Last updated: December 1, 2021
Anyone who has ever had to deal with “regulatory requirements” knows full well that this is not a process that can be written off as a minor sideline. Companies and businesses that are subject to such regulations must make a not inconsiderable effort to comply with the requirements. These requirements are mandatory in a wide variety of sectors. Banks and financial services companies, telecommunications companies and manufacturers of medical preparations are just a selection of areas that must constantly deal with compliance. And each different sector has its own and very specific regulations that should be strictly adhered to.
In order to ensure compliance with rules and regulations, the management as well as the responsible persons must accordingly also ensure extensive control in the respective companies.
IT as a central component
How extensive the respective regulations are naturally also depends on the type of company. As a rule, many areas of the company are obliged to play their part. A central role is almost always played by the company’s own IT department and network. Especially when it comes to the security aspects surrounding data and access protection, IT plays a central role.
Especially when it comes to IT matters, a comprehensive and transparent overview is therefore important in order to implement regulations. Security gaps or outdated systems are not a matter of discretion or interpretation, but must be regularly checked according to current conditions (up-to-dateness, version status). Problems can arise too quickly and be overlooked. And that, in turn, clearly contradicts most of the regulations concerning IT.
Documentation is half the battle
Over the years, many IT managers have compiled IT documentation in order to manage such organizational tasks as compliance with regulatory requirements. This often results in different approaches. When compiling documentation manually, however, two serious problems are often encountered.
First, the information is not held centrally. For example, Excel lists and Word documents may very well provide information about which devices were purchased when and in which department they are located. License and maintenance contracts are properly filed in folders or have even been saved as a digital file without paper. Even the annually maintained emergency manual.docx is stored centrally on the server and digitally in the safe, perhaps even as a PDF file.
Under and over
Due to the different storage types and tools, one very quickly reaches the limits of what can be called clear or even transparent. Here, a system that can store all this data and information centrally can make everyday life much easier.
The second point that must not be neglected under any circumstances is the timeliness of the data. However, there are no two opinions or alternatives on this. An IT documentation and inventory ages from the very first day. If an update is not carried out here at short intervals, then if the intervals are too long, one is quickly faced with considerable changes that are neither documented nor adequately described in the event of an emergency. In many cases, this also contradicts the regulations mentioned at the beginning, which want to exclude such eventualities and the resulting consequences from the outset.
Central and automatic documentation and inventory
We would not stick our finger so deeply into the gaping wound if we, as documentation and inventory professionals, couldn’t offer a solution. In all areas where our software solution is used, IT managers and information providers benefit from the advantages of a central and always up-to-date database containing all information.
Docusnap takes the automatically collected data in your network and stores it in an SQL database, on one of your servers. This means that the data remains on your premises and only you have access to it. Thus, all regulations that exclude the use of the cloud for information storage are served from the outset.
However, since Docusnap not only collects and centrally stores the information, but is also equipped with countless ready-made and practice-oriented reports, information can be presented quickly, clearly, transparently and most importantly – up-to-date.
Minimize effort
Automatic information collection not only includes computers or servers in the database, but also inventories important components such as network switches, routers, printers or WLAN access points. This makes it easy to graphically display a complete network plan. Here, too, Docusnap trumps not only with a perfect overview of the network, but above all with its up-to-dateness.
Despite the large amount of information, Docusnap is an agentless system. This means that no additional (spy) software is used on the existing workstations. All information is read out via various network protocols and Windows functions provided by the devices in the network. This is also a not unimportant point in the case of various regulations.
Everything in its central place
Last but not least, Docusnap also allows you to assign license and maintenance contracts to individual systems. This means that this data is also centrally available in Docusnap. Through granular rights assignment, you can also determine who is allowed to query which data from Docusnap and where data access is not granted.
This allows non-IT departments to access the data and reports they need without constantly bothering the IT department.
Docusnap makes it possible
Docusnap is the intelligent and comprehensive solution for documentation and inventory from the market leader in Germany. Both development and support take place 100% in Germany.
If you want to see for yourself how Docusnap can make your IT life easier, we offer you a free 30-day trial.. No costs and no obligations. Nevertheless, even during these 30 days, we offer professional assistance through our support team, where we will help you with your questions and challenges.