You might have heard someone saying in the company about “nobody is reading the documentation,” so why bother? People who have spent their days and nights creating technical documents may hear this a lot, and some would say an irony that it’s always nice to listen to others summing up your life’s work in five words.
Generally, no one in their right mind would drink their favorite coffee, sit on a comfortable chair, and read a lot of technical manuals from start to finish. They don’t even bother to glance at the words of their company’s server rack, even for fun. No one reads the documents until they need them.
However, while you’re operating your business, know that the network documentation will be a vital part of your organization. You can read more about a documentation on this site. This is a resource that will offer much value to you, and here’s why.
About the Documentation of the Network
Network documents are records of user-profiles, servers, software, hardware, data, and directory structures. The documentation is a technical record that tells everyone how everything is integrated into the system and the way they operate.
They include information that will help professionals and IT administrators troubleshoot problems and ensure that things will run smoothly. The data can be in any format that you want, including visuals, diagrams, and words that will help the non-technical employees understand more about the concepts presented on screen.
What will matter is that the information will be accessible to everyone, and people can refer to it at any time. This is why the network documentation software is a vital part of your IT infrastructure. Some will let you create diagrams, visualize the current state of the network, and allow you to explain various technicalities without any problems.
Why Install a Network Documentation?
You might want to imagine the following scenario to understand the software better:
The best company in your area has accepted you to be the head of the IT department because the previous employee left to open his own business. When you’re just starting, you will meet with the manager, who will introduce you to various job roles and responsibilities that the job entails.
The predecessors have already done most of the groundwork, and there are orders for new software and servers for the entire infrastructure. You’re expected to implement the changes and complete the new orders quickly.
Back in the office, you’re essentially looking for the documentation to start working and understand the current setup of the network. The problem is that the previous employee didn’t leave complete documentation about what they did and what you need to do next. There are just a few notes strewn here and there, and they don’t make sense. No IT plan is in place, there’s nothing about the description of the current architecture and resources, and you won’t find anything that will justify the request for the new software or hardware.
As a result, the new hires will take more than four months to draw up the plans from scratch, figure out the current setup and plan the new software that’s coming up. Everything might have changed if the predecessor had left infrastructure documentation for everybody to follow. It’s important because:
- Properly written notes arranged in order and logged into the software will help save time and avoid further research to repair any recurring issues.
- When everything is documented correctly and found in a single place, everyone will tend to follow the same procedures and processes. There will be consistencies across the entire network to reduce errors and problems.
- No one loses any crucial information when an employee decides to resign and leave the business.
- Proper documentation will help the newly onboarded people to get to work, and the new hires will know what to do.
- It’s possible to troubleshoot everything much faster when the problems start to come up.
What Should You Take Note Of?
Proper note-taking should be created as one begins to work on various tasks on a daily basis. Don’t wait until everything is done before you take notes. Make the documentation process a habit, and don’t try to remember everything later on so you wouldn’t forget anything. Learn more on how to do things right on this website: https://medium.com/swlh/documenting-everything-how-do-you-do-it-and-whats-the-point-10adcf050acd.
The goal is to ensure that the company will have more than enough knowledge of how the network was created, how it is going, and future needs. The notes are vital for upgrading, maintenance, and repairs, especially if it’s going to be done by another person.
It’s essential to seek the input of the IT team, various department heads, and network administrators for documentation. This way, everyone knows what’s going on, they are contributing to the security and transparency of the operations, and the system will stay in excellent working order. There’s software for this that you might also want to check out to make things easier for you.
