Slashdot Mirror
Creating an IS Department?
brainee28 asks: "I work in the IS department for a manufacturer in Arizona (a
one-man-show). I do mostly everything; from systems, to networks, to procurement, to implementation. I can't mention who I work for since we deal
with government contracts. My problem is this: The company didn't start out with an IS department. Up until 6 years ago, a few computers were scattered around, but processes and business was still being done the old-fashioned way (with paper). When the IS department was started, it was started by a hobbyist (he was named
IS Manager before I showed up), who knew nothing about management or any of
the major issues that befall a traditional IS dept. I joined 6 years ago
(I have 5 years of IS Management experience, and 15 years of experience
with IS in general) with the idea that I would be managing day-to-day
operations. That has still not come to pass. The hobbyist left the company
4 years ago, and I've been on my own ever since." What is the best way for new IS managers to convince their superiors of the need for widespread change?
"Management views IS as a facilities function; computers are a tool, and
only a tool. I presented a proposal to them about 2 weeks ago which
completely negates that and several other ideas they've had about IS.
Management accepted the proposal; however I'm now faced with additional
mountains to climb.
I have 3 things that management and I currently don't see eye to eye on:
1) The main job of IS is connectivity. Connectivity is the core of why we have IS. Anything else is extraneous, and I shouldn't be dealing with it.
2) IS involvement in other divisions isn't necessary. IS is involved with other divisions when physical products get connected to the network, but not before. Software should be evaluated by IS only when it becomes necessary for purchase and implementation, not before. Any developed piece of software (we have an in-house programmer in accounting who uses Access -- I know, I know...) should be evaluated by IS when the software is ready to install.
3)I'm too overloaded. With 93 permanent users and 110 workstations (some are floaters), I can't do both systems work and admin work (my title is Systems Administrator, but I carry no management authority) on my own. My proposal stated the need for the creation of staff (a tech and a clerk). Management thinks because things are running, I have no issues, but I'm falling apart from all I have to do to keep things running. I need to offset the load so I can do more of the 'bigger picture' things to help guide this company out of the IS dark ages. (We have no CTO or CIO; Management is made up of engineers from different disciplines)
How would Slashdot users attack this? I've done my Google searches; went back to traditional books from Barnes and Noble; and even contacted my alma mater, Northern Arizona University, to find some answers. How would you prove the need for change on these three points? Can I institute change here?"
I have 3 things that management and I currently don't see eye to eye on:
1) The main job of IS is connectivity. Connectivity is the core of why we have IS. Anything else is extraneous, and I shouldn't be dealing with it.
2) IS involvement in other divisions isn't necessary. IS is involved with other divisions when physical products get connected to the network, but not before. Software should be evaluated by IS only when it becomes necessary for purchase and implementation, not before. Any developed piece of software (we have an in-house programmer in accounting who uses Access -- I know, I know...) should be evaluated by IS when the software is ready to install.
3)I'm too overloaded. With 93 permanent users and 110 workstations (some are floaters), I can't do both systems work and admin work (my title is Systems Administrator, but I carry no management authority) on my own. My proposal stated the need for the creation of staff (a tech and a clerk). Management thinks because things are running, I have no issues, but I'm falling apart from all I have to do to keep things running. I need to offset the load so I can do more of the 'bigger picture' things to help guide this company out of the IS dark ages. (We have no CTO or CIO; Management is made up of engineers from different disciplines)
How would Slashdot users attack this? I've done my Google searches; went back to traditional books from Barnes and Noble; and even contacted my alma mater, Northern Arizona University, to find some answers. How would you prove the need for change on these three points? Can I institute change here?"
Sorry to say, but if the acronym you use is not IBM, introduce it before you use it, or you risk leaving your intended audience by the road side.
Time to update the ol' resume and make for the exits.
There is no intelligent life there.
I've been in a similar situation. Company went belly-up a few years later.
You can't talk about Wikipedia's flaws on Wikipedia
This might not help with all of your complaints, but have you thought of taking the longest vacation that you can get away with? You get a nice break and when you get back everything will be so f$#%ed up you'll be the god the big bosses worship.
Well...ideally...
Information Systems?
What is the best way for new IS managers to convince their superiors of the need for widespread change?
Quit?
I hate to say it. My experience is that management usually won't take any action until things get bad. As long as you are keeping things running, management won't be willing to make any changes (read as: spend any money).
Managements *JOB* is not to "do things right". Its to discover the absolute minimum of funding at which a task can be accomplished.
It's the same situation at my work -- they put my department (RND) under incredible stress because incredible stress is *CHEAP*. Doing the right thing is expensive. This is why engineering and management are always at eachothers throats.
Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley
Remeber that upper management generally hates technical details. Explain how the widespread changes will benefit the company in relation to things that you know are important to them. Make sure that you underline the importance of the changes and the specifice benefits they entail; things like money saved, less training, less downtime, and less support calls.
I meta-moderate because I care.
In a nutshell, just do it.
Take the initiative and start implementing policies and enforcing them. My guess is your boss will be very impressed that you're showing such leadership. Team Captains don't become Team Captains by waiting to be asked.
Keep in mind, that you run the risk of pissing a lot of people off. Be flexible (you probably don't have *all* the answers) but stay determined. Perseverance pays.
Just do it. They'll tell you when you've gone too far.
Boxlight
I sort of agree with you, but realistically, if you don't know, either on your own or through context clues, that IS stands for Information Systems, you shouldn't be responding to this guy's question anyway.
Who did what now?
Outline what it is you intend to do, how much it will cost and what the projected benefits are of doing it. Don't forget to also outline risks and downsides. Omit the "soft costs" that cannot be easily measured, like "improved productivity and efficiency".
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
I'd have to disagree with you, the core purpose of IS is improving ROI.
If connectivity does not help the bottom line, it is indeed pointless.
To make your point, I'd find out what it would cost the company if the
computers were down for one hour, two hours, etc. Compare those costs
versus the costs for your requested help. Present that information to management.
For any new prjoects, I'd compare the estimated time/cost savings.
If you can put it in dollar terms you have a chance of approval.
Service guarantees Citizenship! Questions Guarantee GITMO.... Amerika Uber Alles!
In the words of Darth Vader, "it is unwise to lower your defenses." Drop the firewall; stop updating the anti-virus. Spend more time on /. until the network begins grinding to a halt. Shuffle from machine to machine, fixing each one slowly and deliberately. Don't answer the phone, pages, or emails. And get your résumé in shape, but forget about expecting a good reference.
You can't make them understand if they don't already. An IT infrastructure doesn't just spring up full-blown overnight and this cobbled together system you're trying to run is inherently unstable. Without any controls and with no support staff, you can't hope to cope.
GetOuttaMySpace - The Anti-Social Network
My suggestion is get a simple book on change, perferably something on Six Sigma practices. Something like this book from Amazon (or elsewhere, it's not a referrer link) would be appropriate for you I think: Lean Six Sigma for Service : How to Use Lean Speed and Six Sigma Quality to Improve Services and Transactions.
The key things to focus on to get management to see your plight is to determine a way to measure your current state (how long does it take to perform workstation maintenance per day, per week, per month? How much time is spent doing any kind of security auditing? How many security incidents have you had this year? etc.), and then present suggestions for improvement on your current state as your expected future state that will SAVE THEM MONEY. This is always what business cares about: making or saving money! So if by being able to hire a clerk or tech to offload some of your current responsibilities it will save you company twice as much as the tech's salary per year, you've just proven the obvious and glaring need to do just that.
Also, provide them with a documented measurement startegy for the future to ensure that their investment in another employee is benefitting the bottom line.
If management still says no, and you've clearly made the case that another body is necessary to help you out in your current position, keep yourself open to the possibility that another company can use your help more than your current employer. Healthy companies are open to change when its needed. Unhealthy companies bury their head in the sand and cannot look past maintaining the status quo.
First thing, does this company really need an IS dept? or do they just need someone who runs around fixing things?
If they indeed do 'need' an IS dept, update your resume and then:
you need to come up with a "dire" consequences sceanario, then write up quotes and at least double to triple them (that way you might get your needed funds).. If needed, make something break, multiple times, just to show how crippled they are, blame the guy who left and explain you have been forced to use 'this junk'.. Have a handy quote in your desk drawer that you had got "a while back" and have a few spare good resumes around that have recently come in.. Use lots of acronyms (yes, technobabbling someone is low but when their eyes glaze over you can insert a lot of 'ideas' in there..) but most of all, make them think it is their idea.
show them what the competition is doing, explain that they are being outmoded. using fear to compel them to 'upgrade' is a great. of course, it is their idea..
don't get too chicken little about it, but show them what a bofh is and force your ideas through, of course though, it is their idea you can just be the "go-to guy"..
-or-
if the above fails, use that updated resume and go to a company with an IS dept, otherwise they are determined to use an 'abacus' and are doomed to live in the past..
anime+manga together at last.. in real time.
My suggestion? Management won't pay for insurance against threats that they don't understand. Do a 'Net search and find white papers which show how other similar sized businesses became vulnerable to major IT downtime induced loss of revenue, and/or were sued for major amounts of money because they didn't face the threat sources in time and data was stolen, etc.
If a good presentation using those papers doesn't work, suggest that for Sarbonnes/Oxley regulatory compliance, they need an IT audit, and discuss the single point of failure problem with the auditor.
Finally, if none of the above work, update the resume and get a couple of good job offers in hand, then request a large $$ increase in wage to stay, or leave. There are no other choices.
...Open Source isn't the only answer -- but it's almost always a better value than the alternatives...
I am a firm believer that almost all IT work can be broken down into 3 major groups: Hardware, Software and Network. With that in mind let us proceed with further discussion.
The easiest to deal with is probably the hardware. The key of course is to keep items under warranty with proper replacement cycles. By doing this the job is pretty simple. If a part of computer X breaks then you can simply call (or use web-based customer service) to receive a replacement part or have someone come out to do the work for you. In my previous place of employ we used Dell hardware on a rotating 3-year cycle. If a warranteed item broke we simply called and had them send out the replacement which we promptly shipped back. The only exception to this was laptops and for those we made them send a service person out, because replacing a motherboard in one of those is not my idea of fun.
Next up is the software. All software presently in use should be tested on a machine of the desired hardware mentioned above. You will of course have uniformity in machines, because this means you have a lot less problems to worry about. It is the Apple approach, sort of. You will want to be using a single operating system (well maybe two). In this case either Windows 2000 or XP. Build a machine with the specs of all the others and install and test all the software on the machine, once it is running properly, using Symantec Ghost to create images and since you will have the same hardware, you can quickly roll out new machines or re-image bad ones.
Finally the network. Please tell me they have a properly created network using nice switches and a good hardware firewall. We once found a network closet at a previous place of employ that was connected to the rest of the network with a HUB. Several of us almost died at how horribly setup this was. You are dealing with a small number of computers so I do not expect you to have several grand worth of networking equipment. So long as this is maintained properly, it should never really be a problem.
Now, how do you sell them on changes being necessary? First off, if you have sporadic and out of warranty hardware, be sure they are perfectly aware that if the machine(s) die that it could take several days or weeks to replace. I know this might be a huge overestimate, but it will give them an idea of the sort of down time that a user could face.
Next, do a similar survey of the software. Also if you can verify the licenses on everything. If you find any missing licenses tell them of the ramifications and be sure to give them the worst case scenario. We had an instance like this at my last job and several people were upset when they were cut off from software, but at several thousand dollars per license, the company was willing to make a huge deal out of it with us. Any software that is out of warranty also must go or be removed from the network. So those NT4 and 9x machines you might have running around (I hope you don't), need to be taken care of. Once again a proper explanation might do the trick.
Remember, no matter what all management always wants productivity. So if you show how their system can result in losses of productivity, not only for you but for users, they are more willing to consider change. The key of a good IT department is always going to be to maximize uptime and minimize downtime.
One final suggestion, request the power to hire and fire. Then remind them of reasonable salary expectations. I am not sure what they are paying you, but a true IT manager should be making 70k or more and good staff at least 40-50k. If you convince them of this, well give me a call because I know a thing or two about straightening out IT departments, I helped fix two of them before I finally started getting engineering jobs.
"Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb."
I'm too overloaded. With 93 permanent users and 110 workstations (some are floaters), I can't do both systems work and admin work (my title is Systems Administrator, but I carry no management authority) on my own.
Your best friend is the schedule sheet. Such a sheet has the week's calendar detailed down to the half hour. If someone asks you to deworm a PC or deTrojan a Windows laptop, get your schedule sheet and book the next available 2 hours. Block time in advance for other sysadmin duties. Full schedule? Just tell the user his PC will be dewormed next month. When you have a few dissatisfied users, bring your ultra-full, scribbled schedule sheet to management and use it to prove you need help. DON'T DO UNCOMPENSATED OVERTIME. Take vacations, preferably on short notice. You don't have a backup? Well, ain't that too bad. Think you could hire one, boss?
As a rule of thumb, you need one full time person per 30 Windows PCs, plus one guy to cover for vacation and such. I don't know how you can keep up with a hundred Windows machines to maintain by yourself.
If your boss wants to save on sysadmin salaries, he can move his users to Linux PCs, with critical programs (e.g., macro-ridden Excel spreadsheets) running on Windows images under VMWare. Inside the image, have apps save to network drives (Samba is your friend), not to C:. Archive the images, they are just large files in Linux. When the Windows image catches a virus, just restore a fresh version from your storage server instead of spending hours fixing the Windows crap. You'd be amazed at how much time this little trick saves. Users have their Windows apps and you have manageable systems, everyone is happy.
--
Mad science! Robots! Underwear! Cute girls! Full comic online! http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/
"Management views IS as a facilities function; computers are a tool, and only a tool."
And they are correct. If it doesn't provably add to the bottom line, they don't care. How do you view motors, electrical outlets, and HVAC systems? How do you view pens and paper? Computers are analogous. Your management's view is at least the most popular view. If you don't like it, you will be unhappy working as an IS manager in most environments.
1a. Pragmatically, the main job of IS is to do whatever company management thinks IS should do. You are part of a relatively small enterprise; it is your job to help out that enterprise any way you can with whatever resources you have. If that means you draft, proofread, and type a memo about employee parking, you do it. And you don't complain. The 'leet crowd will disagree, I'm sure, but unless you are abslutely irreplaceable (and no one is), you don't make yourself appear to be a prima donna whose willingness to work is limited.
1b. The main job of IS is to make sure that everyone can use their computers. Connectivity is included in that, but so is installing software, reconnecting keyboards, writing login scripts, patching servers, and (insert your least favorite computer-related task here). IS is the department with the people that make working with computers seem as easy as breathing. It is their job to make it easier for everyone else to deal with computers.
Corollary to 1b: This includes the secretary who is incapable of rebooting her own computer, can't use the Start Menu, and tries to scan documents by running the optical mouse over them. ("At my last job, we had a business card scanner had a light on the bottom, so I thought...") And you do it with a smile and reassure her that everyone has this trouble.
2a. IS involvement in other divisions is the purpose of IS. What, you're only providing connectivity and computer services to your own division? Or perhaps you're pushing cookie cutter solutions onto a company that doesn't need them? ("Hey, 'IS Manager' magazine says ALL the cool manufacturing IS managers are doing it!") If you're not talking to other division managers and finding ways that you can help them, you will find yourself replaced by someone who will.
2b. IS involvement in everything that affects IS is essential. Otherwise, some bright, eager, manager is going to put lots of time and effort project that will consequently be impossible for you to kill, and will ruin your whole year. Standardizing the product design department on Macs, perhaps? Or converting all the legal department's documents to WordPerfect format? This is a political struggle. You want to be present at the meetings where bad ideas are born so that you can strangle them. If you limit your involvement to saying "No, that's not a good idea" just when someone else is ready to hand their project over to IT, you will be disliked and frequently over-ruled.
3. What you've proposed is tripling the payroll costs of IT for no appreciable benefit to the company. In the eyes of company management, things are running fine. If you are really falling apart, you need to find yourself another offer of employment. With that in hand, find out if your company is amenable to improving your situation. If not, walk. I doubt that you are going to succeed in setting yourself up as a CIO, which is what your situation really needs. You have no management authority, and getting some is the only way to really fix the situation.
I've been in your position and held your mindset before, and it's not easy. I cannot emphasize enough that you must both understand management's mindset AND be prepared to leave. Otherwise, you will be unable to negotiate a satisfactory resolution to your issues. At the very least, I would agree that you need a tech to work with you; a ratio of 1:100 is ridiculous.
Good luck; you'll need it.