computer:tech ratio

[accura2000]

Approx 350:1 here...

[dayzd]

Currently we're floating around 400:1.
This includes 13 servers and appliances, 23 Macs, an EMC SAN plus 3 or 4 NAS boxes.

We were a three man team until a year ago, since when no attempt has been made to hire. :-(

[Sombeech]

409:1
I was thinking 300:1 before I took an actual count

[3s-gtech]

400:1 here, including servers. Just me

[sparker]

I am part time with 200 machines so I guess that makes me 400:1
Anyone got any firm recomendations I can take to the governors?

[vikpaw]

We are about 1,000:1 (as far as computers go - then you have to add in printers, projectors, smartboards, document cameras, etc). Then again, we are a US district. Seems like you guys get wayyy better funding than we do.

We currently have two IT staff.

WOW!
How big a geographic area is the district? How many schools does that include? Are there no other IT techs at all?

[socalrico]

7 schools, District Building, Maintenance Yard, and Warehouse,
Our ratio is 2.5/3000+ and growing.
We have 2 techs and 1 Director who technically isn't suppose to do our work per state law.

Anyone want to trade jobs?

That's not including printers, projectors, smartboards, document cameras, network equipment, etc.

I come home stressed every single day!

[Marshall_IT]

Around 155:1 however i think we'll be going to around 210:1.
Was 3 tech and a NM.

[rbance]

Try thes ratios

There is a lot more to this than just PC's to take into account....

Support Ratios.png

[localzuk]

Try thes ratios

There is a lot more to this than just PC's to take into account....

Support Ratios.png

The PC count is just a general idea. The vast majority of us don't have much of a differentiator between desktop support and server/switch support. Eg. the school I'm in now has 1200 kids, 200 staff, about 550 PCs, a dozen servers, a dozen printers, 70+ projectors etc... to deal with, and the team consists of me (Network Manager) and 1 technician, and everything falls to us.

Also, those in the US - when you have a project such as switch replacement, or desktop replacement, from what I've seen, this isn't handled by the team at the district level, instead it is bought in as a service of whoever is providing the equipment. Here, the vast majority of installation work is undertaken by the techies on the ground too.

[rbance]

Keep in mind the above is ongoing support ratios....installs etc are separate again....

It is actually common to not count PC's but count the role of the PC or laptop user. The PC count methdology (which hasn't been used in industry for a while now), does not take into account the differences between users....
When I get thin clients, that ratio will be 1:700 to 1:800 + the ratio to support servers added to drive this as well...

It is not an exact science, just a guide which can be negotiated. If you have lower FTE counts than the guide suggests, then you can change your SLA expectation ( I would hope).


As an exercise, plug in the numbers that are relevant.....for projectors I would say that 1:500 may be a ratio that works (not a lot goes wrong here).
Just by pluggin in your numbers and making a few assumptions I get a number of 5.8 staff.....

[qcomer]

WOW!
How big a geographic area is the district? How many schools does that include? Are there no other IT techs at all?

Spread out 20 miles geographically. 11 schools plus district office, maintenance, food services, warehouses, transportation, etc. plus we provide limited support to 3 charter schools.

2 full time Permanenet IT staff. 2,000 devices (printers, smArt boards, desktops, laptops, net books,projectors, etc.) 20ish servers, etc.

We maintain iis, exchange, several SQL DBs, ad, gp, dns, cabling, etc. all done in house. No outside contractors. We are now going to take over phones too and move to VoIP.


I lol at the 300:1,400:1, etc. Must be nice

[rbance]

I am suspecting you guys are needing closer to 6-8 fte in reality.....

Spread out 20 miles geographically. 11 schools plus district office, maintenance, food services, warehouses, transportation, etc. plus we provide limited support to 3 charter schools.

2 full time Permanenet IT staff. 2,000 devices (printers, smArt boards, desktops, laptops, net books,projectors, etc.) 20ish servers, etc.

We maintain iis, exchange, several SQL DBs, ad, gp, dns, cabling, etc. all done in house. No outside contractors. We are now going to take over phones too and move to VoIP.


I lol at the 300:1,400:1, etc. Must be nice

[localzuk]

I am suspecting you guys are needing closer to 6-8 fte in reality.....

I've just put all our figures into your model, and it comes out with 6.87 FTE staff to support our campus. We have 2, and manage just fine, so that model seems a little over-zealous. Plus, we do all our own installs etc...

[glennda]

I'm currently working on about 450 to 1 computer to tech ratio -

900 desktops - 28 servers (running on KVM) too many printers - about 60 IWB's 100 projectors, 40 edge switches VLans VOIP system

I have one job on my helpdesk - as long as it is setup in a stable format with good hardware and has the budget for refreshes (we work on 5 year cycle now with all machines warrantied until the day they are removed from service - Stone desktops)