Ratio of IT staff to users

[Sanjay Mehta]

Hi,

I am working as a network admin (ISA, windows2003, exchange 2003, terminal
servrices) and also helpdesk role.

I wanted to find out what is the standard ratio if IT staff to users?

Thanks

 

[Frankster]

"Sanjay Mehta" wrote in message
news:CEE16B23-A0EA-46CB-86F0-4D53A60B1DCE@microsoft.com...
> Hi,
>
> I am working as a network admin (ISA, windows2003, exchange 2003, terminal
> servrices) and also helpdesk role.
>
> I wanted to find out what is the standard ratio if IT staff to users?
>
> Thanks

What you will find is that there is no standard. Good luck. Just suck it
up. LOL.

-Frank

 

[Danny Sanders]

> What you will find is that there is no standard. Good luck. Just suck it
> up. LOL.

I agree. This job has 4 systems admin. 3 network personnell and 6 helpdesk
personnell to support 6000+ users around the world.

The job I had before this was about 6 servers, 40 users and I was the entire
support team.

Before that 2 servers and about 80 to 90 desktops and me for support.

If you are looking to get help you should start by documenting your time
very meticulusly. Show them where you are spending 40 to 50 hours a week.
Then show them what is not getting done.


hth
DDS

"Frankster" wrote in message
news:0vydnbHY1Kuzj13UnZ2dnUVZ_jWWnZ2d@giganews.com...
>
> "Sanjay Mehta" wrote in message
> news:CEE16B23-A0EA-46CB-86F0-4D53A60B1DCE@microsoft.com...
>> Hi,
>>
>> I am working as a network admin (ISA, windows2003, exchange 2003,
>> terminal
>> servrices) and also helpdesk role.
>>
>> I wanted to find out what is the standard ratio if IT staff to users?
>>
>> Thanks
>
> What you will find is that there is no standard. Good luck. Just suck it
> up. LOL.
>
> -Frank

 

[Frankster]

"Danny Sanders" wrote in message
news:C842EED6-67C8-4405-8191-09FB292D1C27@microsoft.com...
>> What you will find is that there is no standard. Good luck. Just suck it
>> up. LOL.
>
> I agree. This job has 4 systems admin. 3 network personnell and 6 helpdesk
> personnell to support 6000+ users around the world.
>
> The job I had before this was about 6 servers, 40 users and I was the
> entire support team.
>
> Before that 2 servers and about 80 to 90 desktops and me for support.
>
> If you are looking to get help you should start by documenting your time
> very meticulusly. Show them where you are spending 40 to 50 hours a week.
> Then show them what is not getting done.
>
>
> hth
> DDS
>
> "Frankster" wrote in message
> news:0vydnbHY1Kuzj13UnZ2dnUVZ_jWWnZ2d@giganews.com...
>>
>> "Sanjay Mehta" wrote in message
>> news:CEE16B23-A0EA-46CB-86F0-4D53A60B1DCE@microsoft.com...
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> I am working as a network admin (ISA, windows2003, exchange 2003,
>>> terminal
>>> servrices) and also helpdesk role.
>>>
>>> I wanted to find out what is the standard ratio if IT staff to users?
>>>
>>> Thanks
>>
>> What you will find is that there is no standard. Good luck. Just suck it
>> up. LOL.
>>
>> -Frank
>

Good suggestions.

Funny, this is always a catch-22. Show them what's not getting done and
sometimes they'll think that they must have the wrong guy doing it. LOL...

-Frank

 

[Isaac Oben [MCITP:EA, MCSE]]

Hello Sanjay,
There are no fixed standard. How many users do you currently support?

"Sanjay Mehta" wrote in message
news:CEE16B23-A0EA-46CB-86F0-4D53A60B1DCE@microsoft.com...
> Hi,
>
> I am working as a network admin (ISA, windows2003, exchange 2003, terminal
> servrices) and also helpdesk role.
>
> I wanted to find out what is the standard ratio if IT staff to users?
>
> Thanks

 

[Dave Harry]

> Funny, this is always a catch-22. Show them what's not getting done and
> sometimes they'll think that they must have the wrong guy doing it. LOL...

Not if you got to them saying "this is what is not getting done *AND* this
is what I need to fix it"
As opposed to them coming to you with "Frankster, you are failing here."


--
Dave Harry

 

[Leythos]

In article ,
SanjayMehta@discussions.microsoft.com says...
> Hi,
>
> I am working as a network admin (ISA, windows2003, exchange 2003, terminal
> servrices) and also helpdesk role.
>
> I wanted to find out what is the standard ratio if IT staff to users?

Most of our customers have 100-300 employees with computers, they have
no full time IT Staff, and we normally spend about 4 hours per week
supporting their people, monthly we spend an extra 4 hours doing server
updates.

Small shops, 1-15 employees, we spend about 1 hour a month, and then
more when new apps are needed or a drive fails.

--
- Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum.
- Calling an illegal alien an "undocumented worker" is like calling a
drug dealer an "unlicensed pharmacist"
spam999free@rrohio.com (remove 999 for proper email address)

 

[Phillip Windell]

"Leythos" wrote in message
news:MPG.242a6428ff5dd3ca989a24@us.news.astraweb.com...
> Most of our customers have 100-300 employees with computers, they have
> no full time IT Staff, and we normally spend about 4 hours per week
> supporting their people, monthly we spend an extra 4 hours doing server
> updates.
>
> Small shops, 1-15 employees, we spend about 1 hour a month, and then
> more when new apps are needed or a drive fails.

That's because they don't call you for every little thing because they have
to wait for someone to get there,..and it costs $$$ for them, so for some
problems they just "live with it" till you are there. So they only call you
when they really have to,...so you spend less time there.

It isn't like that for an in-house staff. They're calling all the time for
something because I am right there. I have around 100 machines/users and
there is maybe only a couple hours out of a whole day where there isn't
anything actively happeing. But during those times I am doing other "care
taking" that no one here is probably even aware that I'm doing (oh yea,..and
then there is these newsgroups :-] ).

--
Phillip Windell
www.wandtv.com

The views expressed, are my own and not those of my employer, or Microsoft,
or anyone else associated with me, including my cats.
-----------------------------------------------------

 

[Phillip Windell]

"Sanjay Mehta" wrote in message
news:CEE16B23-A0EA-46CB-86F0-4D53A60B1DCE@microsoft.com...
> Hi,
>
> I am working as a network admin (ISA, windows2003, exchange 2003, terminal
> servrices) and also helpdesk role.
>
> I wanted to find out what is the standard ratio if IT staff to users?

The limit is one user less than it takes to get the IT Staff to jump off the
roof.

--
Phillip Windell
www.wandtv.com

The views expressed, are my own and not those of my employer, or Microsoft,
or anyone else associated with me, including my cats.
-----------------------------------------------------

 

[Dave Warren]

In message "Phillip Windell"
was claimed to have wrote:

>It isn't like that for an in-house staff. They're calling all the time for
>something because I am right there. I have around 100 machines/users and
>there is maybe only a couple hours out of a whole day where there isn't
>anything actively happeing. But during those times I am doing other "care
>taking" that no one here is probably even aware that I'm doing (oh yea,..and
>then there is these newsgroups :-] ).

Lets face it, the internet doesn't surf itself.

 

[Anthony [MVP]]

The standard is exactly x per 100 users.
You will have to outsource to find out what x is,
Anthony
http://www.airdesk.com



"Sanjay Mehta" wrote in message
news:CEE16B23-A0EA-46CB-86F0-4D53A60B1DCE@microsoft.com...
> Hi,
>
> I am working as a network admin (ISA, windows2003, exchange 2003, terminal
> servrices) and also helpdesk role.
>
> I wanted to find out what is the standard ratio if IT staff to users?
>
> Thanks

 

[Jennie]

Ratio of Servers vs Support Staff

Any advice of server staff vs hardware ratio's?
We have over 500 servers located in regional and central sites, multiple hardware platforms and OS, applications and 10 server staff. Does this sound reasonable?

Oh yes, and then there are the hundreds of projects, reports, builds, support, daily changes and requests and maintenance with the same 10 people)



SanjayMeht wrote:

Ratio of IT staff to users
17-Mar-09

Hi,

I am working as a network admin (ISA, windows2003, exchange 2003, terminal
servrices) and also helpdesk role.

I wanted to find out what is the standard ratio if IT staff to users?

Thanks

EggHeadCafe - Software Developer Portal of Choice
Notify Client Applications Using WCF Callbacks
http://www.eggheadcafe.com/tutorials/aspne...pplication.aspx

 

[techstress]

Re: Ratio of Servers vs Support Staff

I thought i read somewhere on Techrepublic that it's ideal to have 50
employees to 1 support staff member. Must have been another site
though.

Here's two articles

http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-...11-5174092.html

http://www.linkedin.com/answers/technology.../268319-5665531


On Oct 13, 5:19 am, Jennie wrote:
> Any advice of server staff vs hardware ratio's?
> We have over 500 servers located in regional and central sites, multiple hardware platforms and OS, applications and 10 server staff.  Does this sound reasonable?
>
> Oh yes, and then there are the hundreds of projects, reports, builds, support, daily changes and requests and maintenance with the same 10 people)
>
> SanjayMeht wrote:
>
> Ratio of IT staff to users
> 17-Mar-09
>
> Hi,
>
> I am working as a network admin (ISA, windows2003, exchange 2003, terminal
> servrices) and also helpdesk role.
>
> I wanted to find out what is the standard ratio if IT staff to users?
>
> Thanks
>
> EggHeadCafe - Software Developer Portal of Choice
> Notify Client Applications Using WCF Callbackshttp://www.eggheadcafe.com/tutorials/aspnet/b5ada8df-58c5-492f-b368-4...

 

[Leythos]

Re: Ratio of Servers vs Support Staff

In article , foscsamuels@gmail.com says...
>
> I thought i read somewhere on Techrepublic that it's ideal to have 50
> employees to 1 support staff member. Must have been another site
> though.

We have customers with more than 100 employees, most of them have 4-8
servers, they have no-onsite IT staff, and we normally bill them about 4
hours per month once the network/firewall/av infrastructure is setup.
This has been their history for 5+ years, including upgrades, etc...

The secret is in locking down the network and systems so that users
can't screw them up.

If you take a typical site, that doesn't lock things down, I could see 1
full time staff member to start, when you have 10+ users or more.

You also have to consider the level of the IT support, not just the
Body.

In most places, they could hire a $30K-$40K grunt for the basic daily
work and subcontract the advanced things and save a LOT of money over
the year.

--
You can't trust your best friends, your five senses, only the little
voice inside you that most civilians don't even hear -- Listen to that.
Trust yourself.
spam999free@rrohio.com (remove 999 for proper email address)

 

[techstress]

Re: Ratio of Servers vs Support Staff

> We have customers with more than 100 employees, most of them have 4-8
> servers, they have no-onsite IT staff, and we normally bill them about 4
> hours per month once the network/firewall/av infrastructure is setup.
> This has been their history for 5+ years, including upgrades, etc...
>
> The secret is in locking down the network and systems so that users
> can't screw them up.

Different stokes for different folks. Some companies will have more
resources, others will have less. Management will have an impact on
the decision making process. Some companies rather have more
functional systems than tightened security.

 

[Anteaus]

RE: Ratio of Servers vs Support Staff

I can't even begin to imagine how ten people can service the requests from
all the users you must have on 500 servers. Or, do they cover the servers
only?

As for how many support staff in general, that depends on so may factors
it's hard to generalize. Some of our sites run with almost no intervention,
others generate a regular stream of calls.

Locking-down desktops is a good way to improve reliability in a large
organization with standardised software. On smaller sites with diverse
software it tends to have the opposite effect, with the IT guys having to be
called-out for every trivial change.

"Jennie" wrote:

> Any advice of server staff vs hardware ratio's?
> We have over 500 servers located in regional and central sites, multiple hardware platforms and OS, applications and 10 server staff. Does this sound reasonable?
>
> Oh yes, and then there are the hundreds of projects, reports, builds, support, daily changes and requests and maintenance with the same 10 people)
>
>
>
> SanjayMeht wrote:
>
> Ratio of IT staff to users
> 17-Mar-09
>
> Hi,
>
> I am working as a network admin (ISA, windows2003, exchange 2003, terminal
> servrices) and also helpdesk role.
>
> I wanted to find out what is the standard ratio if IT staff to users?
>
> Thanks
>
> EggHeadCafe - Software Developer Portal of Choice
> Notify Client Applications Using WCF Callbacks
> http://www.eggheadcafe.com/tutorials/aspne...pplication.aspx
>

 

[Leythos]

Re: Ratio of Servers vs Support Staff

In article , foscsamuels@gmail.com says...
>
> > We have customers with more than 100 employees, most of them have 4-8
> > servers, they have no-onsite IT staff, and we normally bill them about 4
> > hours per month once the network/firewall/av infrastructure is setup.
> > This has been their history for 5+ years, including upgrades, etc...
> >
> > The secret is in locking down the network and systems so that users
> > can't screw them up.
>
> Different stokes for different folks. Some companies will have more
> resources, others will have less. Management will have an impact on
> the decision making process. Some companies rather have more
> functional systems than tightened security.

I would have to say that "More Functionality" is in the eye of the
beholder. If you can do all your work, that which is needed for
Business, then you are not missing any functionality.

We tend to approach networks with the idea that you (employees) have no
natural rights, not right to Internet access, no right to install
anything on COMPANY computers, no right to check your personal email,
etc...

Yea, that approach often ticks off the "ME" generation, but, in all
these years we've never had a compromised network, and the networks that
cater to the "ME" generation are compromised frequently.

--
You can't trust your best friends, your five senses, only the little
voice inside you that most civilians don't even hear -- Listen to that.
Trust yourself.
spam999free@rrohio.com (remove 999 for proper email address)