15 New PCs needed - help me please!

buglawton

Above poster is right.. oooeeerr!

Anyway I have dealt with this co, Wyvern Business Systems, they supply computers all over Southern UK for special needs students and when anything goes wrong, turn up in a van & fix it within a day or 2: http://www.wbs.uk.com/index.php

They also have a dedicated "networking dept" and are a Microsoft Certified Partner. You might cut a deal... consider whole cost of usage, not just purchase price.

S0litaire

I have to agree with Bookduck.

You have to make sure you have everything accounted for legal wise!
You'll be dealing with some medical and financial information which needs very specific security. You said they don't have any IT polices in place so it's a good time to sit down and find out how to write some.

bookduck

Fiona, just want to add one more thing.

A large hospital here in London wanted to roll out a Patient Information System. There is only one approved system or South East England, All the PCs, servers and other apps are in place. The application was already a tried and tested solution. He was appointed the Project Manager with a remit to install the software onto a approx 5000(approx) PCs. He has a technical background, was a professional manager, is Prince and ITIL qualified and had 6? months (contract) to see the project through and his salary was £600 per day.

Another place had to replace the existing PCs (8000PCs and 12000 user accounts) and install XP. The complexity of the job and size was bigger than the one above and so was the time duration. The project consumed about 15 PMs to complete the job (they all kept getting fired - when things go wrong on a beast of this size and complexity - normally budget and time - the management have to blame someone and they are not going to say 'we the management got it wrong because we are incompetent as we have never done this before', it's 'fire the useless PM!' time). The role paid up to £1000 per day. The PM would do is paperwork sequencing of the project and meetings, Technical staff were brought in to do the work and planning. I have a vague idea that the final cost of the project I think was 3.5million but not sure if that included the new PCs and servers, but I think it did not.

You also do realize you are building an IT department too don't you, however you can also outsource. Outsourcing has a more predictable cost, less flexibility and is easier to manage. If you outsource, then there is the cost of Extras, which can sometimes more than double the initial cost (watch that contract - these are experienced sharks you are often dealing with) and some companies make a loss on the first quote because the extras will more than cover. Doing it in house is often the cheapest way but the spend is not as easy to control and you have holiday, personnel and skills issues too.

A petrochemical company (one of the big ones) has farmed out its maintainance and email system. On the email side, for every email account they transfer on the new system or create from new, cost £200 per person whether the account is live or not. Historically the company did not delete their old accounts (probably just hid them - probably for legal reasons) - so now you know were the extra 1p per litre goes

Remember, you need a high salary for those periods between jobs. Do not sell yourself short, but be sure that you can swallow what you bite off!

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Just re-read one post

far2812 wrote: »

.... I do know quite a lot but like to banter it around so I make sure I am doing the right thing...

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek: - Good Luck!!!

odowdchr

far2812 wrote: »

Hello all you clever Techies out there and a very happy christmas.

I have just got a new job installing a software program in a large company. I have got the external software sorted but now I need 15 PCs (as a dummy run) to install the software on.

Has anyone seen any good deals out there?

Each PC will be running solely at each branch. They dont need to be networked to each branch.

I know we will need ADSL lines (any ideas)......

Basically - I am not very techie but would be really grateful for any ideas!

There could be a christmas drink in it for anyone who really helps!

Many thanks
fiona

As Bookduck says...you don't want to be project managing the IT side yourself with no knowledge.
I'd see if you can employ a good Project Manager as a consultant on a fixed cost to do an initial scope, analysis and project plan for you. You can manage the business side and feed them the business information and requirements.
Until then you haven't got much idea about the solution or costs and would undoubtedly be heading for a fall.

buglawton

Unfortunately OP has not specified if by "Software Program" he means MS Word or "Residents Medical Info Organizer". As a result there's a huge amount of speculation going on!

Reggie_Rebel

You need the PC's networked and with remote access software so that you can access them all.

You need to be the only one who knows the Administrator password, all on site accounts should be limited user only.

You need an internet acceptable usage policy that ALL employees from the MD down have to sign before they are given access.

You need an anti-virus solution.

You need to set up an account with at least two resellers and possibly and support contract as well.

MX5huggy

Reggie_Rebel wrote: »

You need to be the only one who knows the Administrator password.

And what happens when the Administrator is hit by a bus?