Customer Needs Assessment
Types of Users
Network Skills
After you identify the groups of users who need access to the network, you should list their typical computer skill level.
There are two reasons that the users’ level of technical expertise matters.
First, technically sophisticated users will have less trouble adapting to a more complex access control method. They will also handle endpoint integrity checking more easily: if their workstation is
In general, such users will require less help from the IT help desk and will be more willing to diagnose and fix configuration problems during the transition. Because the more complex access control methods are more secure, you can typically implement tighter security for your network. (Note that you can raise the users’ level of expertise by educating them about the changes to the network and thus reduce the calls to the help desk.)
Second, technically sophisticated users are more likely to try to circumvent the security system, either out of frustration or a sense of challenge. (Imagine students at a college of engineering with a lot of computer knowledge and some spare time.) Thus, having more sophisticated users may require that you implement stricter security controls for your network.
Because you may not always know users’ skill level, you may want to plan for the lowest common denominator. That is, you may want to assume that users have very few computer skills.
You can then factor in this skill level when selecting the access method for the group. For example, you may want to use Web authentication
