School district support & large scale system roll-outs

[tankman1989]

I've been involved with a number or large system roll-outs for Dell, where we were installing 1,600-2,000 new desktops and laptops, and they all have been installed by the same contractor (for which I am a contractor) and they always have the same problems and waste.

I have been the "lead technician" and "site contact" on a number of Dell installs, which basically means that I was in charge of overseeing the install. For large (school) installs, they always sent a project manager to oversee the process.

I really would love to know how much the companies, who do the installs, make on the install itself and whether or not they offer follow-up services or not (I don't think they do).

The installs that I have worked on have all been grossly over-estimated in time needed to do the install by 200-300%! I might be told I will be on site for a month and it will turn out to be 8 days, so I am wondering if the school district is paying for the expected cost of a month while it takes much less time. This would mean that they are paying more than they need for the install.

I would love to get some contracts to be in charge of a large roll-out for the school districts! Does anyone know how Dell (or HP/Compaq, IBM, etc) determines who will be in charge of the install? Is this part of the bidding procedure or something? Any information here would be very much appreciated!

I would think this could potentially be a very lucrative and fairly simple and straight forward contract. The company I contracted with always had to fly someone in to basically do nothing except scan the barcodes of the computers once installed! The company also tends to hire the cheapest possible labor for the install and it really shines through at times when the techs leave the install without manicuring the wires (tying cables up, basically cleaning up/prettying up the install), and often making install errors such as computer name, domain, etc. I would be nice to keep the employees local for a job like this as well!

So, if anyone has any info on how this works (doing large installs with Dell).

If I were to get one of these large jobs that has 1,600 computers (that means at least 3,200 boxes) I would hire local students to unbox the machines (no sense in paying a tech $20/hr for this!) and then have local techs do the rest of the roll out.

A note to anyone who does any new system roll-outs. Most of the time at these roll-outs the boxes are just thrown away at the location or sometimes they have to be trucked off along with the styrofoam padding. The boxes (especially those for desktops and servers) are great boxes for storage or moving (and make some $$). I've seen these boxes sell for up to $6 a piece at local storage facilities or truck rental companies, but in bulk I’ve seen them around $3/each (If you sold them for $.50/box and had 1,600 boxes that would be a nice $800!)!. I've always been allowed to take as many boxes as I can and I bet all of you would be allowed as well (they would have to pay to dispose of them). So, you can either use them yourself, give them away (Craigslist) or possibly even sell them to a local moving company or storage facility (or any other place you can think of). I REALLY hate the fact that these boxes are used once and then just thrown out, it seems like such a waste! If you are going to get a large number of boxes you will need either a station wagon, van or truck (hatchback’s work as well) and take them home each night you work (or rent a truck for the last day and pick them all up) In case anyone has any questions as to how to transport them, cut the bottom of the box so they fold flat. These boxes get VERY heavy when folded flat and stacked up.

 

[bitbucket]

I too have had quite a bit of experience with this kind of project work for some of the big OEMs out there so I think I can shed a little light as to my experience.

I really would love to know how much the companies, who do the installs, make on the install itself and whether or not they offer follow-up services or not (I don't think they do).

The installs that I have worked on have all been grossly over-estimated in time needed to do the install by 200-300%! I might be told I will be on site for a month and it will turn out to be 8 days, so I am wondering if the school district is paying for the expected cost of a month while it takes much less time. This would mean that they are paying more than they need for the install.

Most of the companies make their money on the after sales and installation support, it is very rare that they are not involved with supporting the equipment post sales. With most companies, government and education they are leasing the equipment for at least 3 years, so the OEMs will build in a package deal that provides at minimum hardware support, then will have an additional charge to add software support. This is where the real money is made.

As for the hardware installation I have seen priced 2 ways;
- by the hours
- by the seat
On large installations they might push the per seat option as it comes out less expensive to the customer.

If I were to get one of these large jobs that has 1,600 computers (that means at least 3,200 boxes) I would hire local students to unbox the machines (no sense in paying a tech $20/hr for this!) and then have local techs do the rest of the roll out.

You have the understanding right there as to how the money is made on the installation part. This is their thought process too, they are not going to have their staff perform the job as it is too costly. So they will go out to 3rd parties for bids or bring on temporary labor.

Here is a hypothetical situation, though not too far off track
So if you were the lucky 3rd party for the installation then you might normally charge $20/hr for labor however they might only want to pay you by the seat due to the volume of equipment, so you in turn charge $20/seat ($32,00 for the job), knowing the it is only going to take 30min per machine you can get 2 done an hour per tech. Now you go out and hire a Jr type tech or 2 for the installations at lets say $10/hr at 30min/ machine, you have made $20 for one hours work, after each tech has installed 2 machines for a total of 4. At that rate and in the perfect situation you stand to pocket $16000. Now the OEMs might turnaround and charge the customer $25-30 per seat, so they have made money too.

As for telling the customer it is going to take a month, and you were able to get the job done it 8 days makes no difference in cost to the customer if they paid per seat, the customer is just impresses that it took a fraction of they original quoted time. Even if they were to go by the hourly rate, the customer is still only going to end up paying for the labor performed, not the entire month. A lot of the maintenance agreements work the same way, on a per seat type of agreement.

Apologies if a little too long or confusing..this is the Readers Digest version, as even just a simple hardware installation agreement gets crazy, you would be amazed at some of the things they have to work out.

 

[K007]

Does anyone know how Dell (or HP/Compaq, IBM, etc) determines who will be in charge of the install?

For all I know, is not Dell who decides, but the company who benefits from the roll-out, i.e. local department of education, etc.
I did work as a contractor in roll-outs,one of them had 10,000 + desktops, and all servers, application migration, etc...
But the company has picked up the contractors.
The hardware was purchased directly from IBM, but the decision as who to hire to manage the project was done by themselves.
I was an independent contractor myself, but they hired an IT company to provide the roll-out (project, management, etc.)
One think worth mentioning is that the company didn't use only the technicians from the IT company they hired, but they also hired independent contractors (I was one of the many).
If I remember correctly, they hired 1 company to build the project and mange it, and also got some of their technicians as well.
Then it hired at least 2 other IT companies to send some of their technicians.
Finally they also hired independent contractors.

As far as I know, the IT company in charge of the roll-out was gold partner for both Microsoft and IBM.
So I suppose is not Dell who decides.

Edit:
Dell decides if it gives you the "Partner" status.
For that you need to have employees in full time contract who have the various Dell Qualifications.

If I were to get one of these large jobs that has 1,600 computers (that means at least 3,200 boxes) I would hire local students to unbox the machines (no sense in paying a tech $20/hr for this!) and then have local techs do the rest of the roll out

Ha ha, that would be nice, but I don't think so. I was getting 60 dollars per hour (at the time) and I wish I had one £5.00 note for every bloody box I carried up the stairs, and using the lift, etc. Not to mention the monitors were CRT 19" .... I did everything, from carrying boxes to Novel server configuration.
During that period the stanley knife was at the same rank with the screw driver...
Good times thou.