operate a busy IT department by hands on working or let the maching do the work for you?

here some tips to reduce labor force while keep everything work as before, or even better.

1. do not install OS manually, let the remote installation server do it.
make an automated installation system, the auto install system(WDS) in my department takes only 1 minutes labor force. saves us 98% time on installing windows. it installs windows xp and all necesary driver for the client computer by several key stroke in 1 minutes.

2. do not install software manually while active directory can do it for you.
Use 2 group policy to asign or publish software can also save 95% time on installing software. usually only .msi file can be installed using AD, anyway there are lot of tools convert .exe to .msi.

3. do not configure the client computer by hand.
user a dedicate group policy to configure client computer settings, such as firewall setting, database connection and registery key.etc. this save 95% your configuration time.

4. use roaming profile so that user can have same interface on every computer as if they bring they bring the computer with them. you may need a powerful file server which might cost some. not recommended to user who never switch computers.

above 4 tips does not cost anything and it saves at least 70% IT maintenance. will you give it a try?

other idea may be added later.