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How Many Exchange Admins does it take...

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by brian

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I have seen a document way back when where it stated that the industry standard for Exchange support was roughly one Exchange Administrator per 1000 Exchange users. Can anybody vouch for that? If so, do you know where it may be credibly documented. If this is incorrect and you know what a true standard is, I would also like to know that. Thank you,

Brian@ed.gov
Brian@hottubinc.com

5 replies

by timthetoolman

Hi,

A couple of years ago I worked for a company that had 2-3 (one main one and two that helped) administrators for 1800 users.

re: How many you *should* have. That depends entirely on the value your company places on Exchange. If it considersit critical to its operations, then there is an argument for having more people supporting it.

They'll learn quickly during the first major outage if they skimp...

Cheers,
Tim.

by timthetoolman

Hi Brian,

I think you missed the point of my message.

Microsoft offer no "official" suggested support levels.

The industry seems to average around the 1000 users per administrator but your business has a budget and a level of importance it places on Exchange.

These two, along with Office Politics and the Administrator's competence, will determine your business' staffing levels for Exchange.

Just because *survey* XYZ says "Industry averages suggest you need 1 Exchange Administrator per 1000 users" wont mean YOUR business does. Stated another way, there is no "true standard" applicable to any/every situation.

I've done a fair bit of surfing and have only found anecdotal evidence of staffing levels for Exchange. As I opened with - the only important recommendation would come from Microsoft - and they dont.

Hope this helps,
I expect its not what you want to hear, though.
Cheers,
Tim.

by brian

Tim,

I really appreciate your effort, and I am not in any way demeaning your answer - but I really need some documentation if it exists, from a well known source/publication. A survey by a well known source would also be good. As you said, there are no true standards that fit every situation, but there is a law of averages - that's what I am looking for.

Again, I thank you for input,
Brian

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