Value Good Documentation
The first and most important tip for better documentation is simply learning to value good documentation. With good documentation, you can fix and respond to clients faster and more efficiently than ever before. With poor documentation, customer satisfaction will go down and it will be harder to onboard new techs.
Hide Old and Unused Documentation
Archive Assets and Knowledge Base Articles, and these will be placed out of search and the rest of your documentation. Don’t clutter your documentation!
But, don’t permanently get rid of IT Documentation
With the first point being said, don’t permanently get rid of documentation! Just because an Asset is inactive now, doesn’t mean circumstances won’t change, and you will be left empty-handed. Use the Permanent Delete button cautiously and seldomly.
Use Unique & Descriptive Names for All Assets
Assets should be named uniquely and descriptively in order to make searching and organizing as simple as possible. We provide a warning when you are creating an asset with the same name as an existing Asset.
Make Asset Layouts as Rigid in Structure as Possible
The more flexibility you allow in users adding/editing documentation, the more the quality of your documentation will change. Don’t worry about picking the absolute correct structure of your assets on the first try.
Integration-First Documentation
Believe in the Single Source of Truth Philosophy. Documentation should serve as an up-to-date reference, but if another service is the primary interactor with data, then data should stay there, and documentation should serve as a reference.
Use Flags to Mark Documentation that Needs Improvement
Work gradually towards better documentation by marking assets/articles that need more help. We recommend at least having the following flags:
- Outdated/Partially Outdated
- Contains Plaintext Passwords
- Needs Better Name
- Duplicate Information
Extract General Information to Knowledge Base Articles
Finding yourself repeating the same how-to information again and again for multiple companies? Move this information in to Knowledge Base Articles that you then can attach to individual Assets as Related Items.
Stop Abusing General Assets
Sticking assets into “Passwords” and “Documents” is a common occurrence, but it leads to documentation being hard to find. Instead, place Assets like Passwords in the Asset that requires the password the most. So, instead of sticking John’s Doe’s password in Passwords, you would stick John’s Doe’s password in Contacts.
