What it really comes down to is understanding your own environment and
knowing how to do a business case for the resources you need. It's
really no different than resourcing any other department in an
organization, so why talk to your management peers about how they
accomplish this within your organization?.
Richard.Sullivan@neupart.com wrote:
I've seen widely varying "rules of thumb" and other magic
calculations, but it comes down to your particular needs as an
organization. You have to factor in things like:
* Number and type(s) of servers/desktops, applications, physical
sites, users, etc.
* Network topology
* Industry-related requirements (e.g. security clearances,
compliance issues)
* Corporate overhead burden
* Technical savvy of your end users
It's basically Management 101: Your staff should be able to perform
their jobs within a defined work week. Typically, this means throwing
people at problems that require a human touch, and automating
everything else.
Start with an assessment of your existing infrastructure to see how
you could improve efficiency and reliability. Then use those results
to determine your staffing needs. Most organizations larger than 100
employees have a very poor handle on hardware/software inventory and
business processes that could be dramatically improved upon.
Good luck.
- Rich
*Rami.Prescott@frostbank.com*
10/25/2005 04:31 PM
To
security-management@securityfocus.com
cc
Subject
IT Department Size
Would anyone know of a good place to find information on how large a
system administrator/ network engineering department should be?
The general rule of thumb I've heard is 1 system administrator/network
engineer for every 250 users. Is this generally true in practice?
We define system administrator/network engineer as someone who has
5-10 years experience in all OS and who is responsible for the
operating system and hardware.
Thank you,
Rami Prescott
IT Audit
