Last updated: March 10, 2021
When it comes to the topic of IT documentation, many IT managers take cover as a precaution. It is not always easy to realise a complete IT documentation. Especially not if you approach the matter without any tools.
But before you get down to it, you should clarify what it takes, apart from enough time and manpower, to produce good IT documentation.
A pigeon in the hand is better than a bird in the bush
IT documentation has always been a major bugbear of IT departments. Very costly to design and create, and regular maintenance of documentation tends to be the exception in normal day-to-day business. The consequence of this is that a large part of the initially well-intentioned IT documentation is no longer up-to-date after a short time and thus also becomes partly useless.
The effort required to manually record all data each time and enter it into the documentation is enormous.
IT documentation and agriculture
Could you imagine our farmers still working their fields by hand? Or with ploughing oxen pulling a plough behind them and doing their work? Of course that would be possible. Would it make sense? Hardly. Hardly any farmer today would buy a horse or ox for this purpose when there are better, simpler and faster methods. Instead, there are gigantic machines that take away as much as possible of the then very strenuous work. The machines are now only guided manually over the fields; the rest is done by technology. Manual work is avoided as much as possible.
It is similar with our IT documentation. If you want, you can transfer everything manually onto a sheet of paper. But we can also use the possibilities of modern IT and keep IT documentation that is always kept up to date with automated processes and little effort. Manual entries are reduced as much as possible.
What does good IT documentation consist of?
In principle, we can divide good IT documentation into different sections.
The database
In order to create documentation, we need data. In order to obtain data, we need to collect it (or have it collected). By “have it collected” we do not mean sending the apprentice on a chaotic journey through the IT landscape, armed with a pad and pencil, to record the IT. We have this information compiled with inventory software, which scans the entire IT using a wide variety of scanning methods and then stores it in a database.
This data is supplemented by manually adding information on, for example, software licences, passwords or even notes on procurement processes, availability requirements and much more. For good IT documentation, more additional information is better than just a few. And only data that has been recorded can be evaluated.
Processing the information
Congratulations.
If the database is full of the valuable information, we have taken the first step towards good and sensible IT documentation. Since we can now work with fresh data, we will have to worry about regular updates later.
In order to be able to evaluate and also understand the data, it must first be put into thematic and professional relationships with each other. This is where primarily the technicians will be in demand. The knowledge of interrelationships and dependencies of hardware systems and installed software can only be documented by the experts who have introduced or currently support them. We therefore prepare the inventory data in such a way that their interdependencies are documented.
Heureka – the constantly updated IT manual
Whether you want to create a comprehensive IT manual, the IT emergency manual or a restart plan with the existing data. Here, Docusnap offers more than just the basic functions of an inventory.
With countless ready-made reports that allow for an exact selection of data, there are hardly any limits to your wishes. All the necessary data is now available in the database and with the ready-made templates we can quickly build up a complete IT documentation, an emergency manual or a restart plan. Since we use it to access constantly updated inventory data, all our manuals are also always up to date. Including the network maps, which are automatically updated to reflect any changes.
What is the point of comprehensive documentation without up-to-date data?
One of the most decisive factors for the quality of a documentation, besides its scope, is the up-to-dateness of the database. Which inventory data should be collected and entered into the CMDB and which commercial data is needed depends on your company.
The higher the quality of the input, the better the output in the form of your manuals can be designed. Here, too, we find the optimal support for each individual step in the documentation tool Docusnap.
Graphical overview plans should also be an integral part of your IT documentation. For this purpose, Docusnap also already offers templates for the creation of network or topology maps.
A professional tool like Docusnap makes the creation and maintenance of IT documentation much easier. Above all, automatic updating plays an important role, because what good is an emergency plan for an old server landscape that is no longer in use?