MAT IT Teams - How do/would you structure?

[mb2k01]

Hi All,

 

I had an interesting chat with a friend and ex-colleague of mine over the weekend who has a similar(ish) position to me back up north. They are being tasked with proposing a structure to support IT across academies in their MAT.

We had different views slightly, and while each MAT will have it's unique set of circumstances meaning no structure is necessarily right or wrong, it made me wonder what others think.

 

Based on a theoretical mix of 14 primaries and 5 secondaries, how would YOU structure your IT support service / team?

 

As a starter... I've got slightly less schools but have largely adopted / tweaked over time a solution where we have secondaries with internal teams, and primaries supported from a core team who are nomadic and provide support based on a 'minimum' on site visit arrangement... but other than that, go where a need arises / support flexibly remotely were possible.

 

My colleague however, preferred the concept of splitting up their 14 primaries and having each senior tech in their central team allocated 3-4 of them each.

 

Interested to hear what others think / do!

[FN-GM]

Personally I would have 1 large team that would cover the whole MAT. if site visits are required the techs based at the closest location will carry out those visits.

[Mr.Ben]

I would expect 7-8 staff members for a MAT of this size.

 

5 techs works 4 days a week in secondaries, with 1 day a week supporting 3 primaries each.

 

(Assuming 2 hour primary visits, then the secondaries could have almost permanent cover)

 

1 Manager

 

1 Senior Tech (based centrally)

 

1 Helpdesk/Service Manager

[TechMonkey]

My colleague however, preferred the concept of splitting up their 14 primaries and having each senior tech in their central team allocated 3-4 of them each.

 

My concern with this would be resilience. What if that tech is off or involved with something more pressing? At least with a team supporting, as FN-GM says, then anyone could be slotted in and the load distributed.

[djm968]

What @FN-GM said. I would be interested to know the roles/size of your existing team. Edited January 25, 2021 by djm968

[mb2k01]

My concern with this would be resilience. What if that tech is off or involved with something more pressing? At least with a team supporting, as FN-GM says, then anyone could be slotted in and the load distributed.

 

That was pretty much my argument to them (and the reason I've kept mine the way it has been)

He was talking about less central ticket analysis / prioritisation / assignment by having a designated lead of a sub-group of schools, which in truth I can see helping compared to my set up, but whether it's more efficient I guess remains to be seen!

[Mr.Ben]

For context,

 

We have 33 primaries and 4 members of staff, complimented by contractors when required and we will expanded with an apprentice and ops admin in the near future.

 

2 field techs (50/50 field and Helpdesk) - Working in schools on a rota each morning, with freedom to move around sites as required in the afternoons)

 

1 Senior Tech (90% Technical, 10% Field).

 

1 ICT Manager (60% Ops, 40% Technical).

 

We have a heavily consolidated infrastructure, all cloud based and with little to maintain on site.

[TechMonkey]

He was talking about less central ticket analysis / prioritisation / assignment

 

Personally I wouldn't see this as an issue as once you are at scale ticket assignment should be automatic, especially with areas being assigned to certain teams. Also there should always be central analysis as someone needs to be able to show that the allocation of resources (Technicians/Teams) is correct (or more importantly not), and not rely on the team to scream when they are overwhelmed or someone find out they are all sitting around twiddling their thumbs.

[mb2k01]

What @FN-GM said. I would be interested to know the roles/size of your existing team.

 

My friend who was considering the sub-group approach I think said it would be 4 Senior Technicians with each of his primaries split between them (so Tec 1 would have 4 primaries etc) Some of his secondaries would have a mix of local and 'core' staff as each would have their own network manager.

 

If you meant my team then the way our Trust has grown organically is that each secondary has their internally staffed / located IT teams, but 9 primaries share 1 IT Manager and 2 Technicians between them - with an arrangement of "at least" one visit per week, but remote support alongside. No dedicated or named individuals per school etc.

[Roberto]

 

Based on a theoretical mix of 14 primaries and 5 secondaries, how would YOU structure your IT support service / team?

 

I'd probably start by involving the consumers of the IT Support service - what are their expectations (so for example, when it comes to assigning specific senior technicians, would they prefer as fast a response as possible from the next available person or would they prefer to wait longer for an specific individual who will immediately have more 'local' context?), what service level agreements do you have or do they want in place. Answering those questions should inform your subsequent decisions.

[msi_school]

I could see an appeal to having a Tech look after a number of Primaries within the organisation, this would allow them to take ownership of the school and provide some good learning experience for a future promotion to Senior tech or Network manager, obviously there would need to be a safety net for absence but as long as you are documenting work this should not be a problem and could strengthen the systems to cover absence at a higher level.