Key Performance Indicators (KPI) are used by many organizations to determine if goals are on track — and, if not, how far off course they are. If you need to make the case to the bosses upstairs, here are some of the KPIs that network documentation impacts:
- Mean-time-to-repair: network documentation helps you resolve issues far more quickly than if you’re troubleshooting in the dark. With network documentation, your team can meet your KPIs around the time it takes to resolve issues.
- Network Uptime: when you have the insights you need to prevent issues and resolve them quickly when they do happen, you can greatly improve network uptime by reducing the severity and amount of incidents.
- Security: network documentation gives you the ability to truly secure the network. You can’t manage what you don’t know…and you can’t secure your network if you don’t truly know where all the entrances and exits are (let alone any shadow IT that’s lurking on the network).
- Budget: network documentation helps you keep things right-sized, avoid penalties, reduce overtime, and even reduce power expenditures.
In sum, network documentation is a mix of visual and written depictions of the network that give IT teams the information they need to proactively avoid network issues, and, when they do pop up, quickly respond to and fix them. Good network documentation is not creatively using free or existing tools to make a DIY-system for documentation: good documentation is real-time, reliable, and easy to keep current. Not having network documentation leads to big headaches that slow down productivity and which can even lead to a loss of reputation (in addition to any monetary losses). Finally, network documentation’s impact is measurable.