“Supporting a course management system involves a wide variety of responsibilities. Defining those is the cornerstone of developing an effective support program. The CMS Support Model presented here defines five major roles, each with numerous responsibilities…. While support roles are defined for discussion purposes, it is undoubtedly the norm at most institutions that these roles are distributed across personnel rather than uniquely identified with a given individual.
Strategic Administration
Strategic Administration is typically the responsibility of a top-level administrator for CMS support. Elements of strategic administration include visioning, strategic advocacy and marketing, evaluation and adoption, alignment with institutional strategic priorities, integration planning to connect with other campus systems and initiatives, and development of policies and procedures.
‘Visioning’ means imagining future directions for CMS growth, development, and use. This process includes a responsibility to remain knowledgeable of emerging trends in IT as well as an ability to consider the implications of those trends for online teaching and learning. Strategic advocacy and marketing, on the other hand, involve selling the “here and now;” how the CMS can reinforce current institutional objectives and extend the institutional mission and what the CMS can do to enhance teaching and learning in the present.
Rational decisions need to be made about the selection of a course management system. As a result, Strategic Administration also involves the evaluation of competing CMS products and the selection of a “best fit” system for the institution. Such evaluation should be an ongoing task because of the rapidly changing CMS market. This will ensure that an institution does not find itself wedded to a system that no longer meets evolving needs.
Strategic Administration also includes making sure that CMS use supports institutional strategic plans and priorities. In some institutions, such alignment is required to receive funding. But even when not required, a clearly articulated alignment with institutional goals always supports the business case for funding the CMS. Closely related to strategic alignment is integration of the CMS with other campus systems such as SIS and the campus portal.
Finally, Strategic Administration involves developing appropriate policies and procedures for use of the CMS. Policy considerations may include acceptable use of the CMS, rules for interaction in an online environment, legal issues, and so on. As but one example, because grade data is often generated, stored, and published in a CMS, there are privacy implications. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and other legislation define requirements to keep certain personal information from being made public. Thus, CSM users need to be aware of what information must be controlled and how to use security features to ensure privacy requirements. Defined procedures, on the other hand, should include items like maintenance windows, support schedules, backup and archiving processes, etc. These prosaic tasks can have significant impacts on the user experience and need to be carefully considered and implemented.
User Support
The importance of effective support for both faculty and student users of a CMS goes without saying. What is often inadequately considered is the possible breadth and depth of user support. Careful analysis of user needs and thoughtful targeting of support processes allows maximum impact of limited resources.”
More at http://www.westga.edu/%7Edistance/ojdla/spring71/johnson71.html