We’ve created a comprehensive checklist of 13 essential questions that will help MSPs like you evaluate and strengthen the security of your clients’ IT documentation. Whether you’re looking to enhance your current security protocols or simply ensure that you’re covering all your bases, these questions will guide you to facilitate a more secure and resilient IT environment for your clients.

Why secure IT documentation matters

As an MSP, you’re entrusted with your clients’ sensitive data. Ensuring that the IT documentation is secure is fundamental to protecting this trust. A breach not only jeopardizes your clients’ information but also your reputation. Here’s a closer look at the key areas you should evaluate:

1. Is your clients’ documentation access protected by firewalls, MFA or SSO?

Access control is your first line of defense. If the IT documentation isn’t shielded by robust security measures, like firewalls, multifactor authentication (MFA) or single sign-on (SSO), you’re leaving a door wide open for potential threats. These security measures ensure that only authorized users can access the sensitive information, significantly reducing the risk of unauthorized breaches.

2. Do you have access to a backup of your IT documentation?

In case of a disaster or emergency that renders you unable to access your IT documentation solution, you need to ensure you have this information accessible elsewhere by exporting an all-encompassing backup for later access. Without a secure backup, retrieving lost or compromised data can be impossible. To ensure your clients’ businesses can continue operating smoothly, make sure the assets, passwords and knowledge you manage are still accessible in emergencies.

3. Is your documentation tool SOC 2 Type II certified?

SOC 2 Type II certification isn’t just a badge — it’s a rigorous standard that ensures your documentation tool meets high-security criteria. If your tool is certified, you can rest easy knowing it has been thoroughly vetted for data protection, giving both you and your clients peace of mind.

4. Can you control who has access to the documentation?

Not everyone needs access to all the documentation. Role-based access control lets you restrict who can view or modify specific information. This capability is crucial in minimizing insider threats and ensuring that only those who need access to certain data have it, helping to protect your clients’ most sensitive assets.

5. Are you able to block unauthorized IP addresses?

IP whitelisting is a powerful tool to block unauthorized access from external networks. By allowing only pre-approved IP addresses to access the documentation, you add a significant layer of security, keeping intruders at bay and ensuring that only trusted networks can interact with your clients’ data.

6. Does your documentation tool offer host-proof hosting?

Host-proof hosting is all about keeping the data encrypted and secure — even from the hosting provider. This feature ensures that the documentation remains inaccessible to anyone without the proper decryption keys, adding an extra shield against unauthorized access.

7. Are audit trails and activity logs enabled for documentation changes?

Keeping track of every change made to the documentation is vital for security and accountability. Audit trails and activity logs allow you to monitor who did what and when, helping you spot suspicious activity early and take corrective action before it’s too late.

8. Does your documentation platform support one-time password (OTP) generation?

An OTP generator adds an additional security layer by requiring a unique, time-sensitive password for accessing sensitive data. This makes unauthorized access even more difficult, as passwords are constantly changing, reducing the risk of breaches.

9. Can you set and enforce a password policy across all organizations?

It’s critical to have the ability to determine the type of password (complex or passphrase) and its strength, for instance, based on parameters such as length or symbols required. This will ensure every new password created is secure and follows a familiar structure. The goal is to give you more control and flexibility in creating and enforcing strong passwords that meet the highest security standards and align with your clients’ organizational policies and requirements.

10. Can you automatically rotate passwords or do it on-demand?

Password rotation is a crucial security measure, with outdated passwords posing a major security risk. However, MSPs must manage multiple clients and dozens of passwords at a time, making manual updating a very tedious and time-consuming endeavor. That’s where automated password rotation can be a game changer, ensuring passwords stay fresh and updated regularly without wasting valuable resources and time.

11. Can you safely store personal and team-shared passwords in a single secure tool?

Managing passwords can be a headache, especially when juggling both personal and team-shared credentials of multiple clients. A centralized, secure storage tool simplifies this process, allowing you to keep all passwords safe and accessible, without sacrificing security.

12. Can you securely access IT information on the go via a mobile app?

In today’s mobile world, being able to access sensitive IT information on the go is essential. However, it’s equally important that this access is secure. A mobile app that prioritizes security lets you manage the documentation from anywhere, without compromising on protection.

13. Can you access essential passwords during a disaster?

Disasters strike when you least expect them. Ensure you have access to mission-critical passwords even during emergency and unforeseen situations. This capability is crucial for maintaining operations during emergencies, ensuring that your business can continue to serve your clients without interruption.

Revolutionize your clients’ IT documentation management with IT Glue

It’s evident that strong security measures are critical for securing your clients’ sensitive information — and that’s where IT Glue excels. IT Glue is a SOC 2 Type II-compliant IT documentation management platform that consolidates all mission-critical IT information in one pane, providing easy access to information like assets, passwords, users and SOPs. Powered by its AI engine, Cooper Copilot, IT Glue not only tackles the security challenges highlighted but also delivers advanced features that elevate your clients’ IT documentation to the next level.

• Enterprise-grade security: IT Glue provides top-tier security with MFA and SSO capabilities, ensuring only authorized users access sensitive data.
• SOC 2 Type II certified: Our SOC 2 Type II certification guarantees that IT Glue meets rigorous security and privacy standards, protecting your clients’ documentation and giving you peace of mind.
• Role-based access control: With IT Glue, you can precisely manage who accesses the documentation, reducing the risk of unauthorized access with role-based permissions.
• IP access control: It adds an extra layer of security to your valuable data by allowing you to limit IT Glue access to a specified list of IP addresses or a range of IP addresses.
• Detailed audit trails: IT Glue’s audit trails and activity logs give you full visibility into every change made, helping you quickly identify any suspicious activity.
• Secure mobile access: Access the documentation securely from anywhere with IT Glue’s mobile app, providing flexibility without compromising security.
• Automated backup and recovery: With automated account backup, you will always have access to up-to-date IT Glue data all the time. In an emergency, you can easily download the backup of your entire IT Glue account.
• Efficient password management: Manage personal and team-shared passwords securely with IT Glue’s comprehensive password management portfolio that includes features like password policy enforcement, one-time passwords and automated password rotation.

Ready to see IT Glue’s powerful documentation in action? Get a demo now.

The post 13-Point Checklist for MSPs to Secure IT Documentation appeared first on IT Glue.

Document management is the process of organizing digital information in a well-structured manner so that you get complete visibility into your growing IT environment. Document management aids in building a single source of truth for an organization’s mission-critical IT data and knowledge.

If your organization is looking to leverage an efficient document management system that can simplify your IT environment and maximize its potential, check out IT Glue, an award-winning SOC 2 Type II compliant documentation management platform. IT Glue is purpose-built for IT teams and consolidates all mission-critical IT information in one place so that your IT team has easy access to all the information they need when they need it. Learn more about the IT Glue platform.

Let’s see in detail what document management is and how it can benefit your organization.

What is document management?

Document management, often synonymous with document management system (DMS), involves capturing, storing, tracking and sharing all the critical data of an organization, ranging from assets and passwords to mission-critical IT knowledge. It is like a digital librarian for your data, making sure that everything is in the right place, easily findable and safeguarded against potential chaos. In today’s fast-paced IT world where every second counts, having such a single source of truth is extremely crucial for organizations.

Document management encompasses three core functions:

• Document capture: A document management system is designed to simplify the process of collecting different types of documents. It collects electronic documents that are created and managed digitally, as well as paper files that are digitized through scanning. In addition, external applications like customer relationship management (CRM) systems generate new information every day. The DMS should gather and store data from all these multiple sources.
• Document storage: The document storage system also safeguards all this information in a centralized and organized repository for easy and secure access to all users. The data may be stored in the local servers or the cloud based on the system.
• Document distribution: Another core purpose of document management is to enable smooth sharing and collaboration of information. In order to make information easily accessible, your document management system should utilize a robust search engine that can locate documents based on metadata. When creating documents, it is important to use different metadata to tag the files individually, as this will help to retrieve files much more quickly.

Why is document management important?

Poor document management can result in a significant waste of time, resources and money. The time and effort spent in finding information can be much more than expected, considering the volume of documents and data IT professionals deal with today. A document management system can considerably help on that front by providing a central repository for all essential information and knowledge, ensuring that IT teams can access the right information at the right time without any difficulty.

Find out how efficient document management via IT Glue helped Netsmart solve their client problems quickly and provide superior service.

Document management challenges and how to overcome them

Let’s explore some key hurdles in document management and how an efficient document management system overcomes them.

• Time consumption: Tedious manual processes often consume valuable time and resources. It’s estimated that employees spend almost a third of their workday searching for information. However, modern document management systems leverage automation and user-intuitive interfaces, drastically reducing time spent on document-related tasks and enhancing overall productivity.
• Multiple versions: IT pros often spend a lot of time and effort in figuring out the latest version of a document and in recovering previous versions when different revisions overwrite each other. However, advanced document management systems provide version tracking, ensuring that everyone is on the same page, reducing confusion and preventing errors stemming from outdated information.
• Document and knowledge loss: Physical document storage risks loss or damage, leading to critical information gaps. While manually filing documents, human errors could also creep in. However, modern systems offer secure cloud storage, safeguarding data against loss, ensuring business continuity and preserving institutional knowledge.
• Access and collaboration: Geographical constraints and rigid access controls in traditional setups hinder seamless collaboration. Modern systems ensure remote collaboration, real-time edits and fingertip access to information.
• Privacy and security: With rising concerns about data privacy and integrity, traditional methods may fall short of ensuring robust privacy and security. Modern document management systems implement encryption techniques, access controls and compliance measures, securing data against unauthorized access and meeting privacy standards.
• Compliance requirements: Managing documents comes with its own set of challenges and risks. One of the most crucial challenges is to ensure that your documents comply with the industry or organizational standards with respect to their creation, storage and disposal. You need to keep track of the lifecycle and status of your documents to make sure they are updated, archived or deleted as per the requirement. Failure to do so could result in hefty penalties or loss of important data. Modern document management systems integrate compliance features, aiding organizations in adhering to industry regulations and avoiding legal ramifications.

Common types of document management systems

Before implementing a document management system in your organization, you need to understand the different types of document management systems and how they cater to different organizational needs. Let’s delve into some key types of document management systems in this section.

Content management systems (CMS)

A content management system (CMS) focuses on creating, managing and organizing digital content. Widely used for web content, CMS systems simplify content creation and collaboration, empowering businesses to maintain a robust online presence. For instance, let’s say an organization wants to post some thought leadership articles. Then, it can use a CMS to publish them on its website or mobile app. Some examples of content management systems include WordPress, Joomla, etc.

Enterprise content management system (ECM)

Enterprise content management systems (ECM) are advanced systems that go beyond basic content and document management. ECMs capture, store, organize and share large volumes of data across an entire organization while also integrating business data. An ECM facilitates centralized control and compliance, which promotes efficient collaboration and information sharing. It’s important to note that an ECM is not a single tool or technology but rather a collection of content management tools that help businesses achieve their goals.

Records management system (RMS)

Records management systems (RMS) focus on the systematic control of records throughout their lifecycle, including their creation, maintenance and destruction. RMS provides a structured approach to document retention and disposal, ensuring long-term preservation of records and regulatory compliance. They are crucial for organizations that deal with sensitive data, such as healthcare, legal services and financial organizations.

Document imaging systems

Document imaging systems convert physical documents into digital formats, streamlining their storage and retrieval. They digitize paper documents to enhance accessibility, reduce physical storage costs and contribute to a more eco-friendly document management approach.

Workflow automation systems

Workflow automation systems optimize and streamline business workflows by automating redundant tasks, approvals and document routing. Through automation, these systems help free up the time of critical resources in an organization, enhance efficiency, reduce errors, and ensure a smooth, standardized flow of documents. In most cases, a workflow system is a unified platform of several discrete tools that work together to automate various tasks.

Collaboration platforms

As their name suggests, collaboration platforms focus on fostering collaboration and real-time communication. Integrating document sharing, editing and commenting features, these platforms enhance collaboration, allowing teams to work seamlessly across various projects and initiatives.

Knowledge management systems

Knowledge management systems centralize organizational information, making it easily accessible to all employees. These systems enable companies to capitalize on their intellectual properties for informed decision-making by facilitating knowledge creation, storage, sharing and retrieval.

Discover how IT Glue provides a comprehensive platform to effortlessly manage and secure your mission-critical IT information and knowledge.

Key document management system features

Now, let’s look at some essential features you need to look out for in your ideal document management system.

• Intuitive user interface: An intuitive and simple user interface (UI) makes certain that even new users can easily navigate through the system without much of a learning curve. An intuitive UI enhances adoption rates and ensures that your team seamlessly transitions to the new system without extensive training, ultimately saving time and boosting productivity.
• Powerful indexing and search: An ideal document management system should have robust indexing and search functionalities for swift document retrieval. The capability to add metadata and indexing to documents makes it easier for users to manage and search information. This allows users to effortlessly locate documents using metadata or keywords, minimizing the time spent on searching information and maximizing efficiency.
• Cloud and mobile access: Having cloud and mobile access brings flexibility to document management. That way, users will be able to access their documents anywhere, anytime, fostering collaboration and ensuring information is readily available, whether they’re in the office or on the go.
• Version control and audit history: Version control helps in tracking changes and ensures that everyone is working with the most recent document iteration. It is often helpful when multiple stakeholders are collaborating on the same file. Having versioning features with a history of the edits helps prevent duplication and makes sure users always access the updated version of a document. Similarly, audit history provides a transparent record or an audit trail of document activities, fostering accountability and compliance with regulatory standards.
• Workflow automation: Workflow automation helps streamline processes and workflows by automating redundant tasks and document routing. It not only accelerates document processing with pre-defined workflows but also reduces errors with necessary approvals and reviews, ensuring a more efficient and standardized workflow across your organization.
• Access permissions: Granular access permissions are critical in document management for protecting sensitive data. With customizable access controls, you can restrict any document’s access to authorized personnel, mitigating the risk of data breaches and confirming compliance with industry and privacy regulations.
• Systems integration: It is necessary for your document management system to seamlessly integrate with other tools and platforms used within your organization, such as CRM and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. This interoperability between systems ensures a cohesive digital ecosystem with seamless flow of data, preventing data silos and enhancing overall operational efficiency.

10 document management best practices

Here are some best practices to follow to realize the maximum potential of your document management.

1. Standardize naming conventions: Establishing consistent naming conventions fosters collaboration and simplifies document retrieval. A standardized approach ensures that everyone in the organization can easily understand and locate documents, reducing confusion and enhancing efficiency.
2. Maintain a simple user interface: As discussed earlier, maintaining a simple and intuitive user interface promotes user adoption. When the interface is user-friendly, employees can quickly grasp the system, reducing the learning curve and facilitating seamless integration into daily workflows.
3. Automate when possible: Automation streamlines processes, reducing manual efforts and minimizing errors. By automating redundant and routine tasks, businesses can accomplish faster document processing and free up their valuable time and resources for more strategic initiatives.
4. Establish goals and key metrics: It is important to define clear goals and metrics to measure the success of your document management strategy. This practice ensures that your efforts align with your organizational objectives, providing a framework for continuous improvement and optimization.
5. Define access controls: Granular access controls are essential to restrict unwarranted access to sensitive information. By defining access control permissions, organizations can ensure that only authorized personnel have access to specific documents.
6. Understand compliance and legal requirements: Stay aware of compliance and legal requirements relevant to your industry. Comprehending and adhering to these regulations ensures that your document management practices align with your industry standards, minimizing legal risks and fostering customer trust.
7. Coordinate retention schedules: Establishing and coordinating retention schedules ensures that documents are retained for the appropriate duration. This practice not only supports compliance but also prevents the accumulation of unnecessary data, streamlining storage and enhancing efficiency.
8. Utilize tags and metadata: Tags and metadata enhance document categorization and searchability. By adding metadata to documents, organizations can enhance retrieval speed and accuracy, facilitating a well-organized document management system.
9. Prioritize document security: Prioritize and ensure complete security of your documents by leveraging encryption techniques, secure access controls and regular security audits. Robust document security practices secure your data against unauthorized access and security threats, maintaining data integrity.
10. Designate roles and responsibilities: Clearly define roles and responsibilities for document management within your organization. Designating ownership ensures accountability, effective collaboration and a streamlined workflow, preventing ambiguity and promoting a well-organized document management structure.

IT environments are growing increasingly complex. Discover the biggest IT challenges of today and how you can future-proof your IT team with intelligent IT documentation. Download the eBook now.

How can a document management system benefit your business?

Here’s how your organization can benefit by implementing an efficient document management system.

• Saves time: This is probably the most important benefit of a DMS. You can save a lot of time by organizing your files and making information easily accessible.
• Low digital mess: Storing files online can get quite messy over time. With a centralized repository, you can clean up the digital mess and organize the way in which you store critical information.
• Increases security: When you have a secure platform to store your critical files, your information automatically becomes safe. A documentation tool with features like MFA, version control, password protection, audit trail, etc., boosts the security of your IT infrastructure.
• Fosters scalability: When your business grows, the number of documents you manage will grow as well. By decluttering your information with the help of a DMS, you can easily scale your business.
• Enhances collaboration: Collaboration should be at the heart of a DMS. Cloud-based document management platforms allow easy collaboration from multiple stakeholders no matter where they are located.
• Reduces physical storage: Having a big pile-up of paper documents is no way to run a modern business in this digital age. A DMS can significantly reduce your physical storage by digitizing all your paper documents.
• Eases accessibility: A centralized repository of data is easy to access by anyone with the right access privilege. By ensuring easy access to business-critical data, you can make informed decisions that will convert to business success.
• Promotes accountability: When you have proper versioning with an edit history, it improves transparency in your collaboration. This promotes accountability among the stakeholders working on the documents.
• Supports compliance: Having a proper DMS is a legal requirement under many data privacy laws. When you have a robust documentation tool, you can adhere to all compliance regulations.

Download this eBook to learn how IT Glue can help you get started with smart documentation and document management.

How IT Glue can help with document management

Now, you understand the significance of effective document management and how it can help you enhance your organization’s overall operational efficiency. If you are looking for an IT document management solution that can help you realize the full potential of your growing IT environment, check out IT Glue.

IT Glue is an award-winning SOC 2 Type II compliant documentation management platform designed to make IT documentation efficient and effortless for IT teams. With IT Glue, all your mission-critical IT information can be consolidated in one place, including assets, passwords, users and SOPs, making it easy for your IT team to access the information they need when they need it — even when they’re on the go. This helps you streamline all business processes, including resolving tickets, building client relationships and managing projects as efficiently as possible.

See IT Glue in action with this short demo video.

IT Glue’s smart relationship mapping also helps your team rapidly define and understand relationships between various elements of your documentation, drastically reducing research time and providing all the information they need at their fingertips. Moreover, its out-of-the-box intelligence-driven templates help you get started with IT documentation from the get-go. The solution also supports dozens of integrations with major PSA, RMM, BDR and other platforms alongside its public API, making it the single source of truth for your IT team.

Learn more about IT Glue features and find out why IT Glue is considered the gold standard of IT documentation.

The post What Is Document Management (DMS)? Types of Systems, Best Practices and Benefits appeared first on IT Glue.

In this blog, we’ll explore the distinct attributes of policies and procedures and how you can make the most out of them with proper documentation.

What is the difference between a policy and a procedure?

The purpose of these documents is to explain what an organization wants to happen and how to make it happen. While policies don’t provide step-by-step processes for completing a task, procedures offer detailed instructions on completing specific tasks. In other words, procedures focus on the steps you must take to ensure compliance while policies just outline the overall organizational rules.

Let’s say you are creating a BYOD policy for users working with their devices. This policy will outline whether users can work with their devices and what approvals they need. Procedures, on the other hand, will focus on implementing the BYOD policy via a step-by-step process, including ensuring proper security, installing solutions, dealing with security incidents, accessing organizational files and more.

What is a policy?

A policy is a formal standard that provides direction on how an organization can go about its operations regarding a specific topic. In other words, policies are overarching guidelines on what people in an organization must do or refrain from doing to achieve business goals. Policies indicate what the management expects from its employees.

What is the purpose of a policy?

The main aim of a policy is to reduce institutional risk and boost operational efficiency. With clear policies, employees at various levels in your organization will understand what the company expects from them. This ensures consistency and promotes a sense of predictability regarding what they can expect from others in the organization.

What do policies focus on?

Organizations have different sets of best practices, standards and regulations based on the industry in which they operate. Within an organization, policies focus on bringing consistency to the operations. When processes are consistent, it eliminates confusion and allows all employees to adhere to common standards.

Policies help organizations comply with established laws and regulations, but they can do a lot more than that. You can leverage policies to develop excellent standards for your industry’s best practices.

Who is involved in policymaking?

Since policies mimic a company’s overall vision and objectives, they are typically created by top managers at the executive level. However, mid-level managers can also be responsible for developing policies for their departments. Human resources professionals are also involved in policymaking since they will likely have more knowledge of ethical practices and legal procedures.

How are policies implemented?

Policy implementation can take different forms depending on an organization’s culture and the industry in which it operates. Before implementing a new policy, employers must provide some background information on why it is being implemented. This will help avoid any confusion in the implementation process and make employees less resistant to the changes.

Employers can also communicate policy changes based on what usually works for their organizations. While emails and memos are still an option, the best approach would be to use a centralized documentation solution and share the information across the company. In this approach, employees can refer to the policy documents whenever they want.

What is an example of a policy?

Let’s consider an organization’s IT policy. With information technology at the forefront of every business operation, modern organizations must have an IT policy that dictates the fair usage of IT assets. Some of the commonly included items in an IT policy are as follows:

• BYOD policy: The “bring your own device” policy concerns how employees must access privileged information when using their own devices. This may include guidelines on security solutions, VPN, password policy, network connectivity and more.
• Backup and storage policy: Organizations must have specific data backup and storage policies if they wish to prevent unexpected data losses. Backup policies can help organizations get back on track quickly following a cybersecurity incident or a natural disaster.
• Incident response policy: During an unexpected cybersecurity incident, an incident response plan will help mitigate the damages and get your company back on track. It should include specific actions for what to do during a ransomware attack, a DDoS attack, supply chain attacks, code injection attacks and more.
• Password policy: Your company’s password policy is vital in preventing various cyberthreats. It should include specific guidelines on password strength, when to change passwords, how to store passwords and more.

What is a procedure?

A procedure provides the operational steps for the effective implementation of a policy. In other words, it offers a specific outline of how to complete particular tasks. Since procedures are well-defined documents, they eliminate confusion in a process and provide consistency in achieving a desired outcome.

What is the purpose of a procedure?

The purpose of procedures is to explain the “how” of completing a task. Procedures provide step-by-step instructions on how to complete a task, who is responsible for a particular step and when it should be completed. With well-defined procedures, your employees will know what to do even when you cannot supervise them directly. It streamlines your operations with no room for ambiguity.

What do procedures focus on?

Procedures focus on providing a robust framework for handling specific tasks. Since employees of all levels must understand procedures, they must be clear, concise and written in simple language. Procedures provide precise explanations for completing tasks and must be highly detailed and rigid to make that happen.

Who is involved in procedure writing?

Procedure creation typically requires a team of people specializing in different areas. Managers of various departments can write procedures concerning the operations of their teams. Even team leaders and key employees take part in writing procedures to ensure clarity in messaging. Like policies, the HR department can also share its insights and provide feedback on the ethical concerns associated with procedures.

How are procedures implemented?

Since procedures involve guidelines on completing specific tasks, you must share them with all the employees who work on those tasks. Traditional ways of sharing procedure information may not be adequate for modern-day organizations. The best way to communicate procedures is through a centralized documentation tool that can be accessed by all employees whenever they are working on a task. It allows employees to refer to procedure documents whenever they need them instantly.

What is an example of a procedure?

We have outlined different types of IT policies earlier. Let’s consider the example of data breach prevention. The procedure document for this policy would contain the following steps:

1. Ensure the accuracy of information received
   1. Check mobile number
   2. Check email id
   3. Check mailing address
2. Store the received information in a secure vault
3. Use a strong password to prevent breaches
4. Restrict access to only a select few personnel
5. Train all employees to handle sensitive data
6. Perform vulnerability or risk assessment every month

Policy vs. procedure summarized

Policies and procedures are vital for organizations to incorporate administrative frameworks on how a company should function. Despite their role in facilitating compliance and core business activities, policies and procedures differ on various measures.

We have established that policies provide a general outline of organizational rules while procedures provide the specific steps to achieve the rules. Since policies offer a broad overview of organizational goals, they are not subject to frequent change. The goals, expectations and priorities outlined in the policy document will likely remain stable over time.

Procedures, on the other hand, are subject to frequent adjustments and changes. For instance, when you install a new password management solution, your password security procedures will likely change accordingly.

Here’s a quick overview of the key differences between policies and procedures:

Which comes first: policy or procedure?

While you may have figured it out by now, let’s emphasize which comes first and why it should be written first. Since policies provide the overarching guidelines for an organization’s direction, they should be written first. Procedures are highly tactical and must be based on policies to ensure efficient operations.

Does a procedure always need a policy?

Policy versus procedure has always been a considerable debate. However, to ensure effective operations in an organization, you need both. Procedures may lay out the steps involved but still need strong policies to establish the proper framework. Without policies, you will not understand an organization’s goals or the direction it travels.

Can you combine policies and procedures?

Policies and procedures have specific organizational purposes and cannot be combined. Mixing up the information can lead to a lot of confusion and will affect your operations. You can bring them under a single document if it suits your requirements. However, ensure they are clearly segmented with proper headings and sections.

Document policies and procedures with IT Glue

IT Glue is an award-winning IT documentation platform that can document your most valued assets into knowledge and information your entire organization can use. You can leverage a library of policies and procedures to help you kickstart your IT documentation.

Not only does IT Glue consolidates all of your policies and procedures, it also consolidates your IT hardware and software assets, passwords and many more into a single pane of glass to put information at your fingertips.

IT Glue’s SOC 2-compliant documentation platform features an immutable audit trail, multifactor authentication and next-generation password management engine, all fully integrated and linked with all your IT policies and procedures.

To know more about how IT Glue can help with your policies and procedures,

Request A Demo

The post Policy vs. Procedure: What’s the Difference? appeared first on IT Glue.

Accessing the one-time password (OTP) code with multifactor authentication (MFA) isn’t always convenient, but with IT Glue’s OTP feature, it can be a breeze. Two-factor authentication (2FA) or MFA has become vital for today’s password security. By adding a second layer of authentication, you can verify whether the person accessing an account is legitimate.

OTPs are common under MFA procedures. An OTP is an automatically generated sequence of numeric characters that expires after a certain timeframe. However, accessing the OTP code can sometimes be cumbersome, requiring manual scanning of a QR code onto multiple devices or tracking down the code owner. Due to this inconvenience, some individuals skip implementing 2FA/MFA measures, compromising the security of sensitive data.

Fortunately, IT Glue’s OTP feature offers a solution that makes accessing the OTP code seamless and simplifies importing and exporting the OTP secret key. With this functionality, onboarding new users and ensuring business continuity becomes effortless, enhancing the overall user experience and reinforcing security measures.

Boost security and password sharing with OTP in IT Glue

IT Glue’s OTP Generator provides a convenient solution, ensuring continuous access to the most up-to-date OTP codes for passwords that require 2FA/MFA. This feature streamlines the login process, especially when multiple technicians are granted administrator access to an application. With the OTP Generator, all technicians can access the necessary OTP codes to complete the 2FA/MFA login, ensuring seamless access without compromising convenience.

Efficient imports to make onboarding a breeze

The increasing number of SaaS applications that IT teams must securely access has made adding an OTP code for each password time-consuming. However, this task has been significantly simplified with the recent introduction of OTP secret key import.

With this new capability, IT teams can now effortlessly import a list of MFA passwords and their corresponding OTP secret keys into IT Glue. This enables centralized access and benefits the entire IT team by streamlining the process and making it much more convenient to manage and use OTP codes across various applications.

Comprehensive export for automated account backup

In IT Glue, you can automatically export your account data to ensure you always have an up-to-date backup readily available in case of emergencies. This seamless process guarantees uninterrupted access to critical and sensitive information, with all your account data regularly exported. It saves valuable time and enhances overall business efficiency by eliminating the need for manual data exports.

With this automated backup system, you no longer need to worry about forgetting to back up your data, thus mitigating the risk of losing vital information. Passwords with OTP codes are now included in the Automated Account Backup in IT Glue. This added layer of security ensures business continuity, providing your team with another reliable way to access shared accounts with OTP enabled during emergencies. With IT Glue’s comprehensive backup solution, your team is always prepared and equipped to handle any unforeseen circumstances without compromising security or productivity.

Learn more about MFA and OTP in IT Glue in this Knowledge Base article.

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The post Increase Your Protection Against Cyberattacks With Intelligent IT Documentation appeared first on IT Glue.

In this blog, we’ll explore the 10 key steps involved in writing process documentation.

How to write a process document in 10 steps

As business organizations grow, tasks inevitably get more and more complex. With plenty of moving parts in each task, you must keep track of everything from start to end. Without process documentation, everyone will likely follow their own steps, which may lead to massive inefficiency and chaos.

To overcome these challenges, you must learn how to write process documents effectively. Make sure you use these 10 key steps to create process documents correctly.

1. Identify the process

The first step in process documentation is identifying what you should document. This section answers the “why” part of process documentation. In this stage, you must determine the purpose of the process in question and how it contributes to your organization’s goals.

For instance, you can ask questions like:

• Is this a training guide for onboarding newcomers?
• Can this help employees reduce their time spent searching for information?
• Can this be used as a report for senior management?
• Will this process help in making tasks more efficient?
• How will this process benefit the company?

If you have multiple objectives, note them and prioritize them to determine which process you should document first.

2. Determine the scope

The scope of a process defines what will be delivered through the completed process. It outlines various things, such as objectives, estimated timeline for completion, priorities within the process, stakeholder responsibilities, etc. By defining these factors, you can prevent your team from information overload and focus more specifically on the process you are documenting.

Here’s how you can determine the scope of a process:

• Objectives: Estimate the overall objectives you are trying to achieve with the process.
• Timeline: Identify the estimated timeframe it requires to complete the process.
• Stakeholders: Determine the list of stakeholders involved in the process. If you are unsure about the exact stakeholders, identify the teams working on it.
• Priorities: Determine the process priority compared to other processes in the pipeline.
• Resources: Identify the resources required to complete the process within the estimated deadline.

Once you have determined all these factors, you can view your process better and its overall outcome.

3. Determine process boundaries

This step involves identifying where the process begins, where it ends and the people involved. To establish the right boundaries, you need to outline what constitutes the beginning of a process and what constitutes its end.

For instance, let’s say you are trying to make your employee onboarding process efficient through process automation. Here, your boundaries might include finalizing the list of documentation materials for new employees and determining the right person to perform the onboarding.

During this step, you should also establish other metrics, like due dates for completion of each boundary step, key performance indicators, budget required, resources involved, etc. Clearly defined boundaries will help your team understand the limitations in the process and proactively act within these limitations.

4. Identify process inputs and outputs

This stage of process documentation focuses on what you need to complete the process successfully. Input refers to the resources required to complete the process and output refers to what is expected after the completion of the process.

Here is an example of how this works:

Process: Data backup analysis

Input: Types of data stored, storage locations, storage types, etc.

Output: A complete report on current backup health, data recovery time, security details, etc.

Identifying the inputs and outputs is crucial for successfully performing all the other steps in a process. With this information, you can break down your significant goals into smaller steps and allocate sufficient resources at each stage.

5. Organize process steps

Once you have gathered all the required input and output information, it is time to organize them into manageable steps. Here, you need to identify what triggers a particular step in a process. In other words, you must determine which step to complete for another one to begin.

If your process steps are not sequential, you must evaluate other factors, like priorities, due dates, etc., to determine the exact steps.

When dealing with multiple process steps, it is always better to have a brainstorming session with all the required stakeholders. During this session, ensure you include all those directly responsible for executing the process steps. After organizing your process steps, you can focus on assigning the roles to individual stakeholders.

6. Define process roles

This step focuses on describing the people involved in completing the process steps. You must assign roles for the individual stakeholders responsible for completing each step. When recording that in your process document, include their job titles and their names.

When defining process roles, you can include details like what needs to be delivered and their due dates. By doing that, you can ensure seamless completion of each process step before it moves on to the next one.

If the processes are too complex, you may also have to meet with the individual stakeholders directly and gather their input on the process deliverables. This prevents any last-minute surprises or any deviation from individual responsibilities.

7. Visualize the process

One crucial step in process documentation is the visual representation of the entire process. Research shows that adding visuals to documentation is the most effective communication since most people are visual learners. You can add visuals to ensure better clarity, easy communication and adequate information retention.

A flowchart is a simple way of visualizing a complicated process. A step-by-step workflow diagram will bring more clarity to the documentation and make information easily digestible.

Here is an example of a process (antivirus installation) in a visual flowchart:

To create a flowchart of your process, start with the input and add the details of all the steps involved in completing the process. For every step, add the individual stakeholders responsible for its completion, along with the timeline. The flowchart should end with the output, which is the desired outcome of the process.

8. Document process flow exceptions

A process may not follow the documented path on every occasion. Process flows are likely to change depending on different situations. In such instances, you need to note down these exceptions to avoid any confusion in the future.

Let’s consider the above flowchart, for example. If you already have a partnership with an antivirus solutions provider, you don’t have to explore other antivirus products in the market. So, you can skip that step and go directly to the procurement part. Similarly, you can also automate the patching process so that updates are automatically installed whenever available. You can skip the “check for updates” and “download updates” steps here.

All you have to know is that a process may not follow your set path. In some cases, skipping or adding a step might require approval from top executives. When you have these exceptions documented, you can clearly understand how to proceed with them.

9. Set process controls

Besides exceptions, your process might also run into unexpected risks during its execution. You may have to set specific control points to adjust the process to the desired outcome and prevent these risks from completely ruining your process.

The main purpose of these process controls is to make the outcome predictable no matter how many times these processes are repeated. Process controls can either be simple or complex based on the number of process steps and the complexity of other parameters.

In case of complex issues, you must take extra care to reduce the margin of error and deliver the desired output.

10. Publish the document and test the process

Once you have clearly documented the processes, you must review the documentation and test the process as the final step. This is where you ensure that your process is working as it should.

During this stage, you can track the performance of the process and identify any issues that may arise during its execution. For minor issues, you can make corrections in real-time and document these corrections. For complex issues, you may have to rework a particular step and develop the required solution.

Testing is not a one-and-done activity. You must perform multiple iterations of testing and ensure you achieve optimal results every time. Based on the feedback you receive in this testing stage, you can refine and update your process documentation with better information.

Streamline process documentation writing with IT Glue

IT Glue is an award-winning documentation solution that allows you to centralize your process documentation alongside your hardware assets, software assets, passwords and SOPs. This helps you streamline all business processes, like resolving tickets, building client relationships and managing projects, as efficiently as possible.

IT Glue has out-of-the-box checklists and ITIL SOP templates that allow you to kickstart your process enhancements immediately. IT Glue’s SOC 2-compliant documentation platform features an immutable audit trail, multifactor authentication and next-generation password management engine, all fully integrated and linked with all your process documentation.

To learn more about how IT Glue can help improve process documentation,

Request A Demo

The post How to Write Process Documentation appeared first on IT Glue.

We have compiled a list of best practices that can guide you in documenting your processes correctly to enhance efficiency and maximize your productivity.

10 process documentation best practices

Process documentation plays a critical role in the success of a business since it reduces complexity, makes processes more efficient and lowers business costs. For these reasons, you must focus on how you do it in your organization. Here’s a list of best practices that could guide you in implementing process documentation the right way.

1. Straightforward and to the point

The crucial aspect of your process documentation is to keep it clear and concise. It would be best if you wrote it in a way that is easy to digest. Since multiple people are likely to use the documentation you create, write it in a conversational tone. Reading the text aloud once you’ve written can help you understand whether it is conversational.

Here’s an example:

Instead of saying: Once you have identified the issues in the system, reach out to the IT administrator.

Say this: Found the issues? Contact IT admin.

This type of documentation makes it easy for anyone to follow. Also, use jargon judiciously and only when required. Use only words that are common knowledge in your team.

2. Templatize

One of the significant causes of inefficiency is inconsistent documentation. When there is no standard format for your process documentation, everyone will likely use their own formats leading to confusion and time waste. Whenever there are similar procedures in the various process, you need to templatize your documentation to make it consistent across the organization.

You can create your own templates or get existing templates from a documentation solution and customize them to your requirements. Here is a list of benefits when you templatize your process documentation:

• Easy to document and use
• Decrease in errors caused by inconsistent content
• Reduction in the accidental omission of critical information
• Consistency and uniformity across all documents
• Lower time and money wasted
• Higher flexibility in documentation processes

3. Incorporate visuals

Most people are visual learners. Having plenty of visual aids can be an effective way to illustrate the complex information you wish to convey to your users. Research shows that users learn better and retain information longer when they learn through visuals.

You can use the following types of visuals in your process documentation:

• Diagrams: You can use a variety of diagrams and images to convey ideas that are difficult to express with words. Appealing diagrams can eliminate boredom when learning new things.
• Flowcharts: A flowchart provides you with a visual representation of a workflow. It also shows a clear hierarchy of your process steps and who is responsible for carrying them out.
• Videos: Well-created videos can provide the best explainer for all learners. For instance, you can use a how-to video to illustrate a step-by-step process and eliminate potential confusion from using words.

In addition to these, you may also use a range of other multimedia, such as screenshots, graphs and tables, to make information easier to digest.

4. Link to related documents

Documentation is all about improving efficiency in your processes. You can enhance efficiency only by bringing all the related information together so that all the information you need is readily available at your fingertips.

For instance, if you have a process that pertains to a specific location or server, you must link to that to ensure instant access to the location or server information. Instant access to related information makes information search a breeze.

To make the most out of your process documentation, you need to review your existing documentation and identify all the items that can be linked together. Once you make it a practice to link your documentation, adding new documents as you create them will be easy.

5. Review, revise and update

The most important requirement of process documentation is to keep it updated. In many organizations, outdated documentation is a serious concern. When you fail to review your documentation, your processes may evolve but your documentation remains outdated. As a result, users cannot get accurate information from their documentation.

When you regularly review your documentation, it will come in handy during the revision process since you can easily identify what is missing and what needs to be updated. As a result, your process documentation gets more efficient and accurate.

Here’s how you keep your process documentation updated:

• Create a plan on what you must document in your environment
• Establish a schedule for reviewing your process documentation
• Keep your documentation simple enough to make instant changes and edits
• Ensure easy sharing of the updated documentation with your team members
• Incorporate controls on who can make edits to your critical documents
• Track the changes made and keep a version history of all the modifications

6. Prioritize and segment

All processes are not the same. You need to prioritize their documentation and segment them based on their importance. When starting, you don’t have to create documentation for all your processes at once. Instead, focus on a single department or process applied to the entire organization.

Having one large document for all your documentation is not a good idea. It may create confusion when multiple people access, review and edit this document to make updates. When you have individual documents for different processes, you can easily avoid confusion by clearly defining the required information.

7. Involve stakeholders

Stakeholder engagement plays a vital role in the successful implementation of a process. As a part of your process documentation, you must identify your stakeholder interest and manage any conflicts that may arise during process implementation. To ensure seamless operations, you must involve all the people associated with the process.

You can involve stakeholders through the following steps:

• Identify internal and external stakeholders: Internal stakeholders may include employees, managers and executives. External stakeholders may include clients, suppliers, sponsors, third-party vendors and users. Make sure you identify them all before documenting your processes.
• Set expectations: In your documentation, define what your stakeholders can expect from the process. Since your stakeholders may have their input, it is essential to manage their expectations before the process gets implemented.
• Get feedback: Getting feedback is vital for improving your processes. The feedback you obtain from various stages may provide insights into the limitations and issues in a process. You can fix the issues with these inputs to ensure proper process implementation.
• Create new documentation: Your documentation needs to be updated based on the changes made to the process. Take the time to update these changes and keep your documentation accurate.

8. Storage and accessibility

Your process documents cannot be of much help to you if they are difficult to access. Storing your files locally on hard drives and computers will make sharing them with the stakeholders extremely difficult. You need a centralized storage repository that your stakeholders can access from anywhere.

A cloud-based documentation solution will come in handy during such requirements. Centralized access also allows your team to make changes to your process documents whenever required. Also, to prevent unauthorized access to your critical documents, you need a solution prioritizing security over all other things.

9. Security and backup

Data has become the backbone of any organization in today’s digital world. You must ramp up your security measures by incorporating the right documentation solutions to prevent your data from falling into the wrong hands.

It would be best to have a solution with enterprise-grade security features such as multifactor authentication (MFA), access control, host-proof hosting, audit trails and single sign-on. In addition to ensuring security against outside threats, you must incorporate access control measures to provide access only to the right people in your organization.

Even with all the high-end security features, something unfortunate might happen to your documentation. This is where backup comes in. A backup of your process documentation will help you easily restore your operations when something inevitably goes wrong.

10. Utilize documentation tools

Considering the complexity of today’s IT environments, organizations cannot document their processes manually. You need a cloud-based tool that automates the documentation process and simplifies document sharing.

With a robust documentation tool, you don’t have to worry about backup, security, accessibility, related items, etc. Moreover, you can instantly review your documents whenever you want and make the necessary revisions to keep your process documentation up to date.

Most importantly, you need a tool that seamlessly integrates with other tools in your IT environment and captures information automatically. With the right tool, you can make your process documentation completely proactive.

Robust process documentation with IT Glue

IT Glue is a powerful documentation solution that comes with robust features. IT Glue can help you document your process effectively and make them accessible in a centralized database. This centralized access gives you a single source of truth and allows multiple stakeholders to work seamlessly on your documentation.

In addition, IT Glue also enhances efficiency by providing related documents readily available for your users. Our solution also comes packed with features like SSO, IP access control, host-proof hosting, MFA, audit trails and more within a SOC 2 Type II compliant solution.

To learn more about how you can manage process documentation with IT Glue, request a demo.

The post 10 Process Documentation Best Practices appeared first on IT Glue.

And so, here you are. Still stuck with documentation that’s probably incomplete, out of date, scattered all over the place, or worse yet, stuck in your team lead’s head.

While it may seem counterintuitive, today is the best time to invest in documentation. Here’s why. Getting your documentation in order helps your team run more efficiently and consistently because everybody follows the same processes. Onboarding goes more smoothly and is not so hands-on. You can automate a lot of the documentation, and better still, you can actually find it again later.

In short, you save a heck of a lot of time when your documentation is centralized under one roof and given the right structure. And what does time equal?

That’s right. Time = money.

Trying to stretch an already thin IT budget? Documentation. 

Need more time to combat tech debt or launch a much-needed security initiative? Documentation.

Want to go home at five o’clock? You guessed it. Documentation.

That’s why documentation is an investment. You can invest in a lot of things, of course, but documentation is a nice, quick win. Is it easier to invest a couple hundred dollars a month in a powerful new documentation tool, or is it easier to get approval for more headcount or change the organizational culture?

And what about the fire you’re trying to put out today? Well, if you don’t have fires very often, that’s fine. Just grab the hose and get at it. However, it’s more likely there’s always fires, so there’s always something urgent to worry about.

There’s a difference between urgent and important though. “Urgent” is getting caught up in fighting fires all day. “Important” is investing in things that make fighting fires easier. In IT, that means better documentation and a more efficient team.

If you focus on solving the important things, you’ll find that you have a lot fewer urgent things to worry about.

Getting your documentation into one centralized location and giving it some structure is important for the sustained success of any IT team. But because it isn’t urgent, documentation gets put on the back burner all too often.

The best time to get your documentation in order was sometime in the past, the second best time to get your documentation in order is right here, right now.

Let’s get started!

The post When Is the Best Time to Start Documenting? appeared first on IT Glue.

With documentation, you can move forward throughout your day because it holds all the necessary information you need to complete your processes. No more blindfold, and no more searching blindly for information. Instead, tasks become easier to complete, and goals become more possible to achieve. Good documentation is foundational for your success. Here are seven reasons why documentation is important.

1) Reduced time waste

Consistency equals efficiency. One of the main causes of time wastage is having inconsistent processes. Documentation is how you combat this problem. If your processes vary depending on which staff member is completing the task, or worse, because there is little process to follow, time is being wasted. Chances are high that certain employees complete tasks more efficiently than others. It’s even possible that one specific employee completes a task more efficiently depending on how they decide to do it that day. Good documentation allows you to choose the most efficient way to complete a task, and document it so that all staff members go about it the same way with the same (highest) efficiency.

2) Fewer errors

Documentation not only reduces time waste but also decreases the chances of potential errors occurring even during the more complex processes. If you leave processes up to individual discretion, errors are bound to be made. However, if you strategically document your processes so that they are easy to follow by even your most junior tech, they’ll have a much better success rate.

3) Superior customer service

Have you ever had a client ask a question that you didn’t immediately have the answer to? You panic and search for the right information and the next thing you know you’re stuttering through your response. Having all your clients’ information documented, alongside your processes, allows you to ensure you are always providing a superior customer experience. Simply access the information you need in IT Glue and spend less time searching under pressure. Not only does this save you the frustration and embarrassment, but it also demonstrates your investment in the client and builds their trust. The more they trust you, the more likely they will provide you with business.

4) Lower training costs

How long do you think it takes to get a new team member to fully transition into their new role? According to one estimate, it could take anywhere between 8 and 26 weeks. The average cost of onboarding a new employee is estimated to be around $4,425. With hidden costs like the time a manager spends training a new employee, instead of contributing to revenue-generating tasks, this cost could be higher. However, onboarding need not be so expensive or time-consuming.

Best-in-class MSPs leverage good documentation to shorten their training period, lower costs and tomake the onboarding process smooth, easy and efficient. For new hires, and your company, documentation is the key to success. Step-by-step processes allow a new tech to spend less time relying on the guidance of an already busy staff member, and more time directly increasing their efficiency. Good documentation helps your new employees get up to speed sooner and increases your chances of retaining them by making a good first impression and demonstrating an organized and efficient work culture.

5) Competitive advantage

With good documentation in place, you can achieve a lot more and also prove it. With the time saved by documentation, you can start setting better SLAs with the confidence that they will be consistently met. Documentation speeds up your service times, allowing you to be there for all your customers when they need you. Prove this to your clients, and your prospects, by showing them how you will document their information and providing evidence of your track record. After this, it will be obvious that your service is superior to your competitors.

6) Painless audits

If there’s one thing auditors like, it’s documentation. Going into an audit with your documentation in shambles is like going into the dentist without brushing your teeth — it’s going to be a lot more painful. Whether you’re the one being audited, or whether it’s one of your clients, there are two keys to having a painless audit. The first is having your act together. The second is being able to prove it. Although documentation won’t help you with the first one, it for sure will help with the second one.

7) Trusted security

Your clients trust you to ensure their information is safe and secure at all times. To do this, you must cover all the necessary steps for providing security. Start by implementing multifactor authentication (MFA) and single sign-on (SSO) for accessing information. This gives both you and your clients the confidence that the person accessing the information is who they are supposed to be. IT Glue utilizes MFA and SSO while being SOC 2 compliant to provide the highest level of security for you and your clients’ information. With your documentation being as important as it is, you don’t want to expose it to the risks of a security breach.

Why documentation is so important

Good documentation conveys a lot of benefits to your business, with these being just the tip of the iceberg. Once you start improving your use of documentation, the more benefits your MSP will reap from it. Using a smart documentation tool like IT Glue lets you maximize the efficiency, accessibility and security of your information. It acts as a central hub for all your data and processes and allows you to customize accessibility for your staff. 13,000 organizations are already using IT Glue, which means that if you’re not using it, you’re getting left behind.

Visit our website itglue.com/demo to learn more.

I want a Demo!

The post 7 Reasons Why Documentation Is Critical for Your MSP appeared first on IT Glue.

In this blog, we’ll discuss the different aspects of process documentation and share some insights on how you can create high-quality process documents that can overcome inefficiency traps.

What is process documentation?

A process document refers to a document that provides a detailed outline of how to execute a task or process. This is an internal document that is typically shared with various stakeholders within an organization. It focuses more on the “how” of the process than the overall outcome. Moreover, this is an ongoing document that gets periodically modified along with the execution of a project or task.

You can create process documentation for various tasks ranging from onboarding a new employee to deploying a new software tool. By providing a roadmap for what steps are to be followed next, process documentation helps you streamline your current processes.

What are business processes?

A business process refers to a series of steps performed by stakeholders in an organization to achieve a goal. It should be as specific as possible and should clearly outline the stakeholder assigned to a particular step of the task. As the foundation of various related ideas such as business process management, process documentation, etc., it should also produce consistent outcomes when executed.

Why is process documentation important?

Documentation plays a critical role when you are creating a new process or refining an existing one. Writing it down in a document takes the guesswork out of the equation and keeps your processes aligned with your organization’s goals. If you don’t have clearly documented processes, stakeholders will find it extremely difficult to understand their roles in executing a task.

Process documentation helps you with:

• Consistency: When you have process steps outlined in a document, your tasks will be performed more uniformly. Even when multiple stakeholders collaborate on a single task, you can ensure consistency by having clear process documentation.
• Structure: Process documentation brings structure to your tasks. Your employees will have a clear idea of what to do first and what to do last. They can also identify their place in the overall process and understand their roles without any doubt.
• Operational clarity: Employees are likely to hit roadblocks when performing some tasks. With process documentation, they have a written document to fall back on and refer to whenever required. This helps with the successful completion of critical tasks.

What is the main objective of process documentation?

The main objective of process documentation is to keep track of the execution of a process or task. You can learn more about your processes from your existing documentation and take steps to make improvements. Documentation can help you improve quality, enhance efficiency, eradicate flaws, lower costs and more.

Who is involved in process documentation?

There are three key parties involved in business process documentation. Let’s take a look at the roles they play in the following:

Service desk internal processes

This includes the service desk manager and technicians who go over the processes. They address various aspects of the processes including how to handle customer inquiries, how to handle critical and non-critical issues, how to resolve the most common tickets, etc.

Project management

Project management typically involves the service desk manager, technicians or project management team. They focus on what steps project management should take as against the service desk. They list out typical processes like removing a server or installing a new server.

Users communication

Process documentation also focuses on users who will be impacted by the processes. The way users communicate with the service desk or project management team must be addressed here. You must also focus on how your users get information and how they submit tickets.

How do you create a process document?

Creating a process document involves multiple steps. However, these are not rigid steps that must be executed at all costs. These steps may vary from one organization to another based on their unique requirements.

To give you a brief idea of how to create a process document, we’ve put together a 10-step process that can guide you. You may adjust the steps as per your unique requirements.

1. Identify the process: The first step is to determine the process that needs to be documented. Here, you are answering the “why” part of process documentation. You need to identify the purpose of the process and how it aligns with the goals of your organization.
2. Determine the scope: The scope of a project outlines what should be included in a project including key objectives, processes to be covered, responsibility of stakeholders, timeline, etc.
3. Determine process boundaries: Once you have outlined the scope, it is time to define the process boundaries. You can do this by identifying where the process begins, where it ends, who is affected by it and how it gets done.
4. Identify process inputs & outputs: In this stage, you must determine the resources required to successfully complete the project. You also must define what is expected at the end of the project.
5. Organize process steps: After identifying the inputs and outputs, you must determine the exact steps to be covered in the project. List out the steps in sequential order and assign responsibilities for each step. If there are multiple tasks within a step, provide details about all the tasks within the step.
6. Define process roles: Once you have listed out the steps, you must break down each step and assign the roles. You can also include details like timeline and deliverables when assigning roles.
7. Visualize the process: A visual representation of the process provides better clarity to all stakeholders involved. You can do this by creating a flowchart covering your process.
8. Document process flow exceptions: A business process does not always have to follow the same path as defined in the visual process. If there are any exceptions, you must document them during this step.
9. Set process controls: You are also likely to face certain risks during the execution of the process. It is necessary to identify these risks earlier and incorporate the required controls to monitor them.
10. Review & test the process: The final step of process documentation involves reviewing the documents and testing the process. If you have missed anything, you will be able to identify it during this step.

What should be included in process documentation?

A process document must include the framework for how to carry out your business process. This can be done by including different types of documents. Some of the key elements of a process document may include:

• Policies: These are the guidelines under which your organization operates. Various factors from internal rules to government regulations can be covered in this document.
• Procedures: This covers detailed information about how your tasks will be performed. You can use this document as a quick reference guide when working on your tasks. You may use any of the following documents to outline the steps of your process:
  • Checklists
  • Tutorials
  • Videos or GIFs
  • Screenshots, photos or illustrations
  • Process maps, flowcharts or diagrams

What are some benefits of process documentation?

When you create process documentation to manage your projects, you can overcome a lot of issues that could put your project in jeopardy. Here’s a list of benefits you are likely to experience firsthand by incorporating process documentation.

• Reduces errors: When you proactively outline each step of a process, it reduces ambiguity in the process. This results in fewer mistakes and, in turn, fewer costs associated with mistakes.
• Boosts operational efficiency: Clearly defined processes reduce the need for decision-making and critical thinking. This helps boost operational efficiency as employees are able to avoid confusion and build upon repeatable processes.
• Eliminates busywork: Process documents are used to present information clearly, and this reduces the time spent on unproductive busywork. You don’t have to lose time due to disorganized communication, duplicate work and more.
• Improves processes & communication: Process documentation allows employees and organizations to analyze processes over time and improve on them where people see fit. Repetition encourages communication among team members to identify bottlenecks or areas for optimization.
• Streamlines resources: When you have clear steps outlining each stage of a project, you can easily identify the resources required to complete the project. This ensures streamlined resource allocation and prevents overspending.
• Preserves knowledge: Organizations reduce the risk of losing valuable operational knowledge when employees leave the company or through other means. At the same time, employee training and onboarding of new employees can be made easier with well-documented processes.

How can process documentation be improved?

Process documentation is an absolute must for organizations that deal with multiple processes every day. With clear documentation, you can make continuous improvements to your processes and optimize them for better use. You can also execute your projects successfully and remove inefficiencies in your processes.

Considering the significance of process documentation, it goes without saying that process documentation must be made as easy as possible. You can achieve this with the help of smart documentation tools like IT Glue. Let’s see how IT Glue can be used to improve process documentation.

Document business processes with IT Glue

IT Glue enables you to centralize your process documentation alongside your hardware assets, software assets, passwords and SOPs. This helps you streamline all business processes like resolving tickets, building client relationships and managing projects as efficiently as possible.

IT Glue has out-of-the-box checklists and ITIL SOP templates that allow you to kickstart your process enhancements right away.

To learn more about how IT Glue can help improve process documentation, request a demo.

The post Process Documentation: The Ultimate Guide appeared first on IT Glue.

Add to that the challenges with budget and talent retention, and you probably feel that you’re constantly being asked to do more with less.

You need to be creative when it comes to finding solutions. Here are some options:

1. Cut corners (usually comes back to bite you)
2. Put in long hours (the usual answer, but this starts to become unsustainable after a while)
3. Successfully petition senior leadership for a big bump in resources (best of luck)
4. Cut out the busy work (a great idea if you can figure out how)

None of this sounds feasible, right? Well, here’s how you can actually do more with less.

IT documentation and network documentation

Poor documentation is affecting the productivity and efficiency of your organization, and you may not even be aware of it. A McKinsey report estimated that an average knowledge worker could be spending as much as 9.3 hours a week just searching for information. In other words, your technicians could be spending way more time than required looking for relevant information when working on a task.

When you incorporate IT documentation and network documentation in your IT environment, you can cut down time waste by half. Let’s find out how.

Smart documentation

Documentation can be quite overwhelming and tedious if done manually. This is where smart documentation comes into play. Smart documentation can help you do more with less by providing the following benefits:

• Automation: With a robust documentation tool like IT Glue, you can automate your documentation process and manage service requests with fewer technicians. The time you save here can be utilized on other core tasks that matter.
• Standardization: You probably support many departments in your organization right now. Without a standard process, your technicians may follow random solutions when working on a task. IT Glue helps you create SOPs and share them with your team members. This will ensure a standard procedure for all your critical tasks.
• Prioritization: Prioritization helps you focus on important tasks first. When you create checklists and document your upcoming tasks, you can plan your workload effectively and create contingency plans for unexpected scenarios.
• Consistency: Lack of consistency can introduce an array of new problems in your IT environment. When you have smart documentation incorporated, you are most likely to use standardized processes and documentation templates. This will help ensure consistency in the process.

Network documentation

Network documentation helps you strategically plan your network and leverage automation to free up your resources. With a powerful network documentation solution, you can do a lot more than just document your network. For instance, Network Glue helps you gain comprehensive visibility into your network with features like automatic discovery, documentation, diagramming and more.

By having your network data automated into IT Glue, you can centralize your network information and manage your tasks more efficiently. Here, you can get information about your network devices and configuration details visually represented in the form of a network diagram. When you have a visual summary of your entire network, you can identify issues more effectively and troubleshoot them instantly.

With proper network documentation, you can significantly reduce issue identification and issue resolution time. As a result, your organization can operate at maximum productivity and do more with less.

IT Glue – More than just IT documentation

IT Glue is a powerful documentation solution that comes packed with innovative features. IT Glue’s smart documentation capabilities can help promote efficient work by cutting down the time spent searching for information. By combining this with our network documentation platform, Network Glue, you can save time, boost productivity, increase profitability and contribute to the growth of your organization.

IT Glue’s SOC 2-compliant documentation platform features an immutable audit trail, network discovery, diagramming and more. All these features are fully integrated and linked with all your documentation. All these features can help you do more with less.

Check out this case study of Bell’s Brewery to understand how IT Glue can use a similar approach to consolidate, automate and streamline the workflows of your IT department.

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