync Script based backup, e.g. Bash, Batch or PowerShell Install and manage client workstations deployment systems Windows Deployment Services Group Policy Manage file systems Software RAID mdadm LVM/Dynamic disks File systems such as NTFS, ReFS, EXT4 and NTFS
5	Infrastructure Automation	15
	The individual needs to know and understand: Continuous integration and continuous delivery\deployment pipelines concepts Capabilities of various automation tools Importance of code version control Behaviour of infrastructure automation tools
	The individual shall be able to: Setup and run routine infrastructure maintenance operations using various scripting\programming languages Bash PowerShell Python Use modern automation tools for systems deployment and configuration management Git YANG RESTCONF NETCONF Describe and implement infrastructure as code Python Ansible
6	Troubleshooting	25
	The individual needs to know and understand: The range of operating systems and their abilities to match particular user requirements, given the user budget requirements The process for selecting the appropriate driver for different kinds of hardware The basic functions of the hardware and the process for setting-up The importance of following instructions and the consequences/costs of not adhering to them The precautions that need to be actioned before an installation or an up-grade The purpose of documenting the completion of the installation or up-grade Troubleshoot computer systems using the appropriate tools and techniques
	The individual shall be able to: Closely listen, translate, and accurately identify user needs to ensure expectations are met Select the operating system: proprietary/open source, total cost of ownership in relation to customer resources Accurately identify the hardware and appropriate software driver required to match user/manufacturer specifications Consistently check manufacturers guidance for up-grading regarding “workflow” Select the roles and/or features of the operating/server system e.g. Active Directory Domain Services (role) and Window Server Back-up (feature) Discuss the proposed solution for role/feature and agree with relevant parties e.g. users, colleagues, and managers Prepare a technical document reflecting the solution in detail for agreement and sign-off Configure the appropriate role/feature following manufacturer’s instructions or best practice within the organization Test and rectify any problems and re-test as appropriate Gain user acceptance and record Use system logs to find and identify issues Use network package inspection, connectivity checking tools etc to troubleshoot and identity problems in a network
	Total	100

References for industry consultation

General notes

WorldSkills is committed to ensuring that the WorldSkills Occupational Standards fully reflect the dynamism of internationally recognized best practice in industry and business. To do this WorldSkills approaches a number of organizations across the world that can offer feedback on the draft Description of the Associated Role and WorldSkills Occupational Standards on a two-yearly cycle.

In parallel to this, WSI consults three international occupational classifications and databases:

ISCO-08: (http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/stat/isco/isco08/)
ESCO: (https://ec.europa.eu/esco/portal/home )
O*NET OnLine (www.onetonline.org/)

References

This WSOS (Section 2) appears most closely to relate to Network and Computer Systems Administrators:
https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/15-1142.00

and ICT Network Technician:
http://data.europa.eu/esco/occupation/64c7d461-152c-477f-a8e2-c2c537e9d617 ILO 3513

Adjacent occupations can also be explored through these links.

ILO 3513.

The following table indicates which organizations were approached and provided valuable feedback for the Description of the Associated Role and WorldSkills Occupational Standards in place for WorldSkills Lyon 2024.

Oranization	Contact name
Ridgeon Network Ltd	Chris Ridgeon, Managing Director
SystemEngineer360 Pte Ltd	BAI QING, Technical Director