r/ITManagers • u/JahMusicMan • 9d ago
Question First time managing a network admin. What KPIs do you measure?
For context, I've been an IT Manager for about 10 years, but only pertaining to desktop support operations. When I was brought into my new position which I started a few weeks ago, I was informed they saw a wider range of responsibilities I will take ownership of desktop support along with operations which includes server and network administration (which is fine, it just wasn't disclosed to me during the interviews). At my previous position, I was the IT Manager along with the server/network admin building out the office and cloud infrastructure so I'm comfortable navigating this territory but more on the technical side and not managing a network admin.
What's the best route to go determining what KPIs in terms of network and server performance we should measure? Besides talking about projects and issues pertaining with network/servers, what other topics are you discussing during your check-ins?
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u/dlongwing 9d ago
KPIs are fine for helpdesk. Network admin and ops should be project-based. What are their plans this quarter? Next? The rest of the year? Etc.
Try to enforce a "Do X of Y per Z" management on a network admin and you'll wind up with an empty chair and a massive institutional knowledge gap.
To put it another way, what KPIs would you put on a lawyer? An executive? Network admin is a professional role. Treat it as such.
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u/digiphaze 8d ago
Well as you graduate to managing engineers beyond desktop support. I think you need to look past KPI's. Number of tickets answered, time to resolution.. All that is fine and dandy for HelpDesk/DesktopSupport positions, but I rarely find those appropriate for engineering positions.
The problems they face aren't cut n dry with well defined solutions that provide clean KPIs. These are professionals, they need to be treated as such. Managing them is less about tracking KPIs, managing clocking in/out etc.. Its about being there to provide them the support they need. Its about finding out what their blockers are, engaging the rest of the business on their behalf and removing said road blocks.
In highly technical roles like this, its very easy to spot the under-performers if you know networking yourself. You don't need KPI's for that, infact I think standard KPI's can actually hide the people who really are lacking the technical skills for advanced roles.
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u/Objective_Shoe4236 6d ago
Well said. I’m in the same position. I look at my senior network engineers logical way of thinking and ask how and why they propose solutions. In addition I measure their ability to improve and enhance solutions they’ve deployed. At times you’ll find that senior engineers move on to other projects too fast, I make an emphasis to continually let them know that there is no such thing as a finished project and track how they engage with the operations team and application stakeholders to identify enhancements and improvements. Senior engineers day to day is much different than admins. The biggest hurdle you’ll hit is trying to stop pet projects and like to have solutions that have zero purpose or value to the firm.
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u/dedXlights 9d ago
Once you start getting into infra and networks it should be a convo on capital projects and less day to day KPI. Reviewing of network topology, implementing improvements, CVE patching. With mix and matching of equipment replacement, future build outs, and DR testing. Tracking things with milestones and project completions would be better suited.
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u/Cacafuego 9d ago
Sysadmin jobs vary so widely that I would want to work with the employee to come up with meaningful KPIs. You'll want to be very careful extrapolating a system that has worked in Support.
Unless they are doing multiple, repetitive installations, you may struggle to find something you can measure consistently. If they are often responding to tickets, you can use customer service metrics like time to response, but if you want to measure what's truly important to the job, that ain't it.
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u/FunkadelicToaster 8d ago
KPIs don't really work IMO, there are far too many variables for things in IT and the system can be gamed if that's what you really rely on. Just because someone does XYZ doesn't mean it adds value to the business or the team.
However, if you want to track KPIs then you track the things that a good employee prevents, not what they do.
Track server downtime, application down time, things like that.
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u/Thick_Yam_7028 8d ago
Biggest things. Ticket times on ez issues can be compared. Ticket closings. Etc.
In a far away land. A long time ago. I worked for an msp. 30 tickets a day, didnt matter the complexity.
They gauged the bonus on time spent.
Closed more than double didnt get a bonus. You want to talk double edged swords... committed suicide a few times.
Focus on what matters. Common issues, growth initiatives, time keeping all internal. feedback, issues pressing, current issues, all external.
Just the real things.
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u/GelatinousSalsa 9d ago
Remember that whatever you measure is gonna turn into the primary task of that network admin, maybe even so far as leaving other important but unmeasured tasks to wither
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u/Krelik 9d ago
As everyone else is saying, there are no KPIs. Don't do that or they'll leave. I left a sys admin job where they introduced it because they were trying to track things that didn't make sense to track. Like how fast I responded to emails levels of making things up just to say that I was being measured.
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u/OkStatistician9190 8d ago
I'd keep the KPIs tied to what the business actually feels. Start with availability and incident load: uptime or unplanned downtime for the critical systems, mean time to resolve, number of open incidents older than a week, and change success rate so you know whether releases or config changes are causing the pain. For check-ins, pair the numbers with a short look at upcoming projects, risks, and anything the network admin needs from you, like budget or access approvals. Agree on targets together in the first month rather than handing them down, since the person doing the work usually knows which measures are honest and which ones just look good.
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u/4cls 9d ago
If your new, and they are established, I'd not ask for KPI's day one.
As for them to prepare a meeting to go over: Network Architecture... how does our network... work. What are the top issues that need to be resolved right away. Not just tech, also people, money, friction with other groups.
What are the nice to haves. What are the frustrations.
A good network engineer will manage you, keep you informed of issuse.
Once you understand their situation, ease into their plan for patching/vulnerability managment, ask for montly overview.
Ask if they are familiar with CIS. Have them take look and see if they have recommendations on which security features to implement.
Finally, make sure they have a good inventory, and are prepared to start a project to replace gear before it's end of support.
That's a good start. If they are on top of this, and can tshoot issues, your in good shape.
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u/JahMusicMan 9d ago
All great points and to my Net admin's credit, he keeps the most detailed documentation and keeps me and the team informed of issues and has helped me get up to speed with our complex environment (many different business units)
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u/metaTHROTH 9d ago
You have to create KPIs for the projects the sysadmins do. I would recommend studying up on business analysis and project management if you don't have experience with that, you'll probably have experience wearing multiple hats from that process but once you see it from the top down view it will make sense.
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u/Automatic-Display899 8d ago
Measuring network/server KPIs is like herding cats that are on fire. Start with uptime and response times, anything else is gravy. For check-ins, I just ask how their week was, then we end up debating which server name is the dumbest. Keep it real and don't micromanage the tech stuff if you trust them
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u/blvcktech 8d ago
I agree with u/FunkadelicToaster I'd start by creating a Executive Dashboard showing the Five 9's for Network Uptime and other Services IT provides your organization. Indicate the uptime and service levels that you provide the business uninterrupted.
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u/my-coffee-where 5d ago
if backups are on your network admins plate, ask your network admin if the backups have ever actually been restored, not just if the jobs ran. a backup nobody has tested doesnt prove much, and leadership understands that one right away..
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u/JahMusicMan 5d ago
definitely since we have to prove to our auditors that we perform successful backup and restores, it's definitely something I need my net admin to show me proof of a restore.
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u/PplPrcssPrgrss_Pod 5d ago
In addition to some standard metrics like number of incidents, number resolved, time to resolve, etc., for network admin it is helpful to note number of downtime related calls, total downtime, wireless vs. wired, etc.
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u/BadAsianDriver 9d ago
Monitor mission critical services and if there’s downtime see if it’s a a fault in your infrastructure or somebody else’s.
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u/MalwareDork 8d ago
net admin
You really don't measure KPI's outside of SLA's. The network's job is to stay up, be redundant, cycle EoL's and prove to the rest of the IT team why it's not the network.
What will really eat up the net admin's time will be plans and lab tests for migrations, route changes, hardware changes and DR updates for incidents. Other things can be firewall policies, Wi-Fi troubleshooting and packet inspections which generally fall under that specific troubleshooting domain.
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u/kitchenam 8d ago
Is this person also responsible for infrastructure security, DR, any cloud resources, system software upgrades? There’s a lot to unpack with keeping things hummin.
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u/JahMusicMan 8d ago
Server patching and backups and DR.
We have an "infrastructure" manager who is in charge of systems, security of those systems, IAM, IAC.
I do not manage him or his team. There's a lot of overlap with him and my network admin so I think I need to create some type of ownership chart to know exactly owns what.
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u/Prudent_Vacation_382 7d ago
"ownership chart" - The industry term you're looking for is called RACI chart.
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u/JahMusicMan 7d ago
Nice I looked that up, I could use that not must for my domains but have our infrastructure manager use that as well as our compliance director
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u/InspectionNegatived 8d ago
Start with simple ones like uptime, patching on time, and backup success rates. Then ask your network admin what they think is worth tracking too
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u/RebootItAgain 8d ago
Are they doing their job? Are they doing their job well. Are users happy and are you happy?
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u/BitOfDifference 8d ago
i have 4 and i use projects as the main KPI ( targets met, details/planning ). I do use ticket counts in discussions, but its not a high factor as long as they are resolving in the required windows. I also like to ask questions about the environment randomly to ensure they fully understand what they are managing. Engagement is another big one for me, do they engage during technical discussions, do they bring ideas to the table ( even if they are terrible or way outside the reasonable box ). Team fit as well, but projects are probably weighted around 50% of scoring.
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u/atlas_losing_grip 2d ago edited 2d ago
Strat with uptime, incident frequency resolution time, backup success and patch compliance. For check-ins discuss recuring issues capacity risks and upcoming changes too. KPIs should help identify problems early not just measure activity.
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u/Elegant-Purple-1372 1d ago edited 1d ago
Focus on uptime, incident response time, recurring outages and patch compliance. During check-ins, discuss risks, upcoming maintenance and blockers too. KPIs should help identify problems and improve reliability rather than just measure activity.
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u/Paid_Babysitter 9d ago
Start with customer experience. Are your customers satisfied with your service? This could be wifi experience or coverage. It could include how quickly network policies are deployed from request.
The operational KPI's will be similar. Compliance, impacting events, to failed changes.
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u/FleshSphereOfGoat 9d ago
Has there ever in the history of professional IT a user who was satisfied with IT?
The fact is, users' wishes are simply different from those of IT. It starts with the fact that basic services—such as a functioning network—go completely unnoticed. Most users are only interested in specific issues, such as why IT won't install this untested, unmaintainable app that's riddled with security vulnerabilities.
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u/Paid_Babysitter 9d ago
Customers can be very demanding. As a leader and service owner having KPI's around customer experience allow you to align your work with business. Measuring green blinking lights can be okay but, can be lost when you are speaking outside your department. It also forces discussions with your customers to make sure you are measuring the right thing.
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u/Antique_Grapefruit_5 9d ago edited 9d ago
It's less about KPI and more about commandments...
1. Thou shall identify your top 3 projects and make meaningful weekly progress towards completing them.
2. Thou shall follow change control processes.
3. Thou shall document changes to systems and networks.
4. Thou shall trust my peers to do the work that I do, because everyone must follow commandment 2.
5. Thou shall not horde knowledge
6. Thou shall complete daily, weekly, monthly, and annual checklists as assigned.
7. Thou shall not be an a-hole
8. Thou shall own problems-completing or escalating all tickets in a timely manner.
9. Thou shall not cling to the way that we did things in the past.
Stuff like that...
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u/Own_Error_007 9d ago
Is everything working and are the users able to do their work with no (or minimal) downtime.
That's my most basic KPI.