how big IT support needed

Ints

Hi, just quick question... What do you think...
How big IT Support needed (how many employees) for 350 PC, 200 Ipads, 70 printers, 30 projectors - that's in school...

L.Jenkins

Well if it's being installed, I'd suggest 4-5 lads, should be able to do it in a week, don't quote me on it though. To continue supporting it there after, I'd say 2 at the absolute most. That's just my opinion.

billymitchell

I know this might not be of much help to you, but that amount of hardware make take 1 person to look after or might need 8 people to look after it all. It will completely depend on the workload that is expected of the team, and the skills required to manage it all.
Do you also have a network to manage, and active directory, print servers, file shares, mobile device manager for your ipads. You might people to look after the desktops, other people to look after the networks and other people to look after the systems.
Best thing to do might be to contract in a few people to set it up, along with maybe one full time member of staff to manage it going forward. After a time you could judge the workload and see if it would be cheaper to hire in somebody full time or continue along with the contracting route for what skills you dont have in house

Mr. G

If you're outsourcing you may need to put it out for public procurement.

As for staff, I would say 2 full time staff who know their stuff should be able to do that. One person may be under alot of pressure.

I know in one particular school there is 1 person managing the whole network of around 500 students and approximately 100 computers including staff laptops, 20 projectors and he hasn't a clue. The network continuously goes down there and is unreliable. So it depends on how competent the person is.

At that figure I think you would be better having your own IT support rather than outsourcing as at least staff are always there whereas if something happens the whole school could grind to a halt.

I would second the last poster with regard to seeing how things are after the system has been developed and then view your situation.

kippy

Depends on a few things.
1. Existing set up. Would need a lot more detail to garner that.
2. Support requirements, SLA 's and expectations of the school board/staff.
3. IT literacy of existing staff/students.
4. Skill level of person(s) doing the job.

You could outsource the whole thing. Or outsource a portion of work to make the existing setup more managable/flexible/easy to support then hire one person to look after it all.

You shouldnt really need any more than one competent person to be honest depending on the variables mentioned.

Ints

I am there on preset environment alone 4 days per week, 1 day getting help where needed. Just question for next year, how to sell my self for this place, because i am an Intern, and place are getting under big support company who will support remotely and again 1 day a week someone will come in, and so far I see that more than 50% are not possible support remotely ... Specially students with Ipads, who don't know what is wrong at all...

bluferbl

You could spend the next couple of weeks making a log of support jobs you have carried out which could NOT have been done remotely. That way you can see if your 50% estimate is correct. If some of those jobs were 'mission critical' and you fixed them quickly by being onsite, you could present this argument.

Ints wrote: »

I am there on preset environment alone 4 days per week, 1 day getting help where needed. Just question for next year, how to sell my self for this place, because i am an Intern, and place are getting under big support company who will support remotely and again 1 day a week someone will come in, and so far I see that more than 50% are not possible support remotely ... Specially students with Ipads, who don't know what is wrong at all...

kippy

bluferbl wrote: »

You could spend the next couple of weeks making a log of support jobs you have carried out which could NOT have been done remotely. That way you can see if your 50% estimate is correct. If some of those jobs were 'mission critical' and you fixed them quickly by being onsite, you could present this argument.

Agree. Quantify all the work. Even queries. Would recommend spiceworks for this even if u have to log calls yourself.

Mr. G

+1 for Spiceworks. Some of the guides that are on their wiki are handy also.

It may work out cheaper for them to employ you rather than outsource. There are a lot more benefits for a school to have their own IT Helpdesk once it's run efficiently. Outsourcing is good for small organisations, but when you're managing 500+ relying on an external company may cause more problems then it's worth.

Ints

ty, guys for all your advise , will do my best ...