I know this question falls in the “it depends” category, but how many employees do you think it takes to create a position for a full-time Domino administrator? Certainly a large org with multiple sites, custom databases, etc., would qualify, but how about a smaller org without much customization?
I find my biggest problem is just running down user email complaints, most of which is stuff like others sending to incorrect addresses, email denials due to faulty filters, etc. It all takes time that prevents important work from being done.
Subject: When is being a Domino Administrator a full time job?
You are right “it depends” as someone already said it mainly depends if this person who plays notes admin role also ware different hats, is this person dealing with network (in general) issues, hardware, security, firewalls, backup etc. I hardly can re-call any organization I worked for or know someone working for that you will see this type of role segregation for orgs smaller then 500 users… up to 250 users you have 1 admin that does all and 1-2 helpdesk people, between 250-500 you will find usually 2 admins that do all or have job responsibilities split between them… for large orgs there is role segregation. Also keep in mind there is no easy formula i.e. 250 users = 1 admin, so does 1000 users = 4 admins?? Absolutely NO because most likely org with 1000 users does not have 4 x number of server found in 250 users’ org…Additionally lot depends on how much money your org is spending or willing to spend on IT (overall) and who is in charge of IT, some people just know how to “sell” IT importance to higher mgmt. and have no problem creating new positions, where others will struggle with that.
Worst thing can happen to you if you have cheap boss (read: person in charge of IT) then you will be working 12 h a day and still get pay for 8. Over the years I learned a thing IT (and other supporting services) is not about how to save money for a company it’s about spending money… I can hear some voices already “what this guy is talking about I save my comp $2 mil by automating stuff….we could eliminate 40 positions because their manual work was not needed anymore” ye, ye, ye…. I guess this is for another discussion.
Subject: When is being a Domino Administrator a full time job?
Richard,
A common metric for general business users to dedicated IT people is one to fifty. However, in practice that varies greatly depending on what the level of involvement is with differnt pieces of the IT infrastructure. Do these people just do code or just do servers or just do workstations or just do it all? In practice you often see that number float in a range from ‘one to fifty’ to ‘one to a hundred’.
Subject: When is being a Domino Administrator a full time job?
For us, we have over 10,000 end users and four (4) Domino Administrators (two of whom have certifications). 1-1/2 of those administrators do almost nothing but fight SPAM. 1 of the administrators also does Notes application developement for our IT group only. (There is an Application Development group that does Notes Application development, but they do it for outside groups that have funding). That essentially leaves us with 1-1/2 people to upgrade/patch servers, trouble shoot, end user support (that our Help Desk can’t handle), evaluate new releases of Domino/Notes, etc. We acknowledge that we are very thin right now on staffing. We are supposed to get another person at the beginning of December, but she will need to be trained.
Subject: When is being a Domino Administrator a full time job?
In the “It Depends” category I would say that one of the biggest variables is User Knowledge Level. If you have a user base of power savey users it probably takes less Admin. From your description I would guess that you are working with people that are not Power Users. Of course Power Users can also create a lot of head aches as well.
Also are you functioning stricly as the Domino Admin, or are you the one man IT department that does Hardware, Software etc.
User training can releave a lot of Admin time
I have found that there is considerable resistance to setting time asside for good training in application usage and just general computer usage. “Everyone knows how to use a computer” - not. I find that people generally know how to do what they are doing but don’t ask them to step outside of that little world. Also I am amazed by how many people do not really have any idea how to use Windoze, far less their applications. For example do a little survey and find out how many people know C, X, P etc .
Subject: RE: When is being a Domino Administrator a full time job?
Most users don’t know how to use Windows, they know the apps that they work on and that is often it.
We have 2 administrators 3rd line support and admin for 30 servers, 7 domains, 5 clusters and 5000 users for R4, R5, R6 & R7, oh and Sametime 7.5 & Quickplace 7.
Subject: When is being a Domino Administrator a full time job?
It also depends on how good of an admin you are. Chris Miller (IdoNotes (and sleep)) has 7 admins, runs something like 200 servers, runs 24x7x365, AND runs a blog AND teaches at various Notes conferences (while he has one of his staff with him and uses his production servers in class and screws them up just to show how to do admin right) AND he sleeps.
If you’re an admin and ever have a chance to attend one of his sessions - go.