Your IT Administration Document – Have One?

So you started a company and things are going well. You are developing a clientele, sell a product or service and you are working hard to grow your business.

Over a period of time you start to accumulate technology products, services and maybe a domain name or more; and you use these in your daily operations to grow your business. Eventually you have computers, printers, email / hosting packages, domain registrations, a phone system, an internet provider, etc .. this list can go on and on .. and year by year the amount of technology based stuff just keeps accumulating.

How do you keep track of all the information that comes with this stuff? If you were a large firm then all this information would be tracked in some database type system; however this is probably overkill for a small but growing business (in terms of maintenance time, complexity and financial commitment).

As a technology based consultant with over 20 years of experiences, there are a few ways that I have seen this technology information stored for a rainy day when it may be needed. The information storage methods, including pros and cons, that I have seen most often are:

1) The IT (Information Technology) Folder: This is the method which I see most often. It consists of having a folder in the office manager’s desk; they write or printout information as it becomes available and place it into the folder along with all of the other technical information they have received.

PRO: This is a great start and at the minimum what a company (and home user) should have in terms of technical information for the equipment in their office or services they use. Having this IT folder will save staff or a technician a lot of time when trying to address an issue. I would consider this the start of an IT Administration Document.

CON: As all technical information is printed out and put in this folder, eventually information in this folder may become duplicated, hard to find and at times out of date. In addition, the information in this folder was not gathered with any plan in mind so not all technical information for the office is collected; just the information that happens to be needed at any point in time.

2) It’s In My Head: This one is one of my favourites and quite often is used by people who consider themselves to be technologically savvy and to have great memories. It doesn’t mean that they don’t know the information, it means that the company becomes highly reliant on this individual and this individual becomes stuck in a position within the company as they are too valuable to promote.

PRO: If the individual is involved directly in the resolution of an issue, then recalling the required technical information is very quick. This is also a very inexpensive method of keeping technical information as no additional administration time and /or funds need to be spent on properly storing the information.

CON: The negative in this method is obvious. By relying so heavily on one individual a company places itself in a very compromising position should the individual no longer wish to deal with the company or should they no longer be available (such as by career promotion, leaving the company or death).

3) It’s In My IT Consultant’s Head: This method is very much the same as the “it’s in my head” method except with the added element that you were dealing with an external third-party IT consultant. Consultants are supposed to be ethical and working in the best interests of their client. However this is not always the case, especially if the consultant is trying to increase the client’s reliance on their services.

PRO: The information is recalled quickly by the IT consultant and the work involved seamlessly gets done in the eyes of the client; which reduces the cost to the client in that they do not have to search for the information.

CON: The negative in this case is a very worrying, as the client is not in control of their own technology. By relying so heavily on the IT consultant then the company is placing a third-party in complete control over their company’s technological well being. The company is placing itself in a very compromising position should the IT consultant no longer wish to deal with the company or should they no longer be available (such as by geographical relocation, career change or death).

4) I Am Sure It Is Here Somewhere: This method happens in varying degrees to all companies (and home users). Eventually some technology information will be required that has never been required before and then the search begins to find it; and you almost always will hear ‘I am sure it is here somewhere”. There is no shame in this method! It just means you’ve never needed it before or you have been so busy growing your business that administration is the last thing you think of.

PRO: The only positive here is that you have saved yourself time and maybe money in the past in not having to organize the information before the point at which you need it.

CON: By having to search for information every time you need it is going to have a negative impact on your productivity for that day(s). As well the time required to resolve the issue is going to be substantially increased.

5) The IT Administration Document: This is the most rare of all methods but the most necessary, especially as your company grows larger and larger. I have found that with new clients, that our firm takes on, only 10% to 20% of small and medium businesses have an existing IT Administration Document. The IT Administration Document should contain information on everything that has a technology element to it; this would include but is not limited to: server and computer administration and user logins, e-mail addresses and passwords, website control panel and domain information, internal and external dedicated IPs, firewall and switch configurations, etc (the list is determined by your company’s needs). The IT Administration Document could be as small as a few pages or it could be hundreds of pages large and should be managed by your internal office manager or a third-party IT consultant.

PRO: Your company will gain complete control over its technology. The IT Administration Document will be accessible to key company staff in both electronic and / or paper hardcopy. Having the document should allow you to address issues quickly and efficiently without having to rely on any one internal or third-party person.

CON: Creating an initial draft of the IT Administration Document requires time and money; whether that be paying a third-party IT consultant to create it or diverting internal staff resources away from more productive tasks. The bright side is that once it is created then it can be updated as information becomes available. Based on our client administration document experiences, take one or two handful(s) of hours per year per client to keep their IT Administrations Documents current (depending on the size of the client).

So these are the methods I have seen most!

All of them have pros and cons and any one company will probably experience all of them at various stages during their company’s growth. However, the goal should be to develop and maintain an IT Administration Document. The earlier you start the initial draft of this document then the less time it will take to create and the easier it will be to maintain going forward.

Early in my career as a technology consultant, I was contracted for many years to a well-known multinational technology company. While developing financial spreadsheet-based models for their accounting departments, I was continually asked for a survivability strategy for these models should “I get hit by a bus”! Although I always resented that comment since I didn’t want to get hit by a bus; it also embedded into my profession the need to make sure that any work that I perform for clients could continue without me. Survivability of my services became a big priority, whether that be automation models, maintenance of their on-site technology systems or online systems. This is why I am a big supporter of the IT Administration Document.

You have to do what is best for your company and to work within their financial limitations. However believe me, your life will get a lot easier with an IT Administration Document.

I hope that you found this article helpful.

Should you have any questions please feel free to contact me at tony@force12.net.