What issue are you trying to solve? Is it a matter of managing the data, or querying/reporting on the data? If it's managing the data, then a spreadsheet is probably a good choice. If it's querying/reporting, since you've already got the flat-file with Notepad, you might look at LogParser from Microsoft (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/tools/logparser/default.mspx). While not F/OSS it's very good at parsing data from various file types for queries and reports.
I originally saw this on Yahoo, where the title of the article is "New Internet Speed Record Set by Euro - U.S. Labs". Am I the only one who thought, "What does the Euro currency have to do with Internet speed?" (yes, before I read the article).
We do have some talented people, but have also been very lucky. We probably couldn't handle an extremely large outage. It isn't like we want to operate with that high a ratio though. Since our current operations are (apparently) handling everything, management doesn't see a need to add more help desk positions.
I've seen studies/surveys that indicate 50:1 is a good ratio to have. However the numbers in the surveys ranged all over, so I don't know that you can call 50:1 an average ratio.
It is the JOB of people manning a help desk to correctly educate the users. It takes me as an outside consultant about 1 minute to explain it for even the dumbest users and nobody would run more than 50:1 user:hd ratio. A major virus breaks out, the phone is tied up for an hour. That is COMPLETELY acceptable.
Hmmmm, let's see. I'll be conservative because I haven't looked at the total user numbers this month. 1400 users/4 help desk employees = 350:1 ratio. How about all employees in the IS department except for some managers? 1400 users/12 employees = 116.67:1 ratio. Count only users with e-mail? 1200/12 employees = 100:1 ratio.
Tell me again that no one runs more than 50:1 user:hd ratio?
Ah, the memories. I bought my first computer, a VIC-20 with the cassette tape drive, from a friend in 1984. I upgraded to the Commodore 128 in 1987 or 1988, and used both the C64 and C128 modes extensively.
The 128, along with GEOS (mentioned in someone else's post), the 1541 and 1581 disk drives, and 2400 bps modem even got me through college. I only got rid of my last issues of RUN Magazine a couple of years ago. Wonderful stuff.
I agree. Two examples: 9 years ago the company I worked for was connecting branch offices to our main system, a VAX/VMS box, with dumb terminals. Several people resisted the change because they were scared of the "computer" (terminal), and didn't want to change from their manual, paper-based methods.
The company I work for now had a project to get all branch general managers on e-mail. One of those general managers actually asked what a computer was, and this just 1.5 years ago.
While I'm glad Linux has come this far, there are still people out there that have problems turning on computers. I don't think it will be too much longer though before Linux hits great usability and then critical mass.
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What issue are you trying to solve? Is it a matter of managing the data, or querying/reporting on the data? If it's managing the data, then a spreadsheet is probably a good choice. If it's querying/reporting, since you've already got the flat-file with Notepad, you might look at LogParser from Microsoft (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/tools/logparser/default.mspx). While not F/OSS it's very good at parsing data from various file types for queries and reports.
I originally saw this on Yahoo, where the title of the article is "New Internet Speed Record Set by Euro - U.S. Labs". Am I the only one who thought, "What does the Euro currency have to do with Internet speed?" (yes, before I read the article).
We do have some talented people, but have also been very lucky. We probably couldn't handle an extremely large outage. It isn't like we want to operate with that high a ratio though. Since our current operations are (apparently) handling everything, management doesn't see a need to add more help desk positions.
I've seen studies/surveys that indicate 50:1 is a good ratio to have. However the numbers in the surveys ranged all over, so I don't know that you can call 50:1 an average ratio.
pboulang wrote:
Hmmmm, let's see. I'll be conservative because I haven't looked at the total user numbers this month. 1400 users/4 help desk employees = 350:1 ratio. How about all employees in the IS department except for some managers? 1400 users/12 employees = 116.67:1 ratio. Count only users with e-mail? 1200/12 employees = 100:1 ratio.
Tell me again that no one runs more than 50:1 user:hd ratio?
Ah, the memories. I bought my first computer, a VIC-20 with the cassette tape drive, from a friend in 1984. I upgraded to the Commodore 128 in 1987 or 1988, and used both the C64 and C128 modes extensively.
The 128, along with GEOS (mentioned in someone else's post), the 1541 and 1581 disk drives, and 2400 bps modem even got me through college. I only got rid of my last issues of RUN Magazine a couple of years ago. Wonderful stuff.
I agree. Two examples: 9 years ago the company I worked for was connecting branch offices to our main system, a VAX/VMS box, with dumb terminals. Several people resisted the change because they were scared of the "computer" (terminal), and didn't want to change from their manual, paper-based methods.
The company I work for now had a project to get all branch general managers on e-mail. One of those general managers actually asked what a computer was, and this just 1.5 years ago.
While I'm glad Linux has come this far, there are still people out there that have problems turning on computers. I don't think it will be too much longer though before Linux hits great usability and then critical mass.