Documentation and Support Systems

0:00At the heart of most IT departments is a ticketing system.

0:04That's what we work out of most of the time.

0:07And so when we log in, we see we have tickets assigned

0:09to us as IT technicians to work.

0:12So then we call up the users and we say,

0:14"Hey, I see you got this ticket.

0:15"You're not able to print this paper.

0:17"Let's take a look at what's going on."

0:18So you can see we're working out of the ticketing system.

0:21We're gonna document what we've done to solve problems.

0:24We got lots of fun times ahead of us.

0:27Let's jump in and talk about ticketing systems.

0:30Now, ticketing systems, if you've not used one before,

0:34well, it is a key part of an IT department

0:37that allows us to do some different things.

0:39It allows for users to submit support requests.

0:41And that way a ticket is generated

0:45and it has all the information that they put in the ticket.

0:48And we're gonna talk about what goes into the ticket here shortly.

0:51Now, it also provides tracking of requests.

0:56So this ticket here is a request and we can track it.

1:00We can see what the status is.

1:02So if we've got 15 people working in the IT department

1:06and somebody's working in the phones here

1:08and somebody calls in and says,

1:09"Hey, I opened a ticket."

1:11It was ticket number 36821 two days ago

1:16and it's 'cause I can't print something.

1:18So what's the status?

1:19Well, I can go into the ticketing system,

1:23pull up this ticket and look at the status.

1:25And I can also look at the notes

1:27from the technicians that have worked on this problem

1:29so I can provide an update to the user

1:32to let them know what's going on.

1:33So tracking of requests is very important.

1:35And it also is where the technicians

1:38are gonna document their work.

1:40So as I'm working on a ticket,

1:43I'm going to be documenting what I'm doing.

1:46So if we need to check the status,

1:47like when someone calls in to check on it,

1:49well, we can provide that.

1:51And then lastly, it provides for tracking of completed work.

1:56So why would we want to track this?

1:57Well, a lot of times it comes down to one word

2:00and that is metrics.

2:02We want to know the number of hours we work

2:07on giving tickets in maybe a week or a month or a quarter.

2:10But that gives us metrics there.

2:12Also, we'd like to know what are the most common tickets?

2:16Problems.

2:18So was it that we get 20% of our tickets

2:21or because of password resets

2:22or maybe users calling in and say they can't open a file

2:25or they can't get to the internet?

2:26You know, what are most common problems?

2:28That's what we want to know.

2:30Because maybe, let's say for example,

2:32if 20% of our tickets are for password resets,

2:36that is a lot.

2:38We could actually set up a self-service password reset portal

2:43that would get rid of those

2:44or at least the majority of them.

2:46So we can see, can I do something

2:48or we as an IT department could put a solution in

2:51that would take care of some of these tickets

2:53so that we wouldn't have so many.

2:55So this here, the tracking of completed work

2:58really lets us see where all of our efforts are going into.

3:01All right, super.

3:02So let's talk about this.

3:03There are different vendors of ticketing systems.

3:06Absolutely, you go out there and just Google it.

3:07You'll see there's tons of them.

3:10Now some are free and well, some you have to pay for.

3:14So a couple examples of the free.

3:17Well, Spiceworks is one.

3:19You can Google them and they actually have a conference

3:21every year down in Austin, that's fun.

3:24Zoho is another one and those are a couple of free ones,

3:27pretty popular, but there's paid ones as well.

3:30I'll throw a couple down here like solar winds

3:32is a very popular one as well as Zindesk.

3:36So these are a couple you can go out and Google

3:38if you're wanting to know some pictures,

3:41maybe screenshots and see what they look like and such.

3:43Now, the ticket system locations, this is pretty important

3:47because as an IT department, we rely on this ticketing system

3:50very heavily.

3:52So we need to consider where should our ticketing system be?

3:55Should we go with an on-premise solution?

3:59Meaning we're gonna have a server here

4:02and it could be a physical server or a virtual server,

4:04but we're going to install our ticketing app on the server.

4:09And that means that we have to manage the server.

4:12We have to manage the operating system.

4:15The patches, we have to keep our ticketing app up to date,

4:19meaning we're patching that as well.

4:21We also have to perform backups of this system

4:25so that if something happens to it,

4:26we can restore from a backup.

4:28So we have to manage that whole thing.

4:30And we wanna make sure that we have things like backup power

4:35so that if the power goes out in the building,

4:38we still have maybe a battery backup.

4:40So we'll put in here battery backup power

4:44so that we can make sure we can still access

4:46our ticketing system if the power goes out.

4:48Now, that's for on-premise.

4:49But what if we take a look at a cloud-based

4:54ticketing system solution?

4:56Something like over here.

4:58So we could actually use that ticketing app in the cloud

5:01as what we call software as a service.

5:06So we're gonna pay them generally every month

5:10for licensing to use the ticketing system in the cloud.

5:13But here's the thing, when it's in the cloud,

5:16we don't have to do any of this right here.

5:19We don't have to take care of the operating system,

5:21the backups, the patches.

5:22The cloud vendor takes care of all that for us.

5:25All we have to do is make sure we have an internet connection

5:27so that we can get out to the cloud to access that system.

5:30And the other thing is we can access

5:31that cloud system from anywhere.

5:33Now, if we have it on-premise,

5:35I have to be on-premise to access it

5:36unless I use some type of remote access technology,

5:39like a VPN, to connect to the office and then use it.

5:43So those are some things to consider

5:46when choosing a ticketing system.

5:48Now, let's talk about how users submit support requests

5:53because this user down here is in a frenzy

5:55and wants to open support requests.

5:57So how can they do this with most ticketing system?

6:00Well, with most ticketing system,

6:02they could send an email

6:05to whatever email address is set up for the system.

6:08And generally, it's gonna be like support@company.com.

6:11And it's gonna go into the system.

6:16The system will parse the email and fill out

6:18who it's from, what the problem is, the date and time,

6:22whatever it can get out of there.

6:23Now, with this, oftentimes we still have to call that person

6:28and find out some additional information

6:30about what's going on.

6:32All right, now another way that they can request support

6:36is to use a support portal.

6:40So this is going to be a webpage that they go to.

6:43And there, they're gonna have a form

6:45with all the different fields they need to fill in

6:49to generate that support request.

6:51And this is better than an email

6:53because this is where the user's gonna input the information

6:56into the forms, we're not relying on a system

6:59to parse that out of an email.

7:01However, the system are getting really good

7:02at doing the parsing. (laughs)

7:04So the other way is, well, they're gonna call the help desk

7:09and they're gonna say, "Hey, I need to open a support ticket."

7:13And so then the IT technician is gonna basically

7:16probably go to the support portal

7:18and fill that information in and create a new ticket.

7:21So those are three different ways that users can submit

7:24support requests when using a ticketing system.

7:27Now, let's talk about ticket content.

7:29What goes in to a support ticket?

7:34That is a great question.

7:35Well, we're gonna have the requester's information.

7:38Gotta have that.

7:39Otherwise, we're not gonna know who submitted it.

7:41So we're gonna want a name of who is requesting this,

7:44probably a phone number so we can contact them

7:48and email address so we can email them.

7:51Or actually the system will email updates to them,

7:54which is great.

7:55Location is a good thing to put in there.

7:58Where are they located at?

7:59Are they on the third floor and Office 306?

8:02Or are they in another building as part of the campus?

8:05They could be anywhere.

8:07So it's very helpful to know where they're at.

8:10All right, so that's some good information

8:11about the requester.

8:12But we also need information about the device

8:15they're having problems with.

8:16So maybe there is an asset tag ID number

8:21that they can provide.

8:23Or a lot of times on the screens,

8:26we will in IT push out settings

8:28that actually when the user has their screen here,

8:31it'll put the host name up here in the top right

8:35or maybe bottom right.

8:37It'll put some information there.

8:38So we might be able to get the host name of the device.

8:42So that would be very handy.

8:44Also, a user description of the device.

8:48So they might say, well, it's a Dell, Latitude,

8:51such and such or whatever it might be

8:52because it says it right there on the device.

8:55But generally an asset tag is gonna be super handy

8:58to help us identify the exact device.

9:01Now, we also need a description of the problem.

9:04(laughs)

9:05And well, that's pretty self explanatory.

9:08Tell us what the problem is.

9:10Is it a password?

9:12Is it printing?

9:14Is it permissions?

9:16You know, what is the problem they're having?

9:18And then we'll work to fix that.

9:20All right, super.

9:21Now, there's some more ticket content that we need.

9:24Yes, absolutely.

9:26And here's we're gonna focus on things like a category.

9:29So when the user is submitting their quest,

9:32oftentimes we'll have a dropdown

9:34where they can select different categories.

9:36Things like forgotten password. (laughs)

9:40So common, absolutely common.

9:42Unable to access a file.

9:44Or maybe unable to print.

9:47Or could be slowness, just general slowness,

9:50or computer slow.

9:51So we're gonna have categories most likely

9:53that they're gonna be able to select from then.

9:56They're gonna need to select a severity.

9:59So how severe is this issue?

10:01Is it, we can go low, is it medium, is it high?

10:06Maybe it's critical.

10:08But it's gonna be based on the impact

10:12that this problem has on that user's ability to work.

10:15So if they're not able to work at all,

10:18it's probably gonna be critical.

10:20But if it's just that they can't, let's say, print one thing,

10:23well, that's gonna be kind of low.

10:25And this allows us, this severity here,

10:27allows us to prioritize, and that's key here.

10:31We use this to help prioritize

10:33what tickets to work on first.

10:35Because we're gonna look at the critical ones first.

10:37Once we get those taken care of,

10:38we'll go take a look at the high,

10:39and then the medium, and then the low.

10:42So this is very important to help us prioritize

10:45which tickets we work on first.

10:47And then lastly, escalation levels.

10:50Now this is going to be for the IT persons, the IT techs.

10:56So when you are assigned a ticket,

10:59and you go and you work on it,

11:00you might realize, you know what?

11:01This is a problem with the network.

11:05So I need to escalate this to the network team.

11:07So this way you have an option to go ahead

11:11and escalate that and get it to the right people

11:15to get the problem resolved.

11:17So IT escalating to another team.

11:21And escalation is a good thing,

11:24because it allows us to get that ticket

11:27into the right team's hand so it can be solved quicker.

11:30So there's nothing wrong with escalating ticket.

11:32Just because you don't know how to do something,

11:33don't be ashamed and try to hide it.

11:36Absolutely not.

11:37Escalation is there to help us

11:39because we all work at different levels in IT.

11:42And this just allows us to improve our users experience

11:47because we get to fix their problems faster.

0:00Alright, super. Now we're going to talk about clear, concise, written

0:05communications, clear,

0:07and concise. Those are very important because we need to be able to understand

0:13what has

0:14been documented. And if we don't document properly, we just put in a little

0:18quick jargon

0:19notes, then it's going to be hard for other people to understand. So when it

0:23comes to

0:24the issues, description, you need to include all the pertinent information

0:29clearly, avoid

0:31using technical jargon. And that's because you might call something one thing

0:36and someone

0:37else in IT calls it something different. And if you just call it what it is and

0:42just be

0:43very clear and concise with what you're recording, it's just going to make it

0:48easier as we,

0:49well, escalate tickets, because it's going from us here to another group or

0:57team over

0:58here. And if we have documented clearly and concisely, they're going to be able

1:02to understand

1:03it and not have to call us and ask questions, they're just going to be able to

1:06get right

1:07to the problem. It's just going to be faster all the way around. We also need

1:11to include

1:12progress notes in our ticket. So as we're working on a ticket, what I like to

1:17do is

1:17keep the ticket open. So I open up the ticket and this is the notes area where

1:22you're going

1:22to put in your notes or your time entries. And I like to just say, you know, I

1:27started

1:27with this and that didn't work. So then I tried this and that didn't work. So

1:35then

1:35I tried this. Oh, and that fixed the issue. But the idea here is I've already

1:44documented

1:44this as I'm working. So I don't have to try to go back afterwards and remember

1:48what I

1:48did and fill in the ticket notes. It's just easier if you have it open and you

1:52're recording

1:53it as you're doing the work. Again, clear and concise communications. And then

1:58finally,

1:58our issue resolution is our final phase before we get to close the tickets. And

2:02you need

2:03to make sure you explain this clearly. And it's super important because yes,

2:10this is

2:10a closed ticket. So why is it so important? I clearly explain the resolution

2:15because I,

2:17as a new person, might come in and get assigned a ticket. And it's for this

2:21user and they're

2:21having this problem. Well, I can go and look at the history of this user and I

2:25see, oh,

2:26they had this problem, you know, eight months ago, and it was solved by Rick.

2:31So I go on

2:32and pull up the ticket. And you know what, the issue resolution is not very

2:37clear. So

2:38at that point, I have to go and I have to talk to Rick and figure out what he

2:43did. But if

2:43he had clearly explained that in the ticket, I could just simply go and look at

2:48the ticket,

2:49see what the resolution was, and then go ahead and see if that won't fix it

2:53again. So these

2:54tickets can actually be used as historical reference to help figure out how to

2:59fix problems.

3:00All right, let's take a look at a sample ticket real quick. This is just a

3:03screenshot

3:04of a ticketing system. And you'll see here, we have a contact. So that's the

3:08person's name,

3:09you're probably going to have a company directory, they're going to get to

3:12select their name out

3:13of there. Then they can say what is related to provide any type of summary, a

3:18description.

3:19And this here is the technician, the tickets assigned to now generally the

3:24users when they

3:25create this ticket, they're not going to get this option. But they can add CC

3:30users, a due date,

3:32a due time priority. This, yeah, the users, we're going to take a look at that

3:37priority and set

3:38that helps us to prioritize what's going on. And then here's that category,

3:41like reset password,

3:43email, all these things. And then there could be custom things like store,

3:47maybe this is actually

3:49for a company that sells goods. And they have store numbers and they're located

3:53all over the

3:54eastern seaboard or something. So they would put their store number in here and

3:58it helps them to

3:59identify the location. That's what that's for, of that user. All right, super.

4:05And then they

4:05could attach a screenshot or something. But this is just the idea of a simple

4:09ticket where a user

4:10would go to the support portal and fill this out to request support. So that is

4:15ticketing systems.

0:00As a company, we have lots of various assets, and they have different levels of

0:05value.

0:06Some are very expensive, some aren't so expensive, however, as a company we're

0:10responsible for

0:12tracking our assets, making sure we know where they're at and who's using them,

0:17because

0:17we're responsible for them.

0:19Assets bring value to a company's worth, so let's jump in and talk about asset

0:24management.

0:25So why do we manage assets?

0:28That is the question.

0:29Well, it's because when we purchase as a company an asset, that brings value to

0:34the company.

0:37And they are used to calculate a company's worth.

0:42So when a company is being evaluated for their worth, there are lots of things

0:46that go into

0:47it, but part of it, well, is the assets, the value of the assets that they have

0:52, what

0:52we call on the book.

0:54And I say on the books, what that refers to is accounting, if you're not

0:58familiar with

0:59it.

1:00And it's because when we buy a new asset, it goes into a ledger, an accounting

1:06ledger,

1:07and this basically is going to have your value of your assets.

1:13And over time, that value is going to diminish.

1:16So it starts out being this much, and over time, it goes down.

1:20It is what's called depreciated.

1:23And eventually, it's going to be zero.

1:26And it's at that point that it's not bringing worth to the organization anymore

1:31.

1:31Now it is bringing value because we're using it and we're getting services from

1:37it.

1:37Maybe it's a piece of software or something, but it no longer adds to the worth

1:42of the company,

1:43meaning the bottom line value of the company.

1:46Now managing assets also helps us to know what we have.

1:50Okay?

1:51So that we have a big list of what we have, but it also helps us to identify

1:58older equipment.

2:00And it's then we can use that information to help us plan and forecast for

2:05replacing

2:06older hardware.

2:07So many companies will replace computers or laptops every five years, or maybe

2:12it's four

2:13years, just depends on what it is.

2:15So this having an asset management system will allow us to identify the older

2:20equipment

2:21that needs to be replaced.

2:22That way we can forecast it, we can make sure we have money in the budget for

2:26that replacement,

2:27as well as making sure we have enough personnel to perform the replacements.

2:31All right.

2:32So now that we know why it's important that we track assets, what are assets?

2:38It's a pretty straight question because some people might think something is an

2:42asset,

2:43but something's not.

2:44The question is, is it bringing worth to the company?

2:47Now let's talk about furniture.

2:49Really?

2:50Furniture?

2:51Yes.

2:52Furniture can be very expensive.

2:54When you think about the desks and chairs, chairs, have you gone shopping for

2:59office chairs

2:59lately?

3:00Goodness gracious.

3:01They can be expensive.

3:04So those are just a couple examples of furniture, IT hardware, if that's a big

3:10one.

3:11So when we think about IT hardware, we think about, we'll put PCs or could be

3:17phones, voice

3:18over IP, phones, routers, could be servers, switches, wireless access points

3:25and the list

3:26goes on and on and on.

3:27I'm going to put software down here, software.

3:30If you're buying the license and now we're going to talk about the difference

3:34in what

3:34we call CapEx versus OpEx, we're going to get into that.

3:37Don't worry about it.

3:38It's not really confusing how it's super easy to understand, but software and

3:42that is dependent

3:43on it being a capital expenditure.

3:47We'll talk about what that means here shortly, but basically, you're just

3:50outright buying

3:51it.

3:52You're not going to lease it.

3:53You're not paying a payment on it.

3:54You're buying it.

3:55So that would then get added as asset.

3:58So that kind of gets you a good idea of what we're talking about when we talk

4:01about assets.

4:02So an asset management system, if you're a smaller company, you might just use

4:09a Excel

4:09spreadsheet and track your assets in there.

4:13So that's absolutely fine, totally acceptable, or if you're a larger company

4:18with lots of

4:19assets, then you're probably going to invest in an asset management system.

4:24And this is a great way to manage IT hardware and software because they can use

4:28an agent

4:28that we install on every computer and server.

4:32And that collects all the resource information about those computers.

4:36So if you can imagine, if we've got a thousand computers out there and we've

4:41got, say, fifty

4:42servers with this asset management system, I can install a little piece of

4:46software called

4:47an agent on all of these.

4:50And then it will report into the system and fill out all the information about

4:56these devices.

4:57So vendor, it's going to be filled in for you.

5:01Talk about make and model, OS version, your operating system, patches that are

5:06installed,

5:08software that's installed, the memory installed and used, as well as the CPU

5:15and used and storage.

5:17It's going to report all of this stuff and put use as well.

5:21How much storage is used?

5:22How much free space is on the hard drive?

5:24All of this stuff is brought in by this asset management system agent and it is

5:28wonderful.

5:29And it puts it in a database and it's called a configuration management

5:35database or a

5:36CMDB.

5:38And that way, we have all that wonderful information that we can use to manage

5:43our assets.

5:45All right.

5:46And well, you know what?

5:47I almost forgot something that should be in here.

5:48How about serial number?

5:50Yes.

5:51There we go.

5:52Almost forgot that one.

5:53Pretty important.

5:54It helps us to identify the exact device because they have unique serial

5:57numbers.

5:58Well, hopefully they do.

6:00So these are great for helping IT plan for upgrades.

6:03As I mentioned, we're going to do forecasting because we're going to have the

6:06end of life

6:07operating systems.

6:08So when server 2022 goes into life, we've got to make sure we're replacing it

6:12with the

6:12updated version again with our PCs and we're dealing with Windows 11 and end of

6:17life.

6:17We're going to have to plan on replacing it.

6:19Well, how do we know what servers or what workstations are going into life?

6:23Well, we can use our configuration management database.

6:26We can do a query or, well, a search for all Windows 11 devices.

6:31It's going to give a big, big old list here.

6:33So now we have a list of the devices that we're going to need to replace before

6:37that

6:37operating systems are end of life.

6:39And this is all part of the procurement lifecycle.

6:44And we're going to talk about that just a little bit later.

6:47All right.

6:48So just kind of putting that in there is planting a seed.

6:51All right.

6:52Fun.

6:53Let's move on.

6:54Inventory list.

6:57Now for smaller companies, and that's what I'll put in here, I'll put smaller

7:01organizations

7:03might use an inventory list.

7:04They're not going to use the configuration management database or an asset

7:08management

7:08system because you do have to pay for those.

7:10There can be very costly or you can find less expensive ones as well.

7:15Just depends on your needs, but we might just use an inventory list.

7:19And again, that might be a spreadsheet.

7:21That's all it has to be.

7:22But what are we going to put in this spreadsheet?

7:24We're going to need some type of asset ID number that could be from an asset

7:31tag that

7:32we use or could be the serial number of the device.

7:35Okay.

7:36It just needs to be a unique number.

7:38We also need a description of whatever it is.

7:41So maybe the vendor and make a model of the device that would be very handy.

7:46How about a purchase value?

7:49Yes, the dollar sign associated with that.

7:52And that's very important because it's part of asset management.

7:56And we also need warranty or support information because maybe we purchase a

8:01support contract

8:02for whatever this is.

8:03And we need to know that so that if we need help, we can contact support.

8:08We'll need to know the assigned user and the assigned user is who is assigned

8:16this asset.

8:17So maybe Sally is getting a new laptop.

8:20And so they're we're assigning this laptop to Sally.

8:22That way we know who is responsible for that device.

8:26And then lastly, the location of whatever that asset is.

8:30All right.

8:31So again, could be in a certain building.

8:33It could be an office number, it could be a floor, all those things.

8:37We just need to know where is that asset located?

8:42All right, super.

8:44Now I mentioned the use of an asset tag.

8:46And that's because lots of things don't have a serial number.

8:50Now, our computers and our servers and our access points and our network

8:53equipment all

8:53have serial numbers.

8:54And we can use that as a unique identifier.

8:57But if we're using asset tags for things like furniture that doesn't have a

9:01serial number

9:02or software, that's another thing that really doesn't have a serial number on

9:07it.

9:07Then we can use asset tags and they'll have barcodes on them and these numbers.

9:13And this is what we will use.

9:14Let me go back one slide here as our asset ID, we would use the asset tag ID.

9:21But you can also use serial numbers.

9:22However, if you're going to use asset tags, you might as well just use them on

9:26everything.

9:27That way it's the same across the board.

9:30But asset tags are definitely very popular.

0:00All right, cool. Let's go ahead and start talking about the procurement life

0:03cycle. I mentioned this earlier and it is the life cycle

0:07It's from where we decide we need something to where we don't need it anymore

0:12And we have to get rid of it and retire it

0:14So this procurement life cycle starts with identifying a need

0:18so this need is for an asset is it is or maybe it's a service or something but

0:24we need something and

0:26How do we know we need something? Well the answer to that is

0:31does it

0:33solve a

0:35problem that's how we know if we need something or not if

0:38We're just buy it because it would be fun to have that's not solving a problem

0:43So we don't really need it. Okay, so once we decide we need this whether it's

0:48an asset or a service or whatever it is

0:49Then we need to get a quote. Okay, so get a quote that way

0:54We know what it's going to cost us and don't forget within this quote. I've

0:58sometimes we purchase

1:00Support contracts so that we have support on these things or maybe it's

1:05actually let me change colors here

1:07It could be a subscription. So it's a subscription to office 365

1:12It's a subscription to an antivirus or an endpoint detection response solution

1:18But it's a subscription that we're paying for and we need to be sure that we

1:21include

1:22Subscriptions and contracts in the quote prize and not just the price of the

1:27asset

1:28We need the whole package the whole kit and kaboodle

1:31Alright, then we need to obtain budget approval

1:35And this is we're gonna talk about capital expenditure versus operational

1:41expenditure. So here we have cap X

1:43Versus op X. All right, this is cool. So let's talk about this. So cap X

1:50What this means is called a capital expenditure?

1:53Okay, and op X is operational expenditure. Now, what's the difference here?

2:00Well, it's really easy

2:01Capital expenditure is where you are paying all at once so you're paying the

2:07full ticket price here

2:10So think about buying a server if you bought a server here or a PC workstation

2:15you're paying for that all at once and then that goes to accounting and

2:20as an asset

2:22Meaning it's going on the books and it's bringing worth. It's adding it

2:27So put a plus sign to adding worth to the company's value

2:31All right, whereas op X think of this as payments

2:36Think of office 365 we pay them every month for X number of

2:42licenses

2:45Well, that isn't a capital expenditure. That is just the cost of doing business

2:50So it is known as an operational expenditure versus capital. That's the

2:55difference there. We're paying all at once

2:56It's a big chunk versus here. I am paying as I go. So it's like pay as you go

3:03Now does this still go to accounting? Absolutely

3:06It's just that we're not going to be tracking the asset value like we do here

3:12when we talked about accounting earlier and the idea of

3:15Assets losing value over time due to depreciation. Well, we don't have that

3:19with op X

3:20So that's the difference there. So if we go back here to our obtained budget

3:24approval

3:24Really, we're trying to see if this is gonna be a capital expenditure or an

3:28operational expenditure

3:29All right, let's move on. Here's our capex versus op X and now it's on to the

3:34procurement lifecycle continued

3:36So we're starting with payment to the vendor. So this is where we're going to

3:40cut the check

3:41We're going to pay the vendor. However, you should first

3:45receive

3:47The asset and then once you receive the asset go ahead and pay the vendor

3:53It's just making sure we get it before we pay for it

3:55Then once we have it, it's time to deploy the asset. So here we're going to

4:00need to consider, you know, the who

4:02what

4:04when

4:05how

4:07This asset is going to be

4:10deployed so we're going to end up doing some planning and there's going to be a

4:13project plan for this most likely and

4:15We're going to go through that and actually part of that would be in our ticket

4:18management system where we're managing tickets for projects

4:22All right, once we get that out there and deployed it's time to maintain the

4:26asset. So what does that mean?

4:28Well, we're going to have to install updates. We're going to have changes to

4:32the device

4:33We may have to replace hardware if there's a hardware failure, but it's the

4:38idea

4:38We're going to maintain that asset as long as we need to and then finally

4:44Once we're finished with the life cycle, the last step is going to be retire or

4:50replace

4:51So at the end of the life cycle if we no longer need that asset and we don't

4:57need the service that that asset

4:59Divides us with then we can retire it now when we retire something we need to

5:06properly

5:06Destroy that asset now

5:10Yes, you could take a sledgehammer out to an old office chair, but this is a

5:15little different why I'm bringing this up is because of

5:18Sensitive data. So when we have computers hard drives

5:25CPUs memories servers and such we're going to need to make sure that we destroy

5:29them properly so that we don't

5:30Send sensitive data to the junkyard

5:33All right, but if we're going to replace the device well guess what happens the

5:39procurement life cycle

5:40It starts over again because if we're replacing it

5:44We have to identify the need all right and then we're going to end up getting

5:47the quote and going through op-ex versus

5:50Capix and approval and paying vendor and and then deploying the device and

5:54managing device and it just starts all over again

5:58Super cool, huh? All right. Let's talk about one more thing and that's assigned

6:02users

6:03So part of our asset management is assigning a user and this is the person who

6:08's going to be

6:08Responsible for that asset. So if it's a computer if it's USB hard drive

6:15whatever it might be

6:16You're going to sign that out to the assigned user and that's going to be

6:20documented in our asset

6:23management

6:25System all right super. So well that wraps up asset management

0:00Documentation is an important part of any IT department.

0:04Documentation allows us to record what has happened so we can learn from the

0:08lessons that we've just accomplished. So looking at knowledge base articles or

0:12previous tickets that someone else has solved, it's very important not only for

0:17ticketing but for what is expected of us, how to do things. All of this

0:22documentation is important and you should be familiar with several different

0:25types. Therefore we're going to jump in and talk about some of these types of

0:28documentation. So examples of documentation that we frequently use. Think

0:34about documentation that explains how to do something because there is

0:40documentation out there on how to do things. We Google it all the time. There

0:44might be knowledge base articles or we might look at historical tickets as we

0:47had discussed before to figure out how to do something. So we document in our

0:52help desk system and this is just another name for ticketing system. If we're

0:58documenting in there, we document our assets. As we talked about managing our

1:03assets, we document company policies. So what are company policies? Let's talk

1:09about this because it's something really to understand there's policies and

1:12then

1:13we have procedures. There are two different things and policies are kind of

1:18a general guidelines on what is expected of us. So you might have a password

1:22policy which explains some guidelines as to what is expected when we choose a

1:27password or acceptable use policy. What is the acceptable use of a work

1:33computer? You know, you shouldn't visit sites that aren't allowed or those kind

1:37of things. You can't take it home. It has to stay at the office. Whatever it

1:39might

1:39be. There's going to be policies and those policies are guidelines. But then we

1:45have procedures and procedures are more of a technical how to. Okay, that's

1:52what

1:52the procedures are. They're what we're going to follow like step-by-step

1:55instructions. So we have policies. Generally, there are guidelines outlining

2:01what's expected of us and then we have procedures which outline how we can do

2:06things how to. So let's talk about some of the common types of documentation we

2:09use in IT starting off with an incident report. Now, what is an incident? An

2:16incident is an event that falls outside of what's normal. So it could be a

2:22system

2:23outage or network outage. That would definitely be an event which would

2:28generate an incident report as well as maybe a security incident. So maybe we

2:32had a malware infection. But that would also be another type of event and we

2:37would generate an incident report. So what's gonna be in this incident report

2:42anyway? Well, there's gonna be lots of things such as the date and time of the

2:48incident. Also we need a summary of what happened. That's always helpful so we

2:54know what would the source of this incident. We're also going to want to

2:59provide some information about the root cause of the event. The root cause is

3:06basically what caused this to happen. So we also need to document things like

3:11remediation. And this is going to be the steps we took to resolve the problem.

3:18Okay, that's your remediation. We're gonna want to include a severity so it

3:23could be low, medium or high. It's just gonna be up to your organization. But

3:28then

3:29also recommendations. So I'm gonna stick this one way up at the top here.

3:33Recommendations? Yes, absolutely. And this would be by the folks who are

3:38working on

3:38this incident. Recommendations would be like the next steps to take. For

3:44example,

3:44if there was a configuration change that could be implemented to prevent this

3:48event from ever happening again, well, we would want to provide that a

3:51recommendation. Say, hey, you might want to consider making this change because

3:54it

3:55would prevent this incident from ever rearing its ugly head again. So that

3:58would be like a recommendation or there might not be any recommendations. So it

4:01doesn't have to be. So this is an incident report. And again, an incident is an

4:06event that is not normal. And it could be a security incident or it could be

4:11something else like a general outage. All right, next standard operating

4:15procedures or SOPs. I like to these are step by step guides for how to do

4:24something. Now, some of the things you might do with an SOP is maybe setting up

4:29a new laptop. So for example, part of this is using a certain naming convention

4:35.

4:35When you name the laptop, you join it to the domain or to the network. Maybe

4:39you

4:39install patches and install software for the user. All this would be in the SOP

4:46or

4:46standard operating procedures for setting up a new laptop or creating a new

4:51user

4:51account. Yep, we definitely have an SOP for that or maybe another example here

4:56is performing a data backup. But the idea is these procedures, remember the

5:01procedures are the how to guides for how to do something. So these are standard

5:07operating procedures or SOPs. And you'll have them for all kinds of different

5:11things. Okay, now that also kind of leads into a checklist. So there are like

5:17employee onboarding checklist. And then if I scroll down one more, we have the

5:21employee offboarding checklist. Let's talk about these. Now these are not

5:25necessarily standard operating procedures themselves, but they would be in the

5:30SOP for in this instance, onboarding a new employee. We could have an SOP and

5:36in

5:36there would be a checklist like this so that we could say, well, HR is going to

5:40,

5:41as we read through here, gather the new employee information and request that

5:44IT

5:45create an account for this new user. So once we've done that, check, we're done

5:48.

5:49So then IT is going to create the count and assign appropriate permissions.

5:53Okay,

5:54we did that one, check. All right, what's next? Well, the new employee has to

5:58read

5:58company policies and sign to acknowledge them. All right, that way they know

6:03what

6:03the company policies are. Remember, the policies are how we'd go about doing

6:07things, what's expected of us. So there you go. And then next up,

6:12employee is issued equipment and asset inventory is updated. Because, remember,

6:17once we assign someone a laptop or device or an asset or something, they are

6:24the assigned user for that. So check. All right, and then what's the last thing

6:28we

6:28do with the employee onboarding? We make sure the new employee can log in for

6:32the

6:32first time and begin working. It doesn't need any more assistance. So then,

6:37check.

6:37So this is like an example of an employee onboarding checklist. But what

6:41happens when that employee leaves? Well, we go through the offboarding

6:44checklist.

6:44So here we're looking at HR identifies and employees leaving. So the employee

6:48is

6:48going to tender the resignation or, well, they might be let go the other way

6:53around. Okay. So once that's identified, HR informs IT so they can disable the

6:58employee's account because that account, we don't want that employee to be able

7:02to

7:02use it anymore. Once IT has done that, check. All right, super. So next IT

7:07provides

7:07HR with a list of equipment issued to the employee. All right, so IT is going

7:11to

7:11let the HR folks know what equipment they need to collect. And then HR is

7:15going to receive or collect that employee's equipment. So we put it back

7:18into inventory. And that's the next step. Asset inventory is updated to reflect

7:23that the asset is back in inventory and no longer is assigned to that user. So

7:28that's kind of an employee offboarding checklist. So that again is more

7:32documentation. All right, what are some other types of documentation we might

7:36use?

7:37Well, SLAs service level agreement. Now we have these internally and internally

7:44means within our organization. Okay, so it's internal. But then there's also

7:49external and third party SLAs. Now these are going to be different. So let's

7:53talk

7:53about our internal SLA agreements to start with. So these are within our

7:57organization and they're used to define performance expectations. Now, what

8:02would

8:02these expectations be when it comes to performance? Well, it could be that we

8:07respond to tickets within 24 hours. Okay, it could be that. That could

8:14definitely

8:14be an internal SLA performance expectation for our organization. It could be

8:20something else. It could be we expect an uptime of 99.99%. Okay, that means

8:28that

8:28our IT services are available 99.99% of the time. Okay, so that's internal. So

8:36again, let's just drop back for a second and talk about SLAs in general. Now in

8:41general, an SLA is going to define performance expectations. Okay, we know

8:47that. But when they're internal, it's simply stating expectations and allows

8:52us to measure performance. So this way we can see if we're meeting these SLAs.

8:57And

8:57this way we can make sure that we are meeting these expectations. Now when it

9:01comes to a third party, this is a whole different ballgame. These are actually

9:06illegally binding document. So for example, when you sign up for cloud

9:12services, there's going to be an SLA associated with that. And it's going to be

9:18outlining expectations. And you as a company are going to look at this and say,

9:23"Well, I need this type of SLA. I need you to meet these requirements," meaning

9:27maybe 99.999% uptime. That's what I have to have. Also, I have to have access

9:35to

9:36support 24 by 7. And when I call support, I need a response within 30 minutes,

9:45something like that. So what we're doing is defining what are our expectations

9:50from this service provider. And a lot of times it's around uptime and support.

9:55That's a big ones there. So this though, remember this is legally binding. So

10:01if

10:01they're not meeting the SLA requirements, then you as a customer can say, "Hey,

10:07you

10:07have broken the SLA. You're not meeting it." So therefore you've broken our

10:11agreement and we're going to take our business elsewhere. Or it can be used to

10:15kind of negotiate how much they're paying for services since SLAs aren't

10:19being met. All right. So those are service level agreements moving on.

10:23Knowledge-based articles. These are awesome. We all use these. We might Google

10:28them

10:28online, but a lot of organizations will have an internal knowledge-based system

10:35so that you can enter information into it. So when we figure out how to do

10:39something, let's say X, well then we put an entry in the KB about how to do X.

10:46And

10:46these are generated by the internal technicians. These are great. These also

10:51provide us how to do something. What else did that? Well, remember our

10:56procedures.

10:56The procedures helped us to know what we're supposed to do, like our standard

11:01operating procedures, SOPs. Now the thing about procedures, these are much more

11:06formal than knowledge-based articles. So these are kind of a formalized how to,

11:11whereas a KB or a knowledge-based article is pretty informal. Now you do

11:16need to clearly explain everything, of course, but it's much less formal. So

11:22when you implement a KB or knowledge-based, when you're creating your articles,

11:27what

11:27are you going to put in them? Well, you're going to need a title, okay, so that

11:31we

11:31have some information right off the bat as to what this relates to. And it

11:36could

11:36be, let's say, restore deleted email because people delete emails all the time

11:43and realize that they did and need them restored. So that could be your title.

11:46And

11:46then after that, you're gonna have your symptoms, okay, and that's basically

11:50going

11:51to say, you know, user-related email and needs it restored. Then we're going to

11:56have a solution. This is where the money's at right here, the solution. So this

12:00is

12:00going to be our how-to. That's what we're looking for. And then we're gonna

12:05have a

12:05date just so we can see how old the solution is, kind of some reference, and

12:09the author. Why do we need the author in here? Because if I read this and I

12:15have a

12:15question about it, who am I gonna ask? Well, I'm gonna ask the author that too.

12:19All right, so this is the idea of using knowledge-based as another type of

12:22documentation.

0:00Okay, then we have company policies and we've talked about the company policies

0:03. These define what is expected of employees

0:06And what do I mean by what is expected because your boss is gonna say hey

0:11We need you to be at work every day from eight to five and you're this is your

0:14job kind of thing, right?

0:15We know that but this is for other things lots of different things

0:18You can have policies on anything. There could be a vacation

0:22Policy and this simply would have information in and about you know, you have

0:28to request

0:29Your vacation two weeks in advance of the date

0:34So that could be a line in there and it would also

0:37employees can use three days of

0:42Future vacation. So what they can do is we should call it go in the hole you go

0:46negative on your vacation days

0:48That might be an option especially around the holidays

0:51So this would be something in the vacation policy

0:55So this is very administrative like when we're talking about policies, but

0:59there's also other policies too like an a acceptable use policy

1:03This is an AUP

1:06Now this outlines what is acceptable use when you're using company technology

1:13So it's gonna cover your computers and what you can and can't do your cell

1:17phones tablets all that stuff

1:19Whether it has to stay at the office or you can't leave it in your car because

1:23it might be stolen all these things

1:25It's gonna outline all the things about the use of electronics in the company

1:31So again, this is defining what it's expected of the employees

1:34And this is why it's so important that remember we looked at that employee

1:39onboarding and when we're onboarding an employee part of it was to

1:44review policies and then actually sign and acknowledge those policies because

1:50it's important that all employees follow all the company policies

1:54Make sure everybody's on the same page

1:56Alright, cool. Let's talk about regulatory and compliance policies now

2:02regulatory and compliance. This simply means rules you have to follow

2:05And by you I really mean your organization or your company rules that your

2:11company has to follow and it just depends on

2:14What type of data your company handles and also what type of industry they're

2:20in and here's five of them right here

2:22And where you don't have to memorize these by any means

2:24But it wouldn't hurt because you're gonna see these a lot in IT

2:28So the first one's HIPAA. This is the health insurance portability and

2:33accountability act and what this does this regulates?

2:35How patient information is secured? So here we're looking at patient data

2:41And that's what this is all about protecting patient data and it's just not

2:45paperwork data and digital data

2:47It's about talking and you can't be in a hallway talking about a certain

2:51patient and say their name and something else and all about them

2:55Because people can walk by and hear that. That's another part of this. So it's

2:59not just the data itself as in

3:01Files on a system, but all of that data. So who do you think would have to be

3:07compliant with HIPAA?

3:09Well, obviously hospitals

3:12Yes, but also clinics sure they have patients as well. Think about this though

3:16like eye doctors dentists all of them also

3:19insurance company

3:22If it's dealing with health insurance, then there's going to be patient data

3:26involved in there

3:27So yeah insurance companies and when put here service providers

3:31So if let's say this hospital outsource as part of its IT to an IT service

3:36provider and that service provider has access to

3:39their network and infrastructure then that IT service provider also has to

3:43follow HIPAA rules

3:44Okay, so it's everybody who has access to that information. So another one is

3:49down here. It's changed colors

3:51PCI DSS and this is all about

3:54credit card

3:57data

3:58Okay, so we're talking about credit card holder information the information

4:01about the person has a credit card the credit card itself type of information

4:05So anybody who deals with credit cards has to be somewhat compliant with PCI D

4:10SS

4:10I say somewhat compliant because there's different levels of compliance

4:13depending on what type of data you're actually dealing with

4:16So if you're talking about credit cards and compliance rules well PCI DSS

4:21Then we have right here

4:23Sarbanes Oxley or Socks for sure now socks regulates how publicly traded

4:29companies maintain their

4:30Financial records and the protection of it. So public companies

4:35financial information and the protection of that information

4:39So that's what this deals with and each one of these actually has like a

4:43checklist of all the things that you have to do in order to be

4:46compliant and a lot of them overlap

4:49But a lot of them also have very unique requirements now another one is FERPA

4:55Like it sounds funny FERPA. It's the family educational right and privacy act

5:01So this is about the handling and protection of student records

5:05So that's things like grade cards. So grades

5:09Also could be medical information that's in the patient's record. So there's

5:14also personal information in there and also

5:18disciplinary actions. So it's all of these things that fall under FERPA and any

5:23type of educational facility will have to comply with this

5:26All right down to the last one GLBA is the Grammys Bily Act and this applies to

5:32financial institutions

5:33that provide services and

5:37I say this because many banks also do other things in financial institutions.

5:42They might sell insurance or something like that

5:44Well, it's the idea. They have to protect the customer's data. That's what it's

5:49about protecting customer data

5:51And that is the GLBA Grammys Bily Act. So we had HIPAA over here, then we had

5:58PCI DSS

5:59Socks FERPA and GLBA. All right, that's pretty cool. All right

6:05Let's go ahead and wrap this up with network topologies and a topology is a map

6:10That's all it is. It's a network map, but you can do these a couple different

6:14ways. So

6:15You might have a layout of a network like we see here before us a couple

6:20different examples or you might have something dealing with like

6:23topology of an application. So maybe you have here a

6:27User interface like a portal here. So you'll see the portal there. You'll have

6:33like a user over here connecting to the portal

6:36This goes through our firewall. So we have rules in the firewall, then that

6:42goes to maybe a load balancing device

6:44And then that goes to a set of web servers down here and the connection. So

6:50here this would be for an

6:51Application so some type of application that we have in our company and this

6:55would be a topology showing how this application works

6:59But we also have network topologies, which we have here

7:03So you might have app you might have network, but basically a topology is just

7:06a map of what's going on

7:07It's just that simple, but we might have a physical topology

7:11So this one down here at the bottom is a physical topology

7:16We have physical representation of the devices including names IP addresses

7:22network information all that

7:24But then we could also have a logical

7:28Topology and that's more like this is how things are laid out, but it's not

7:32super detailed

7:33So the key takeaway from this slide here is understanding what a topology is

7:38and it's just a map of a network

7:40But this is a super important piece of documentation as a network engineer

7:45This is awesome

7:47This is a goldmine of information when it comes to finding out what's happening

7:51Understanding the layout of things and being able to properly troubleshoot when

7:55there's a problem

7:56So this has been several different types of documentation that you should be

8:00familiar with