Re: Staffing Matrix

["Flynn, Gerald" <flynngn () JMU EDU>]

> -----Original Message-----
> Gartner has published a couple of articles on the staffing matrix -
> the most current one came out September 30th and is called "Staffing
> for
> Desktop Management and Support". The high level general ratios are 1
> Staff per 200 unmanaged desktops vs 1 Staff per 400 managed desktops,

Be careful with this figure. If you go from an unmanaged environment 
to a managed one, you may actually create more work because you're
actually doing the job right.

For example, if the desktop environment is unmanaged, maybe you're
leaving third party software patches up to the end user or you
don't have visibility into the actual patch success (or install) 
rate, maybe you don't know that you have 500 computers vulnerable 
to the latest iTunes, RealPlayer, or Blackberry security defect 
because you don't know that many computers have it installed, maybe 
you don't see the actual number of virus infections because you 
don't have central reporting, or maybe you're unaware that 200 of 
your computers are running the latest version of "antivirus2009". 

You also get the ability to plan centralized rollout for things 
like turning off USB autorun, quick reaction Microsoft Fix-IT
workarounds for zero day defects, last minute roll outs of
video drivers to prevent blue screens from the latest Microsoft
security update, scripts to automate client email or wireless 
configuration changes to match coming campus infrastructure changes,
pushes of disk encryption software and sensitive data search
tools. Things that are hard to do in an unmanaged environment and that 
you may not even contemplate doing.

Having the visibility and the means to do something about problems
may actually mean a lot of additional of work and the need for more
people, not less. Over time, there would be a need for more level
3 people to do more proactive and/or automated work. Whether the
overall head count decreases depends upon how much new work 
is taken on and the way the environment is managed. The level 1 and 2 
head count might not decrease because of the need for more exception 
handling in a more locked down environment. The nature, rather than
the amount of work may change.