Justifying an Administrator

Dan_Harlan · ‎Dec 17, 2010

All,

About 10 years ago I did some research on justifying a CAD administrator and
though I don't have the information anymore, I remember that the general
conclusion was that 1 administrator was needed for every 30 users (on
average).

Anyway, I'm looking to see how to justify a PLM (Windchill) administrator
for a small/medium company now. The areas I would think to look to for
justifying a position would include such things as; user support value,
system reliability impacts, disaster recovery integrity, user training, best
practices development, process improvement, data integrity.

Anyone have any info they would share? TIA

~Dan

Dan Harlan

602.320.4187

mdebower · ‎Dec 20, 2010

Dan,

I agree with your 1:30 ratio, at a previous position we did some research and cameup with about the same number. As far as justification foran admin position,here arethe major areas of responsibility that I have identified through my job description, what Iactually do and some research of my own.

Listed in order of Priority.

01 User Support:

Support is the highest priority, because if someone is down and not able to work, they are the most important issue at that moment.Support includes users, software, and hardware.Work with IT on the latter.

02 Efficiency Improvements:

Work with management and others to improve Engineering department processes.Look for bottlenecks, out-dated procedures, etc.Use 6 Sigma and Lean Process improvement methods.

03 Standards and Best Practices

Standards are things that HAVE to be done.There should be NO exceptions to a Standard.

Best Practices are optionalprocesses.There will be exceptions to Best Practices.

04 User Training

Training can be as simple as 30 minutes of one on one tutoring or as complex as Upgrade training for Wildfire for the entire engineering department with outside instructors.

05 Communication

Communicate what you are doing and what you have done on a regular basis to your management as well as your users.Tell management how much time the new Best Practice will save the company.Tell the users so they know that there is a new Best Practice that will make their life easier.

06 Staff Development

Create a development plan for yourself.Where are the gaps that need bridging? Fill any technical or managerial gaps with training.

Create a user group composed of your best / most influential users.A User Group is a good test bed for software updates, new procedures, and other changes as well.

07 Planning and Budgets

Start planning for next year now.What Projects do you want to get done?How complex are they?How much will it cost?For budgets, show ROI as well as what it will cost.The budget document might be the only document some of the upper management sees from you all year so make sure it is done right.

08 Investigate New Technologies

Lastly, keep an eye out for new technology that will improve things and make life easier.Do we need new plotters, workstations, software, or servers.What will be the next big thing?