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Included in this document :
The Operational Support Contract System adminstration is a very new profession for organisations, and can seem like a large overhead when compared to the costs of the machines. Only a decade ago, it was the machines that were the major expense and now, with the plummeting hardware costs, it is the people who manage those machines that represent a major expense. Indeed, the low price of hardware entices many businesses into IT spending with the expectation that these computers will not require large amounts of support overhead. Ironically, this can still be the case, if appropriate steps are taken to manage functionality. Traditionally, access to system administration skills has only been available on a full-time employment basis (either as employee or contractor). For a small business, this can be a forbidding cost. The mass proliferation of PCs and Macintoshes on the desktop have provided many small consultants who can help with crisis management, but no one who can bring large business production management skills to small business. Enter The SysAdmin Group.
On-Demand System Administration Services SysAdmin consults to large corporations on the management of mission critical production computing environments. It is this same expertise, and these same consultants who look after small business sites. SysAdmin provides a number of services under the general delivery framework of the OSC. The Workflow of System Administration The types of work which are performed by SysAdmin in providing support for a particular site can be divided into four basic categories; pro-active site visits, re-active site visits, pro-active work performed in-house, and re-active site support.
Planned Site Visits Our intention is to be as pro-active as we can be in looking after your site, and by providing state-of-the-art solutions we continually seek to reduce the need for any reactive work. Hence, most work is accommodated in this basic rate.
Un-Planned Site Visits Unplanned Site Visits are typically used for trouble-shooting system failures and related unforeseen issues which require our physical attendance to resolve expediently. Whenever reasonable, we will look to the more cost-effective Support category as the preferred mode of dealing with urgent issues. Finally, we also recognise that the nature of system administration is such that it can be disruptive to services, and that it is not always convenient to schedule down time during normal working hours. To assist you with such circumstances, SysAdmin can perform such work after hours, at times which suit your needs. In these cases we will need to schedule our staff specially, and this is reflected in the pricing structure accordingly.
In-House Work Where work is performed in-house, this work will be charged for in units more appropriate for that class of work, i.e. Site Visits are charged in 1 hour units, with a minimum charge of 4 hours. In-house work, Phone and Modem Support, by contrast, are charged in fifteen minute units and incur no minimum charge.
Reactive Site Support The Operational Support Contract The Operational Support Contract (OSC) is a framework for providing ongoing support services to customer sites who either do not have their own system administration staff, or who wish to augment those skills with the state-of-the-art practices and skills that SysAdmin provide. It is our aim that your systems will require progressively less hands-on administration over time. We wish to improve your system administration practices to the point where you use us as insurance with respect to your day-to-day systems operations, and that we are instead working together to further your IT investment by providing increased functionality and productivity. The OSC Life-Cycle
The Initial Site Review This initial assessment will highlight urgent issues that require immediate attention, and those issues which require attention over the period of the contract. Indeed this will serve to provide an initial list of tasks to be performed during the OSC. You will receive a report detailing the results of the Initial Site Review.
Ongoing Site Support You will receive monthly reports on time spent, issues addressed, and the remaining priorities. Regular meetings will be held to ensure that we are meeting your objectives, working with you to better utilise your existing environment, and to help you plan future requirements. The Contract The OSC is a graded contract, with levels appropriate to the complexity of the site. At the low end is the OSC-008 which is intended for small sites, possibly of only a single host, with a fairly stable application mix and user demands. At the other extreme is the OSC-208 for those large sites which need a lot of site consolidation work. Customised OSC levels can also be negotiated with SysAdmin as appropriate. The contract is renewed on a quarterly basis, and so the level can be adjusted each quarter to reflect the changing maturity or needs of the site.
Why have a base allotment? This base allotment is pre-paid, and allows us to plan a level of activity with respect to your site. Where that allotment is not used by re-active support, we can use that time to further improve the quality of practices deployed at your site. So the base allotment amounts to a little forward planning. You get a discount on the allotment, because you've prepaid for it, and we can schedule it well in advance.
What about vendor maintainance contracts? Contact us for further details.
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