Lesson 1: Intake, Inventory, and Baseline

Core path: 42 minutes

A capstone does not start with a screwdriver.

It starts with the client requirement and the current state.

You are supporting the fictional Harborview Community Learning Lab, a six-seat technology room used for schoolwork, job applications, video meetings, basic media creation, printing/scanning, and staff administration.

Step 1: read the client brief

Required services:

• six desktop workstations for browser/productivity work;
• video meetings on at least two seats;
• shared printing and scanning;
• wired desktop connectivity;
• approved Wi-Fi for staff laptop and managed mobile device;
• cloud email/productivity/storage;
• standard-user daily accounts;
• approved administrator support path;
• MFA for staff/cloud accounts;
• endpoint protection and host firewall;
• backup/recovery plan;
• privacy-safe support records.

Your first job is to translate those statements into technical requirements.

Step 2: inventory the supplied assets

Create an asset table for:

asset ID
role
hardware/platform
OS or device type
network method
important applications/services
user/account type
security controls
backup/recovery dependency
serviceability/safety notes

Do not assume every device needs the same hardware or configuration.

Step 3: map dependencies

For one student workstation, trace:

power
→ workstation hardware
→ operating system
→ network interface
→ switch/router/AP path
→ DNS/internet/service path
→ cloud productivity service
→ user workflow

For printing, trace:

workstation
→ driver/queue
→ local network
→ printer/MFD
→ print engine

For the staff mobile device, include management, Wi-Fi, account authentication, and synchronization boundaries.

Step 4: identify safety and privacy boundaries

Before any service work, mark:

• electrical/ESD concerns;
• lithium-battery handling where applicable;
• user data that must be protected;
• credentials that must never be collected in the service record;
• managed-device restrictions;
• administrative authorization requirements;
• destructive actions that require backup/approval first.

Step 5: establish baseline evidence

The supplied baseline packet should be treated as evidence, not as instructions.

For each major asset, record:

expected function:
current observed state:
known-good evidence:
unproven or failed boundary:
last known change:

Do not repair anything yet.

Student action

Submit:

1. asset inventory;
2. requirement/constraint matrix;
3. one network/service dependency map;
4. one printer or mobile dependency map;
5. safety/privacy/authorization boundary list;
6. baseline evidence sheet.

Success criteria

You pass Lesson 1 when another technician could read your intake packet and understand what the client needs, what equipment exists, what is already known to work, and what cannot be changed casually.