365x24x7

Fri Apr 15 20:28:20 UTC 2011

On 4/15/2011 6:14 AM, harbor235 wrote:
> If I were going to provide a 365x24x7 NOC, how many teams of personnel do I
> need to fully cover operations? I assume minimally you need 3 teams to cover
> the required 24 hr coverage, but there is off time and schedule rotation?

What is the work distribution?  Do you have stable patterns of more-vs-less 
activity?  If things are busy daytime and quiet nighttime, obviously you need 
different-sized teams.

Variable scheduling of staff is often deemed more fair, but I think it makes 
things less stable.  People are constantly having to change their life.

A simple model has 3 teams over weekdays/nights, leaving you with weekends, 
holidays and vacations.

I was a part-time operator during college. Full-timer shifts were 3 people; 
maybe 2 for graveyard.

There were 3-5 of us covering things for that added time.  But, then, the major 
operations were purely daytime, during the week.  Graveyard shift was quiet 
enough that we surreptitiously bought a cot...

d/

-- 

   Dave Crocker
   Brandenburg InternetWorking
   bbiw.net