9.2 Resource Model

The resource model combines the work packages and job descriptions to provide an approach to estimate the number of people needed to support customer requests . To develop the resource model we used a spreadsheet. The work packages from the service model make up the rows, and the job titles from the job description make up the columns. In addition to the job titles, there are several new columns added to aid in estimating the hours for each work package.

Scheduled or On Demand
Offered Time
Skill Set
Frequency
Unit of Measure

9.2.1 Scheduled or On Demand

Scheduled or On Demand is a determination of when the service is performed. A scheduled service would be a work package that is performed on an ongoing basis. Server monitoring and database monitoring are examples of scheduled services because they must be performed periodically without being requested by the customer. Server installation and software installation are examples of on-demand services. The ISD organization would only perform these services when requested by the customer.

9.2.2 Offered Time

Offered Time is a determination of the time period the service is offered. Most ISD organizations are 24 hours by seven days (24 — 7) operations. But not all services are performed anytime , every day of the week. Many services are dependent on customers being available to assist in the request. There are two time periods used in the resource model: 24 — 7 and 8 — 5 (eight hours, Monday “Friday). An attempt is also made to determine if the 24 — 7 time offering can be supported via pager or does the resource needs to be on-site. For example, the help desk work package is usually offered as 24 — 7 and supported by on-site ISD employees . This is necessary to provide a timely response to customer calls. On the other hand, service performance tuning is a 24 — 7 service offering, but can be supported by an on-call person via pager. It is not necessary to have resources on-site 24 — 7 waiting for a server to be tuned . If a performance problem arises, there should be sufficient time for a person to be paged and adjust a tuning parameter. Determining the offering time will help to estimate the amount of hours required supporting the work package.

9.2.3 Skill Set

Skill Set is the job description code assigned to this work package. For example, "DBA" code is for database administrator and "Jr. SA" code is for junior system administrator. Even though the job titles are displayed as columns across the spreadsheet, this column assists in showing what work package is associated with the job title. Since the spreadsheet can get large, this column provides a quick reference.

9.2.4 Frequency

Frequency is how many times a work package will be performed. To determine frequency you need to examine the "Schedule or On Demand," "Offered Time," and "Unit of Measurement" columns. These columns will give you an indication of how to estimate the frequency. For example, the service installation work package has been determined to be "on demand," with an offered time of 8 — 5 and a unit of measure of one. Based on this information, frequency should be estimated on how many server installations will be requested by your customers. If the estimate is 15 server installs , 15 is the frequency number placed in this column.

Let's look at another example. The server backup work package is "scheduled" with an offering time of 24 — 7 on-site and a unit of measure of a "day." Server backups must occur every day, are scheduled to occur seven days a week, and could take place anytime during the day. Knowing this information, the frequency for server backups is 365 (days), because the ISD organization will need to ensure backups every day of the year.

9.2.5 Unit of Measure

Unit of Measure determines how the work package will be measured. There are several units of measure that can be used. A day, week, month, or year can be a measure of unit, or it could also be measured as a unit of one. For example, if you are estimating time for the installation of a server, the unit of measure should be one. It's best to use units of measure of one when the work package can be estimated by counting the number of activities. Work packages such as server installations, database creations, and number of help desk calls, are all services that can be measured in a unit of one. For example, 10 server installations a year, 20 database creations, and 10,000 help desk calls are estimates that can be given.

Work packages that are ongoing, scheduled type services should be measured by a time period such as a day, week, or month. Work packages such as cost management and server performance monitoring are an example of work packages that need to be measured in time periods. These are ongoing activities that need to be provided throughout the life of the support agreement.

Estimating the number of server units can be tricky because all servers are not equal. Servers can be either all from one vendor or a combination of several different vendors . Each of these servers has different complexities. The goal is to develop a unit of measure that is consistent between all servers. The section below shows us how to develop a rating system to determine the number of units.