Size database managed services by resource unit, productivity and pyramid

For infrastructure solutioning teams pricing 24x7 database run support for an enterprise estate.

Engagement type: Solo Pod
Experts: 1 lead · 1 consulted
Hours: ~25
Duration: 2 weeks

What the client needed

A firm needed to size managed services for database run support: the typical management activities per resource unit — SQL Server components such as the engine, analysis, reporting and integration services, Azure MySQL and others — the FTE productivity ranges assumed per unit, and the L1 to L4 pyramid mix for a US enterprise client with full offshoring and 24x7 support.

The experts engaged

Previously at Cognizant · 14 years

Roles heldsenior SQL DBA and CloudOps manager · Azure and AWS administrator and architect

Ran database run support for US enterprise estates across SQL Server, Azure and AWS
PowerShell automation of routine DBA work

Manually screened

Previously at Capgemini, kforce, Photon Infotech · 23 years

Roles heldsenior solutions architect, enterprise architecture and modernisation strategy · technical architect, data architecture

Solutioned database and data-platform managed services in large deals
Modernisation strategy for legacy database estates

Atlas Verified · Tier B

A exceptional · B strong · C competent — the tier is derived from the whole assessment, not a single score. The transcript and report are open to you before you engage. How verification works →

The brief

The questions on the table

As the client wrote them, lightly shortened. Client and respondents are not named.

Q1
What are the typical database-management activities per resource unit, across SQL Server components and cloud databases?
Q2
What FTE productivity ranges are assumed per resource unit?
Q3
What is the typical L1 to L4 pyramid for a database managed-services team?
Q4
What changes under full offshoring with 24x7 cover?

The hours

What the work involved

01
Activity catalogue
Run activities per resource unit — patching, backup, performance, security, incident and change — as written into the expert’s service catalogues.
02
Productivity ranges
FTE ratios per unit type and the drivers that move them: automation, standardisation, estate age.
03
Pyramid
L1 to L4 mix for a fully offshored 24x7 team, with shift coverage.
04
Cross-check
An enterprise-architecture and modernisation solutions architect reviewed the ranges against recent deals.
05
Working session
With the client’s infrastructure solutioning team.

Deliverables

What the client received

Activity cataloguePer resource unit.
Productivity tableRanges with drivers.
Pyramid and shift model24x7, offshored.
One working sessionWith notes.

The terms

What an engagement like this costs

You buy hours in blocks and can change the expert at the end of any block, at no extra cost. Longer projects run in stages: pause after a block, pick up the next stage when you are ready.

Pricing in full →

Rate band: $65–$250 /hr; Senior specialists can be up to $500
Hour blocks: 1 · 2 · 5 · 10 · 20 · 50 · custom
This engagement: Solo Pod · ~25 hours · 2 weeks

Pricing database run support?

Describe what you need

For example: “We need productivity ratios and a pyramid for a 24x7 offshore DBA team covering 300 SQL Server instances.”

We aim to come back with matched experts within 24 to 72 hours.