Providing information to management has always been an important task for IT managers. But in the past, the flow of information was usually triggered from “above” and at different time intervals; today, regular status reports are required in many areas. Such deadlines are also mandatory for many ISO/DIN certifications. Therefore, despite generally high workloads in IT departments, you should always find a way to take care of things in a timely and meticulous manner.
Today we show you how never again to forget sending a regular status report to management.
The changing face of IT reporting over the years
Have you been in the IT admin business for a while? Perhaps, like me, your first experience with professional IT networks was also in the early 1990s. If we think back to those, I would almost like to say, blissful times, very different problems were on the agenda than today. Internet access existed, if at all, only for the chief executive or at most for a department head. Yes, in former times such persons were still called department managers, today the designation is team leader in most cases. Even an email account was only accessible to a small group of select people.
From today’s perspective, the threats were also much smaller. But they did exist. And so were the remedies. I can still remember how we had to remove all the floppy drives from our workstations to effectively protect ourselves from hostile virus attacks. And the threat from the Internet? From what? In the early 90s, not an issue. Hackers were then still real nature boys, who cut the wood in the forest.
No matter what the “security measures” of that time had looked like. In most cases, an “Okay!” or “It’s done!” addressed to the managing director personally was sufficient as a final report. If the IT administrator and the boss were also privately on the same level, a “Don’t worry, I’ve got this covered” was also considered an acceptable status report.
The Thing About IT Responsibility
For those who now have a little smirk on their face and remember the good old days, it’s also sure to bring a tear to their eye when they think about the here and now. It’s not just that companies today are exposed to attacks from all over the world practically around the clock. It’s also that the protective measures required to keep an IT system running securely have grown into a tremendous and financially very costly undertaking.
IT security is not building a house
Well, for the most part, the dangers are well known. At the very least, it should not cause IT managers to frown when there is talk of DDOS attacks or bot networks. Or when once again the media warn of a zero day gap or critical exploit.
To ensure IT security, security measures are subject to constant change. Unlike building a house, which is completed at some point – although my colleague is currently teaching me otherwise – a private house is NEVER completed.
But an agile IT department has most hazards well under control. Reacting quickly is simply not witchcraft, but “only” requires a certain level of attention to current security issues. The consequences of this attention then lie in permanent updates, modifications, renewals or new purchases of security equipment.
The crux of change
As described above, IT departments are no longer only responsible for technical IT tasks, but also for IT security within the company. Externally, however, or for the legislator, the management is in the spotlight. And if “accidents” happen, such as a violation of the GDPR directive, then it is precisely this managing director who takes the fall.
The consequence is, of course, that management is required to provide flawless reporting at regular and relatively short intervals. The monthly IT security report, the general status report, the network overview. There are many different variants with which the IT manager may delight the management.
Creating a report on a regular basis is a demanding task. After all, the effort involved naturally takes something out of the time already taken up by daily IT tasks. But it becomes a real Sisyphean task when you have to report on a constantly changing network in relatively short periods of time. Shortly before you have all the relevant data together, something changes again.
The fully automated and always up-to-date monthly IT report
Would we stick our finger in this gaping wound if we didn’t know a better way? No, of course we wouldn’t.
For one thing, the secret lies in the fact that all network structures, devices and software statuses, including server operating systems, are recorded meticulously and with all possible information automatically in a central database. On the other hand, this data must also be always kept up to date. Also automatically and at adjustable intervals. A professional documentation software like Docusnap offers exactly that.
With this alone, you no longer have to worry about changes and documentation in the network yourself. With the integrated, customized or self-created reports, the information flow in all directions is already a breeze.
While one would think that in pandemic times, self-collection has become much more accepted, for organizational reasons other departments or supervisors would prefer to use the IT delivery service. Voilá, that’s not a problem either.
Automatic IT reporting with Docusnap
With Docusnap, you have all these options to choose from. If the IT department is required to deliver a regular IT report in a timely manner, it is easy to do so with Docusnap professional documentation software. Once set up, any reports can be sent automatically and recurrently via email to freely definable recipients. This works with individual addresses or with entire groups of recipients.
For this, only the automatic distribution must be configured. How easy and fast this is done, we show you in our short video:
Facing IT responsibilities professionally
As you can see, there is always a hard way or a better way. With Docusnap, you take the better path. Permanently less effort, but most importantly, an always up-to-date IT inventory, makes life with IT responsibilities a lot more pleasant.
If you don’t have a Docusnap in use yet, you can download a free 30-day trial from our website. And if needed, even during the free trial period, our professional support team will be happy to provide you with advice and assistance – also free of charge.
Additional information
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