# Learning MCDST-what is a "Corporate Environment"?



## NiteSwimmer

I'm happily chewing through an eBook on the MCDST Certification and I'm thouroughly engrossed with it. There is just one detail which I'm not so familiar with. It says "If you work for a telephone call center or an ISP, you will likely work in a tier structure similar to the ones found in 'Corporate Environments'. Can anyone explain what is meant by 'Corporate'? I know it's a small detail but I'd rather someone explain it to me before I make a guess at what its definition really is. Any input would be appreciated.


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## 98abaile

Could you post a link to the ebook, I'm also interested in doing MCDST.


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## Cellus

By the way as a side note if the eBook was copyrighted and/or not legally available for free, please limit any links to a legitimate purchasing site.

A Corporate Environment, just for the record, has no "real" official definition, however I will try to fill in any blanks. In a nutshell when speaking of a tiered structured, specifically in regards to desktop support, this is commonly referring to "Tiered Support". From the moment a call or ticket to the helpdesk is started, it goes through "Tier 1", which provides low-level support to help resolve simpler issues which only require limited administrative privileges (if any). This support role is usually filled by (and there are many names for the position, so I'll just use one) a Helpdesk Technician who may not have extensive knowledge and/or experience. If an issue can not be solved by the helpdesk technician, either because they do not know how or they do but simply lack the appropriate rights and privileges, the ticket will be "escalated" to Tier 2. Tier 2 support begins to involve either senior helpdesk members and/or system administrators, who tend to have more knowledge and experience than regular helpdesk as well as administrative powers to deal with higher-level issues. In some environments, the support system may only have two tiers, but in others it may have three. If there is a third tier, Tier 2 sysadmins may escalate a ticket to Tier 3 to involve engineers and architects to resolve deep-level issues.

The Corporate Environment as it is called commonly refers to a business environment which may have multiple offices in several locations which usually has a dedicated and structured IT department. Unlike smaller businesses, there are actual policies set (on paper) on how things are designed and handled, and every method tries to involve as little madness as possible. It starts going beyond just providing support, but also trying to do it with as little downtime and as efficiently and cost-effective as possible.

That is basically it, in a nutshell. Whether Microsoft has some "official" terminology on it you would have to specifically check for yourself - this is how the industry commonly refers to them. I would not be surprised if Microsoft did have a very specific (if not niche) definition for them and, because it may be included in the exams, you may wish to bury your nose in the books and see if you can find them. I should note there really _isn't_ an "industry recognized definition" in the clearest sense, but that isn't to say Microsoft does not try at times (anyone who has written Microsoft exams knows exactly what I am talking about).


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