Handover Guide for new NM

[TJ-Diggers]

I hope you all had a good Christmas!

 

I am leaving my current school and need to produce a handover guide. Has anyone got a guide I can look at or can you recommend stuff to put in it? I have my own list but I know I will have missed stuff.

Thanks

[markwilfan]

Document anything that isn't obvious or is non standard.

 

Anybody worth their paygrade should be able to pick up where you left off

[elsiegee40]

Document anything that isn't obvious or is non standard.

And not just the technical stuff. What did you wish someone had told you on day 1? Every workplace has things that you need to know but that nobody tells you!

[davipton]

When I had a hand over from the BSF IT provider I had things like:

Cabinet layouts

Switch config with details about VLANs

Site maps with locations of APs (some were cleverly located)

Document with passwords, this included local server and workstations passwords as well as the domain admin passwords. Switch, hypervisor, smoothwall, wireless controller, RM tutor configuration passwords.

Diagram how the cabinets interconnect.

Warranty details for servers, San, wireless controller.

What roles and crucial apps are installed on what server.

IP schema.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Congrats on the new post.

[kingoranks]

Davipton has listed everything I can think of, maybe add your contact with a 3wks deadline for any follow up info

[robyholmes]

How you deal with requests. Helpdesk, website unblock request, new starters etc. Basic processes needed for the first week.

[psydii]

As a bare minimum what davipton listed.

 

I would add:

Backup schedule

A document called something like 'how to do a cold start, what systems/services to check, and how to fix them'

The actual DR Plan

Contact details for all suppliers.

Software list (with licence details, locations of installation media, renewal periods etc)

Lease documentation.

Team Performance review notes.

Change control logs/notes. (too late now if you didn't write these at the time - but I've always found them a godsend, and usually they were written by me or one of my techs - recently found notes on a long dead system that I was having to re-implement and ended up using the install/config guide written by my ex-ex-ex-senior tech from 12 years ago!)

Windows deployment/build checklist.

[DrBeaker]

Good for you being professional enough to do this. I had the unfortunate experience of having nothing when I started over a year ago. I've had to do a lot of graft and digging to find things out and something like this would have been a godsend.

[ITGURU]

Over the 16 years in my role i've made a complete network documentation manual which includes:

Physical server details with tech specs and warranties, Server Configuration and roles, Switches ,locations VLANs etc, AD and Domain structure - AD Servers, DNS, DHCP, FSMO roles etc, Day to day management i.e creating users, papercut admin, web filtering, Backup procedures/schedules, restoration procedures, server DR recovery, broadband details, Licensing, Wireless details and VLANs, Shut down/startup procedure for network, network monitoring software, Power management and redundancy, passwords, etc

[mikeprice]

I would include a map of the school with important bits labelled

whenever I have started in a new school I have had problems working out where I am and where all the stuff is relative to me - a map produced by an IT person can make a lot of difference in the first 2 weeks

 

Also - if you have ceiling projectors and power switches for them on power rails in classroms - mark where the switches are - I have been caught out by them several times

 

on that basis - think over the times when you were confused by something which was not done the 'right' way - or could have been done several ways - and document how it was done

 

probably said above - but expiry date of any relevant contracts and things to watch out for on them

photos of all staff if this is possible - along with names and jobs - I always get confused by who is who at the start - even if they introduce themselves the first week is a haze of faces and places so a rogues gallery would be useful

it would be very useful to have honest comments ( if you know what I mean!!) about the staff - probably can't be done but......

 

contact list for the suppliers that you use

and maybe a list of suppliers that you have learned NOT to use - with reasons so they can make their own decision

[hardtailstar]

In addition to everyone elses comments I'd add -

 

- Technicians roles - who does what etc

- List of Head of Departments and SLT

- members of staff who admin software like SIMS, Show my homework etc

- nearest shops - for those days when you need extra gaffa tape etc

- who has keys to server rooms etc

[ITGURU]

Good for you being professional enough to do this. I had the unfortunate experience of having nothing when I started over a year ago. I've had to do a lot of graft and digging to find things out and something like this would have been a godsend.

I've inherited 2 networks over the years with nothing but an admin password and a few server names and IP addresses . everything else I.e switches printers were using dhcp addresses reserved and with factory login details. Both times I've had to do physical walks around the site to find hardware and cabs and document before then replacing the infrastructure. time consuming!

[mikeprice]

I've inherited 2 networks over the years with nothing but an admin password and a few server names and IP addresses . everything else I.e switches printers were using dhcp addresses reserved and with factory login details. Both times I've had to do physical walks around the site to find hardware and cabs and document before then replacing the infrastructure. time consuming!

 

You had an admin password??

 

wow - my last job didn't even have that - took me a couple of months to find someone who knew it - I was about to hack the server to change it when I found the tech who had looked after it in the LEA after the previous school IT tech died suddenly!

as to why the LEA couldn't tell me who had been looking after it - or pass a message onto him for me - that is a whole different story!!

[southhamster]

Have you seen sydiserver.

http://sydiproject.com/

It produces a beautiful word doc with everything nicely documented in full detail.

I run it daily as a "just in case" option.

[SamanthaD]

Less of a NM angle, but I'd probably include a schedule of regular tasks you do daily / weekly / monthly / termly. The rest of the school will come down quickly on the new NM if something you routinely do as a matter of course gets missed and something breaks...

 

Maybe an overview of what's happened in the past 5 years, and your plans for the next 5 years would also be helpful to give the new NM a base of what's happened and what potentially needs to be done.

[mikeprice]

Less of a NM angle, but I'd probably include a schedule of regular tasks you do daily / weekly / monthly / termly. The rest of the school will come down quickly on the new NM if something you routinely do as a matter of course gets missed and something breaks...

 

Maybe an overview of what's happened in the past 5 years, and your plans for the next 5 years would also be helpful to give the new NM a base of what's happened and what potentially needs to be done.

 

Good point - I would start making this list as soon as possible - when I did it I kept remembering things that I did automatically but hadn;t remembered because I only did them once a month or so.

 

Also - to take to question a bit backwards - if I was starting in a new job I would ask what things I am supposed to do every day/week/month

In reality this is normally not accurate but it does help when someone blames you for not doing something and you can pull out a list from your boss and comment that they seem to have missed it off

 

I my experience a list built up over a few days is more likely to be accurate than anything else.

On one short term contract I had a whole day handover with the bloke who was retiring. He was very helpful and concerned to make sure the changeover went smoothly - but after he left I was still kept finding little things that he had forgotten for several weeks

[win]

A list of hiding places quiet areas for private study

 

Also a list of re-occurring contracts & licenses with suppliers and their expiry date, along with estimated cost. This helps with budget planning for the year

[mikeprice]

Just thought - a list of things that have been discussed and agreed but might get forgotten about if a new person doesn't push them - along with the people who have agreed to them - plus the emails if they exist!

[DrBeaker]

Just thought - a list of things that have been discussed and agreed but might get forgotten about if a new person doesn't push them - along with the people who have agreed to them - plus the emails if they exist!

 

How about a list of arguments you've had with with staff, SLT over budgets, kit replacements etc?

[mikeprice]

How about a list of arguments you've had with with staff, SLT over budgets, kit replacements etc?

 

depends

 

how big is your paper budget?

[mrstrong]

what about access to your work emails / account / cloud drive ?

 

Personally I tend not to delete stuff so there a lots of things likely to be useful to a successor.

 

I try not to use my work email for personal stuff so I think I would be fine with this but not

sure what legal situation is e.g. I guess the school owns the emails but can they peruse emails

off staff who have left without their explicit permission ?

[mikeprice]

what about access to your work emails / account / cloud drive ?

 

Personally I tend not to delete stuff so there a lots of things likely to be useful to a successor.

 

I try not to use my work email for personal stuff so I think I would be fine with this but not

sure what legal situation is e.g. I guess the school owns the emails but can they peruse emails

off staff who have left without their explicit permission ?

 

personally, when ever I leave a job I change my email password to jibberish - I normally just hit the keyboard with my fist (GENTLY before you start) so that I have no access to it. A few bosses have asked me to tell them the password but I refuse as I don't know it any longer - it is up to them to use the admin thingy to reset it for anyone that needs it. This makes it clear that I cannot be logging into it once I have left (unless I am lying which is a whole different situation) - and anyway, especially for IT Techs who have a lot of dangerous skills and knowledge - they should be changing the password or disabling the account as soon as I leave the building anyway!

That sort of protects everyone but allows the new person to have access to my work emails that may well contain a lot of useful/essential data such as license discussions.

[SamanthaD]

what about access to your work emails / account / cloud drive ?

 

Personally I tend not to delete stuff so there a lots of things likely to be useful to a successor.

 

I try not to use my work email for personal stuff so I think I would be fine with this but not

sure what legal situation is e.g. I guess the school owns the emails but can they peruse emails

off staff who have left without their explicit permission ?

Could make the successors account before you leave and just forward any important stuff over, including previous discussions with SMT about projects so the email chain continues?

[Fazza]

Have you seen sydiserver.

SYDI - Network documentation made easy

It produces a beautiful word doc with everything nicely documented in full detail.

I run it daily as a "just in case" option.

 

I've been putting off documenting all of our servers for years now (used to do this manually in previous jobs but have too many servers to do that now) but this can be scripted to automatically document all of our servers so it's a no brainer!

[Jawloms]

When certificates expire!