IT staff per User ratio

I think it depends some on the quality of the administrator and salary.

I am "IT" for a company that currently has 26 fulltime and 5 part-time employees.

Its a training center with 2 locations about 45-50 miles apart. I'm also responsible forall of the classroom computers. Total desktops involved is just about 150. Also responsible for Exchange, Proxy/IIS server, 2 fileservers 2 SDSL routers, 3 dial-in lines, VPN support, keeping track of about 300 removable classroom harddrives, etc.
I take care of all user support, day to day administration (backups, user admin, monitoring of email and IIS server (4 internet domains), pull cable for new workstations, change lightbulbs, plunge toilets, etc.)

Of course it also depends upon hours of operations. The main office hours are the typical work day and we have a few on staff from 6-10pm for evening classes and some Saturday classes.

Do I bust my rear? Sure.. Do I love every minute of it? Well most of the time.. lol Is it to much for 1 person? Not really I've been doing it now for 3 years. If the administrator(s) on hand have the network and workstations setup properly there really isn't that much to worry about.

I do have a small advantage though in that for larger projects or if things are getting a little out of hand I hire a student intern for awhile. For example I currently have a intern working about 20-30 hours a week doing yearly inventory/pm on all of the systems and some end user support. Needed a bit of help for the next two months as I'm currently also teaching 4 hours a day.

A added item that also plays a very large part in all of this is end user training. It doesn't take much to send out a email once every week or two with some tips, etc. to all of the users. Also spending a bit of time explaining and showing a user the corrective steps you take to fix a problem and explaining what happend and how to possibly avoid th

I think it depends some on the quality of the administrator and users.

I am "IT" for a company that currently has 26 fulltime and 5 part-time employees.

Its a training center with 2 locations about 45-50 miles apart. I'm also responsible for all of the classroom computers. Total desktops involved is just about 150. Also responsible for Exchange, Proxy/IIS server, 2 fileservers 2 SDSL routers, VPN support, etc.

I take care of all user support, day to day admin (backups, user admin, monitoring of email and IIS server (4 internet domains), pull cable for new workstations, change lightbulbs, plunge toilets, etc.)

Do I bust my rear? Sure.. Do I love every minute of it? Well most of the time.. lol Is it to much for 1 person? Not really I've been doing it now for 3 years. If the administrator(s) on hand have the network and workstations setup properly there really isn't that much to worry about.

I do have a small advantage though in that for larger projects or if things aregetting a little out of hand I hire a student intern for awhile. For example I currently have a intern working about 20-30 hours a week doing yearly inventory/pm on all of the systems and some end user support. Needed a bit of help for the next two months as I'm currently also teaching 4 hours a day.

A added item that also plays a very large part in all of this is end user training. It doesn't take much to send out a email once every week or two with some tips, etc. to all of the users. Alsospending a bit of time explaining and showing a user the corrective steps you take to fix a problem and explaining what happend and how to possibly avoid the problem in the future goes a very long way.

There are too many variables to define an appropriate support staff to users ratio. You need to analyze your own corporate situation and decide how well IT is supporting business needs.

If you have a large and growing number of back logged problems, you need more staff. If an IT staff member goes on vacation and everything falls apart, you need more staff. If your staff members are playing solitaire all day, you are probably understaffed.

You can't run your business based on another company's needs. Analyze your situation and determine the appropriate number of IT staff to fit your business environment.

Some Operating Systems automatically take care of details that other Operating Systems you have to hire high priced experts to manage.

Some software packages take care of complex details that without them you have to have several people on the payroll to do.

If end users get decent training in the software on company computers then they are more productive & resolve simple problems, but if they get no decent training then there is an enormous burden on Help Desk support infrastructure dealing with repetitive stupid problems.

If you managing one platform one operating system one major high level language then probably one person can do that, but as you increase volume of OS, packages, languages, protocols, standards, security complications, there is a multiplication effect on the skills needed to cope.

Corporate Culture & kind of business plays a role. Banks have to care much more about security than many manufacturers. Retailers only care about security for their money, not their inventory. Thus the responsibilities for IT by industry will vary - 2 different companies same size same software hardware but different IT sizes called for.

If the business is privately owned, it does not have as much in the way of government regulations to have to adhere to as those that are on the stock market. If you have a union, that adds to the complexity of record keeping & people to manage the systems.

So your curious eh?

I too have researched and read all the other replies on this topic. I can't believe how many times the response didn't give an example and focused on the "depends on the specific environment" cliche. (doh!)

Just give me thenumbers ...

Our site is a full Microsoft BO shop with, all the comms, add-ons, etc etc issues. About one third are mobile laptop users. We have 45 staff and about 75 machines: PCs, handhelds,laptops, & servers. Equating to about 50 Gb of data.This experienced admin has a sweet little 'ol job here.