How many support people
Discussion
How many support people to look after a network with the following.
5x 2003 servers, MS exchange possibly a bit of lunix
CAT5 switched LAN with a fair bit of wireless
330 clients including desktops, shared laptops, and some thin clients (not sure which but not citrix).
Office on all clients, with some macromedia and adobe products. Additonally there are some other education packages in use.
Lastly...
It is a school.
I have a figure in my head and would like some clarification.
TIA
D.
5x 2003 servers, MS exchange possibly a bit of lunix
CAT5 switched LAN with a fair bit of wireless
330 clients including desktops, shared laptops, and some thin clients (not sure which but not citrix).
Office on all clients, with some macromedia and adobe products. Additonally there are some other education packages in use.
Lastly...
It is a school.
I have a figure in my head and would like some clarification.
TIA
D.
I'd go with wit 4 if it were a school, you'll be fixing a lot of 'problems' as it were, and monitoring a lot of stuff going on.
Additionally there'll need to be a applications specialist, then a server specialist - I'm presuming you'd then need a hardware dude to run around fixing bits that break, and jammed printers. Additionally then you'll need someone to look after security and the monitoring.
Just my tuppenies worth.
When I worked for an architects (similar - they're all children with high maintenance needs) with rough 100 users, we had two of us - plus a manager.
Additionally there'll need to be a applications specialist, then a server specialist - I'm presuming you'd then need a hardware dude to run around fixing bits that break, and jammed printers. Additionally then you'll need someone to look after security and the monitoring.
Just my tuppenies worth.
When I worked for an architects (similar - they're all children with high maintenance needs) with rough 100 users, we had two of us - plus a manager.
If it's properly set up I would go for two.
I know of a similar school set up that's run by one guy. He images all his machines and rolls them out again remotely if they hit trouble. Took him an age to set up but now it runs like clockwork. Never spends more than thirty seconds diagnosing a desktop. Image it, if that doesn't work it's hardware.
I know of a similar school set up that's run by one guy. He images all his machines and rolls them out again remotely if they hit trouble. Took him an age to set up but now it runs like clockwork. Never spends more than thirty seconds diagnosing a desktop. Image it, if that doesn't work it's hardware.
Is this a tender or fixed contract?
If the former, figure on the basis of 5 staff - with 2-3 specialists and whether you plan to do call-out full-time or mix of on-call and VPN/Telnet.
Are you providing the backup equipment? Or just setting up the already purchased equipment and scheduling?
You'll want to lay out what your service costs cover, and what aren't - and what that'll cost each time they call upon you to do something outside of the remit.
Is it all PC or are there Macs? - if mixed, you will need another staffer to be Mac HW accredited to avail of parts other than RAM/HDD at Service Provider costs.
If the former, figure on the basis of 5 staff - with 2-3 specialists and whether you plan to do call-out full-time or mix of on-call and VPN/Telnet.
Are you providing the backup equipment? Or just setting up the already purchased equipment and scheduling?
You'll want to lay out what your service costs cover, and what aren't - and what that'll cost each time they call upon you to do something outside of the remit.
Is it all PC or are there Macs? - if mixed, you will need another staffer to be Mac HW accredited to avail of parts other than RAM/HDD at Service Provider costs.
I used to work in a similar sized place of work duing UNI holidays (many moons ago). They used to have 3 people + a manager. Id cut out the manager as he/they did nothing and setup a computerised helpdesk for managing work (loads of free web-based open source software and if you cant find any give me a shout). 3 people will be fine (2 experienced, 1 junior for simple mundane tasks), make sure two of them know about Linux.
davidd said:
How many support people to look after a network with the following.
5x 2003 servers, MS exchange possibly a bit of lunix
CAT5 switched LAN with a fair bit of wireless
330 clients including desktops, shared laptops, and some thin clients (not sure which but not citrix).
Office on all clients, with some macromedia and adobe products. Additonally there are some other education packages in use.
Lastly...
It is a school.
I have a figure in my head and would like some clarification.
TIA
D.
The give away is it's a school.
My wife used to be the ISM / Network Manager for a local private school. She ran the network on her own, with part time help three mornings a week from one of the junior dept secretaries!!!
That was a 750 user network with c.250 machines!
HTH
Chris
I would say at least 3 as maintaining I.T. in a school is a difficult job.
I worked in a school for a short period and found that the little buggers could generate a fair amount of work.
No out of hours on-site support but you could set up a system to send a message to a pager if there are problems and with 3 people you could rotate out of hours support for back up problems etc.
Why do you support wireless connections?
I would recommend a technical manager, they can do technical work and move the I.T. department forward by implementing better process and procedures. I have seen what happens when techies are not given direction.
I have seen PC's routinely imaged overnight in these types of places, this is great for keeping the machines clean and working correctly, the only worry is, what happens if there is a problem overnight and the machines don't get correctly imaged?
Anyway back to the subject!, two techies and a techie manager for my money. If the budget it tight I suppose you could just employee two techies and make one the supervisor and therefore responsible for the department.
>> Edited by __LEE__ on Friday 19th May 12:28
I worked in a school for a short period and found that the little buggers could generate a fair amount of work.
No out of hours on-site support but you could set up a system to send a message to a pager if there are problems and with 3 people you could rotate out of hours support for back up problems etc.
Why do you support wireless connections?
I would recommend a technical manager, they can do technical work and move the I.T. department forward by implementing better process and procedures. I have seen what happens when techies are not given direction.
I have seen PC's routinely imaged overnight in these types of places, this is great for keeping the machines clean and working correctly, the only worry is, what happens if there is a problem overnight and the machines don't get correctly imaged?
Anyway back to the subject!, two techies and a techie manager for my money. If the budget it tight I suppose you could just employee two techies and make one the supervisor and therefore responsible for the department.
>> Edited by __LEE__ on Friday 19th May 12:28
depends if they wanna stay where they are or progress e.g. developing vle's etc.
if its state they might not need so much support as a lot of stuff may be done at lea level. depends on many factors - ie how much they help in the classroom, how much other support there is e.g. do they record things for lessons etc.
2 min maybe a third esp if the manager is on pistonheads all day
ahem
if its state they might not need so much support as a lot of stuff may be done at lea level. depends on many factors - ie how much they help in the classroom, how much other support there is e.g. do they record things for lessons etc.
2 min maybe a third esp if the manager is on pistonheads all day
ahem
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