M1 - Importance of Keeping Fault Logs

M1 expands on P1 and requires the learner to show they understand the reasons for keeping accurate records of faults and their solutions.

Having a fault log is incredibly important for users as it shows how the fault occurred, where it occurred, and what is it. You can access the details of the fault by clicking on the error icon next to it. If you wish to solve the problem yourself, you can search on Google and you may find the answer, otherwise you can acquire an IT technician to help you solve this.

If you have a fault, you can refer back to your fault log to see if it has happened before. If your PC does have a fault or an error, you can simply look back to your fault log and quickly find out how to solve the problem efficiently. Otherwise you'll be trying to think back to how you solved it the previous time, wasting your time, and even then, you may not remember how to solve it.   

In the fault log there are three types of error icon that can appear:

Yellow sign - The yellow sign is a warning. Anything that the computer thinks may becoming prone to errors, it will have a yellow warning sign next to it, these don't cause any harm to your PC but it lets you know that it's there.

Red sign - The Red sign means that there is an error. If you click on it, it will show you what is wrong with the program, software or whatever it may be. This allows you to take the necessary actions in order to solve the problem.

Information sign - The information sign is nothing to worry about. This means that there is nothing wrong with the system and everything is running smoothly.

 Without a fault log, you would have no idea if there were any fault on your PC and you would probably end up spending plenty of money trying to fix your computer

Being accurate when inserting data into your fault log is incredibly important because it allows you to know exactly what the fault is the next time it occurs and how you can deal with is efficiently and quickly. If the fault is recorded down but there is hardly any detail, it may become confusing if you are trying to solve the next time, or if someone else reads your log, it should be fairly to understand.

Example of a fault log:

IT Technicians Name:                John

Time & Date:                                11:08 - 15/01/2014

Time take to fix:                          5 mins

Description of fault:                 Keyboard not working

Actions taken to fix:                 Checked the peripheral ports to see if the cable was connected. If not                                                                           connect the cable. if still doesn't work, buy a new keyboard.

Problem Solved:                        Yes