Bill Vera

Hello,

We are budgeting for next year, and I have been researching industry standards regarding IT staff to user ratio. Surprisingly it's harder than it seems. I happen to come across your reply to one Aerodriguez 3/30/00 and found your remark to me the most relevant and insightful. After an hour of going through you page I have been most engrossed and I defiantly will visit often.

My situation is as such, I work for a not for profit organization so off the bat that spells not too much money or more specific not too much for me. So when requesting additional IT support our director was not too enthusiastic.

Currently:

  • 145 users, mix of desktops and laptops.
  • 2 remote users
  • NT servers running Exchange, SQL, Financial apps, HR apps in the near future.
  • Our equipment is donated refuge from other companies ranging from 486x to pIII's, we are running almost every MS o/s under the sun, win9x to NT4 and win2k.

Our users are typically low end users but maintaining older computers does seem to be problematic at best in times.

I spend most of my day rolling out reformatted pieced systems, tech supporting users and fixing pinches that pop up frequently. I am unable to give the servers and network the attention desired and implementing new technology? "Forget about it!", unless I want to kill my evenings and weekends. I already know that I am under staff, as you can see "I am the one man IT department." We are expected to grow to 175 users and I am overseeing current construction of new facilities next door, of drops, pull and telecom related issues and subcontractors.

Whatever help you can provide would be most helpful, I am glade I found your site. I felt I just vented 6 mo. Of frustration in paraphrased form, but it feels good.

Bill Vera

Information Technology Specialist

Bill,

I feel your pain.

I’d like to begin by thanking you for your kind words about my words being “relevant and insightful.”

First, I’m assuming that you are a one-person IT department and that the director you are talking about is the non-profit director and not an IT director. Also, I’m going to assume that you do not currently have any help from contractors.

Although I recognize that you work for a non-profit and that your organization has limited resources, my recommendation for your staffing level is three IT generalists and additional budget for consultants:

  • One Manager (with good technical expertise)
  • One Sr. System Administrator (with Exchange and Windows NT/2000 expertise)
  • One Desktop Support Specialist (Win9x/ME/NT/2000)
  • Consultants - DBA (SQL Server), Financial App Developer, Networking and HRIS implementation consulting

The work assignments for the folks in your organization might be as follows:

  • Desktop Support Specialist (100% desktop support)
  • Sr. System Administrator (50% desktop support, 25% System Administration, 25% IT Projects/Enhancements)
  • Manager (25% desktop support, 25% System Administration, 25% Projects/Project Management, 25% Planning, Purchasing and coordinating department activities).

Why am I recommending a three person department? First, let’s look at your Desktop Support issues.

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