Apalytics’ Principal Analyst Robert Booth discusses the role accurate documentation plays in preventing Network/System crises. Booth says that automated tools can greatly reduce the pain inherent in the creation and maintenance of the documentation used in the Crisis Avoidance process, and he explains why adding one more tool just might be a good idea.

Firefighters implement a proactive approach to solving problems. They don’t ask if a fire will happen; rather, they ask themselves what they need to do when a fire breaks-out. Many times, technology professionals run around responding to what are affectionately referred to as “fire drills”. We put out “brush fires;” we deal with problems reactively. And that’s because most organizations have neither the processes in place nor the documentation necessary to take a proactive approach to problem resolution….

Just as the firefighters don’t engage a fire without the requisite background information, we must not tackle network problems without proper and accurate documentation…. However, acquiring the documentation necessary to the critical problem resolution process is a daunting task. Manual documentation of complex systems can take months, if not years. Fortunately, you now have tools at your disposal to complete most of these tasks….

The Rapid Network Rendering tool distills the information necessary from existing data collection stores on the network to develop a data rich Microsoft Visio network diagram. This information is aggregated into a common data set that is stored in a central Configuration Management Database (CMDB). This data is then used to display data rich network diagrams.

The bottom line here is that up-to-date and accurate documentation is vital to your success in the network business, just as the firefighters’ knowledge of a building’s contents is vital to their success. Invest in your success by developing a system to keep your documentation updated in as real-time as possible.

Read More about our Rapid Network Rendering™ tool and Apalytics’ proactive approach to Crisis Avoidance.