IT Dept Questions

[imported_rudy311poo]

I work for a healthcare company that has the following

~185 Desktops
~28 Servers

1. A File Server (also DC)
   An Exchange Server (also DC)
   A Citrix Farm (9 application servers)
   A SQL Database Server
   A Fax Server
   An Image Server
   Primary Domain Controller

~60 Thin Clients
~90 Printers
~35 Fax Machines
220 Employees
7 Telephone Systems (mix of Avaya/Definity PBXs, IP office PBXs)

7 Different Offices

Question: How many IT staff members would you recommend.

 

[thirdeye]

Tough call really.

Depends on the type of business and what apps you'd be supporting.

I'd guess ~ 6-8?

 

[FoBoT]

i assume you are including help desk/support in "IT"

i will say 10-12

 

[imported_rudy311poo]

thanks for the input.

i know i could spend all day listing the apps that are being supported, but i was trying to keep it simple.

 

[imported_rudy311poo]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
i assume you are including help desk/support in "IT"

i will say 10-12

yes that would be my job

 

[Ayah]

4 knowledgeable people and a good dozen drones. (Not so smart and brilliant people)

 

[thirdeye]

Originally posted by: rudy311poo
thanks for the input.

i know i could spend all day listing the apps that are being supported, but i was trying to keep it simple.

Yeah I'd say the more apps, the more support you'd need.

 

[Grminalac]

Hmm..
You need someone that knows active directory.
You could likely use a database person.
A hardware person.
Probably 3-4 depending on what software you are running,and how much hands on time would be required with each computer or each employee. With ghost and server 2003, and employees that follow company use policies administration is heavily reduced. You could get by with that low of a number and just rely on outsourcing in event of an emergency. Saves money.

 

[Electric Amish]

Our company has about the same except it's only across 3 buildings and only 1 phone system.

They have 4 people + 1 temp.

 

[Billzie7718]

Originally posted by: rudy311poo
I work for a company that has the following

~185 Desktops
~28 Servers
~60 Thin Clients
~90 Printers
~35 Fax Machines
220 Employees
7 Telephone Systems (mix of Avaya/Definity PBXs, IP office PBXs)

7 Different Offices

Question: How many IT staff members would you recommend.

I believe the normal ratio for desktop support is about 1 for every 60 users. Network Admins and Engineers will depend on their experience level and how the forest was designed (ie. was it designed properly so that downtime and failover keep issues at a minimum).

 

[Andy22]

Me and a friend were just discussing it and we came up with 5 total.

1 - Director\Manager\Lead
2 - Desktop Support
1 - Server Support
1 - Network Admin

There are four of us that support close to 200 servers...but we don't have the pc crap to worry about. Servers require very little day to day maintenance.

 

[imported_Imp]

I'm no longer IT, but worked with the department at its head office for 3 months during the summer. This is with over ten area offices and a couple thousand machines. For primary server maintenance/work, there were about 5 people with 5 more for application support, and add in 3 supervisors. Local offices with 2 servers and around 100-200 machines, 2 IT staff. These 2 pretty much shared responsibilities, but one was higher up in position. Hope that helps.

Forgot to add: due to the shear volume of desktop systems and 'not too knowledagable' staff, most of the work for local IT people was for basic help desk type stuff with the help running around the office. This could be handled by one person while the other is off.

 

[tfinch2]

Do you require 24 hour support? That plays a big role in how many people you'll need.

 

[jmdeathsquad]

do you outsource your printer and fax work? there's only me for a staff of 50+ but i dont have to deal with any of the fax machines or printers (except for set them up), we use a fax/print company for that

 

[imported_rudy311poo]

Originally posted by: tfinch2
Do you require 24 hour support? That plays a big role in how many people you'll need.

Not really. We have a few people who will work remotely after hours, but its not out of necessity.

Thanks for all your help guys.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

Originally posted by: Billzie7718

Originally posted by: rudy311poo
I work for a company that has the following

~185 Desktops
~28 Servers
~60 Thin Clients
~90 Printers
~35 Fax Machines
220 Employees
7 Telephone Systems (mix of Avaya/Definity PBXs, IP office PBXs)

7 Different Offices

Question: How many IT staff members would you recommend.

I believe the normal ratio for desktop support is about 1 for every 60 users. Network Admins and Engineers will depend on their experience level and how the forest was designed (ie. was it designed properly so that downtime and failover keep issues at a minimum).

1 desktop guy for 60 users? Man I wish it was like that here. I support 500 users in 2 buildings, by myself.

 

[imported_rudy311poo]

Originally posted by: jmdeathsquad
do you outsource your printer and fax work? there's only me for a staff of 50+ but i dont have to deal with any of the fax machines or printers (except for set them up), we use a fax/print company for that

Right now we have staff of 2, A director and myself. If we can't fix it or dont have time, we will outsource.

 

[Kwaipie]

any in house development happening?
We have 90 servers and 28 branch offices with another 70 servers.
2000 PCs
250 printers
4000 users

Single forest single domain, 30 Exchange servers, 3 SQL servers, ~30TB SAN

3 SysAdmins
4 PC techs
2 Help Desk

 

[acole1]

We have about that with 1 IT head, 1 app support, and me, the intern

its gets buisy... but we have the users whipped

 

[classy]

That is a tough call because it depends on the enviroment. I would say 2-3 admins to take care of the all the network related stuff and 2 techs for desktops and end user stuff.

 

[classy]

Originally posted by: JeffreyLebowski

Originally posted by: Billzie7718

Originally posted by: rudy311poo
I work for a company that has the following

~185 Desktops
~28 Servers
~60 Thin Clients
~90 Printers
~35 Fax Machines
220 Employees
7 Telephone Systems (mix of Avaya/Definity PBXs, IP office PBXs)

7 Different Offices

Question: How many IT staff members would you recommend.

I believe the normal ratio for desktop support is about 1 for every 60 users. Network Admins and Engineers will depend on their experience level and how the forest was designed (ie. was it designed properly so that downtime and failover keep issues at a minimum).

1 desktop guy for 60 users? Man I wish it was like that here. I support 500 users in 2 buildings, by myself.

LOL me and another guy I work with have like 700 a piece so I know how you feel . It really comes down to the enviroment and skill level of the people. If you need more than 6-7 I would say someone is not pulling their weight.

 

[KrillBee]

just get somebody who knows what they're doing and you could do it all with 1 person.

 

[alkemyst]

sort of like our mortgage entity...

we have a 800 number for helpdesk...about ??? are on that team that we outsourced....we have 5000+ associates though, fortune 400.

locally we have 7 of us. We are more than busy.

However; we think if we eliminated employees we'd have more production and less work to do.

This is really a question of how many do you have now, how many tickets go beyond the timeline, how much fluff you take on, and then how many do you need to make it work?

 

[Chadder007]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
i assume you are including help desk/support in "IT"

i will say 10-12

Our Team only consists of 9.....and that includes the director.
We have 700 workstations
40 laptops
50 servers