Use Project Athena Worksheet (Score 1)

I've used a tool for a decade now that I really like. It was developed by IBM and MIT to determine staffing levels. Basically, it asks you to go through your entire organizational and IT structure to answer questions, weighs these and provides an answer about how many FTEs are required. It does not break this down into programmers vs. trainers vs. help desk. The project was call Project Athena. You can find the write-up on DocStock or InternetArchive (I don't recall which). It was a tool used by the State of Michigan as little as four years ago but has disappear from their sites. Examples of the types of questions follow: 1. Number of computers (workstations, not servers) in your organization. This is divided by 500 to give a ratio. 2. Number of server-based major applications in terms of FTE requirements. For instance, you have a heavy email system that requires someone taking care of it half-time. This would contribute .5 FTE to the count. 3. Number of user applications, for example 500 Microsoft office, 10 Visual Studio Enterprise. These are added up and appropriate ratios are applied. 4. Intensity of use, # of employees using their system between 50% and 100% of the day get 1 point, occassional users get .25 points. Again these are added up and ratios are applied. 5. Other responsibilities, phones, copy machines, etc. I monkey around with the figures trying to keep them meaningful and usually end up getting what I need (except possibly in my current job) in terms of human resources. The system is quite comprehensive and flexible. Even though it was designed for educational institutions, I believe that it's generic enough to apply to business.