Our Tech Department needs help and fast!!! Please read!!!

[Pythagrean]

I am currently the lead technician for a school district in Texas.

We know our department is severally undermanned and we are trying to prove to our administration that our department needs to grow. We are currently getting behind on all projects, request, and other odds and ends. We do not know how many more technicians we need to ask for but currently we have a Technology Coordinator, two Computer Technicians, and a Network Administrator that works 2 to 3 days a week. I wanted to get other peoples opinion on this matter and I will list all of the things we have in our district below.

1050+ Desktop computer and laptops

300 Inkjet and laser printers
100+ Document cameras
75+ Interwrite wireless tablets
135+ Projectors
26 Servers
We take care of 10+ databases for different software we use
48+ Switches
3 Wireless Bridges
12 Wireless Access Points
1 Router
1 Firewall
3 T1?s
35+ different software applications that we have to support
30+ Palms

We are currently taking care of 2000+ request a year with 95% 24 hours turn around.

This does not include
Setting up for different presenters
New computer installs ? roughly 150 per year (replacing and adding) We also build all computers in house.
Project management and planning for contractors
Implementation of new software
Phone/email/walk-in request
We also do our own website and keep it up to date

We are a very wealthy school district in Texas and our current student base is 1800+ and we have 200+ teachers, administrators, and aids.

Can anyone give me a rough estimate of size a tech department should be to support all of this stuff in are district. I am so burnt out and I know our department needs help FAST.

 

[MarcVenice]

Problem is, it sounds like you guys are doing most of the important stuff, so it looks as if you are able to handle 'it' just fine. Untill stuff doesn't get done, and the entire schoolnetwork goes down for a week, they will probably be hesitant to increase your budget. So untill that happens, or 3 of you guys call in sick because of a burn-out, it's going to be rough convincing them to hire more people. You'll have to come up with good arguments, and clever suggestions. Like perhaps students that can help out ?

 

[Pythagrean]

The thing is.... We can't keep up any longer. We still get our tech request done because that is a top priority. At this moment I have 150 computers that need to be built, 2 mobile labs that need to built and installed, and lots of stuff not being checked or supported anymore. It seems like the walls are starting to crumble and we are trying to let administration know about the problem before it is to late. Our schools administration is all about being service oriented, but I am about to scream because we have so much to do.

 

[JackMDS]

Write a positive benevolent report that reflect your concern and submit it further On.

Put it all in nice not exaggerated form. Put a real number on how long each job takes and show that it exceed the number of hours available.

Once things are put into writing in a Neutral to positive way it us hard from the power to be to ignore the issue.

Acting out (like three people disappear on a sick leave) usually gets people fired and others are hired, The irony is that they might hire 4 instead of you three but mean time you are out.

 

[Pythagrean]

We have administrations attention now and we are currently working on a proposal. We are just looking at the numbers we need as a tech department to be successful. I know their is no way to put a number on how many people you need because all tech departments are different. I am just looking for some opinions to see if they match what I am coming up with. I do not have a whole lot of experience doing this and I just want to make sure I am not throwing to many people into the mix.

Our district is about to grow again in the next year. We are currently building a technology center for our High School and we are building another school of house our Pre-K through 2nd grade. Since this is going to happen, I would rather get some new people in now to get trained so in a year we are not training while implementing.

 

[Slugbait]

You should get with the other techs, create a backlog list and devise a scrum schedule. The backlog would contain all of the tasks and requests, which need to be prioritized. Then list out the estimated amount of hours/days for each task. Don't forget to include overhead and holidays, etc. Use this to base your scrum schedule. Take all that to the administration and show them what you will accomplish and the estimated time of completion for each task. Point out that scrum never schedules for problems or setbacks (unanticipated tasks).

If they need more tasks to be completed sooner than you have scheduled, and are not willing to slip higher-priority tasks, there's your justification for more people.

 

[sparks]

I'm surprised that you build your own computers. We use a standardized image that we have Dell install on all of the PCs we buy. The image contains all our licensed applications preinstalled. Considering the volume discounts, warranties and tech support that Dell's come with, is it really cheaper to build your own?

 

[montag451]

I worked for a company that had approx 150 computers on Novell, and about 20 printers, and a nice server room.
There were 5 techies working there, and mostly it was a very relaxed atmosphere in that IT Dept.

 

[ScrapSilicon]

Originally posted by: sparks
I'm surprised that you build your own computers. We use a standardized image that we have Dell install on all of the PCs we buy. The image contains all our licensed applications preinstalled. Considering the volume discounts, warranties and tech support that Dell's come with, is it really cheaper to build your own?

:thumbsup:

 

[Pythagrean]

Originally posted by: sparks
I'm surprised that you build your own computers. We use a standardized image that we have Dell install on all of the PCs we buy. The image contains all our licensed applications preinstalled. Considering the volume discounts, warranties and tech support that Dell's come with, is it really cheaper to build your own?

In the long run we have learned that it does save us money. The computers we build today w/o monitor runs 250-280 dollars after discounts. We have a RIS server that has all of our images on it and after building them, we install them in the classroom and then run the image for that grade level. We have a deal with Microsoft that covers all of our O/S and Office needs.

Build time on a computer is usualy 15 minutes.

I don't count monitors because the computers we replace tend to already have a monitor and we just reuse them until they go bad.

I usally buy 10 extra of each part and find that we do not have to replace near that many parts. We then just RMA the part and get a new one to replace the part we replaced. It seems to work really well and we do not have to wait for part replacement hardly ever.

Forgot to add that our department like to rely on itself. We have learned so many times that other buisnesses can not be trusted and that they blow a lot of smoke. We have learned it is easier to do it our selves and to make sure it is done right the first time.