Strong IT Documentation Can Give MSPs a Competitive Edge. Learn How With These Best Practices.

Technical documentation – the process of collecting, recording and sharing the information needed to resolve certain issues, execute various functions and, generally, for a support team to operate optimally – is a crucial factor in an MSP’s quality of service. A reliable database of knowledge for your team not only improves the customer experience, it fosters time and cost efficiencies for your managed IT business, too. In this blog, we’ll explore the advantages of strong IT documentation and review best practices MSPs can use to make documentation an indispensable technical tool.  

The benefits of IT documentation 

If done properly, documentation is an incredibly valuable device for MSPs. It will serve as an ever-evolving resource to make your support technicians more efficient, and your customers will enjoy better service because of it. Here are some of the expected benefits that come with good documentation practices: 

1. Mitigated risk

Careful documentation acts as a safety net against potential risks. When standard operating procedures (SOPs) and appropriate troubleshooting steps are outlined in a clear way, issue resolution becomes systematic and less likely to require a trial-and-error approach. This means fewer mistakes, better consistency, and – perhaps most valuably – minimizes the potential for missteps that may create (or miss) security vulnerabilities and other critical errors.

Related: Seven Cybersecurity Best Practices for Small to Medium Sized Businesses

2. Clarity and communication 

Documentation serves as a communication bridge within your organization. Whether you’re onboarding new team members or collaborating remotely, having clear and consistent documentation keeps all parties on the same page. This alignment among team members lessens the likelihood of misunderstandings and provides an impartial reference for processes and how-tos. 

3. Accountability and transparency 

By documenting decisions and actions as they’re made, you can easily track who did what, and why. When working on complex projects that involve multiple stakeholders, accountability is essential. Having a record of a project's details helps identify bottlenecks and keeps individual responsibilities defined. 

4. Knowledge preservation 

Employees come and go, but well-documented lessons and standards remain. When team members leave, their knowledge doesn’t vanish with them. Instead, it’s preserved in the documentation, making knowledge transfer seamless. This continuity is especially beneficial for long-term projects and ongoing operations. 

Best practices for IT documentation

Successful IT documentation means a lot of things, depending on who you ask. At Collabrance, we have guidelines in place for the way our internal knowledge base is built and maintained, as well as the knowledge bases we build for our customers. These are the proven practices we use to ensure our documentation is best in class.  

Standardize formats and implement templates 

Whether in your ticketing system or a dedicated documentation platform, create a template to serve as a starting point for technicians to know what the most important data to gather and document is. For example, at Collabrance, every service desk ticket that is created starts with the following five pieces of information:  

1. Number of users affected
2. When the issue began
3. Summary of steps taken
4. Required next steps
5. Customer contact information and call back number

With this template in place, we can be sure the same information is collected for every issue. Regardless of a technician’s level of expertise or familiarity with the request, there’s a baseline understanding of what information has been gathered and what to look for. Creating replicable templates specific to different kind of documentation – SOPs, troubleshooting guides, and network diagrams, for instance – promotes cross-team clarity and makes it easier for support specialists to find the relevant insights they need. 

Maintain version control and history 

As documentation is updated and methods evolve, a careful record of changes and history leaves less room for confusion caused by outdated knowledge. But keeping version history effectively organized is not a small undertaking; in fact, you may find it necessary to designate one person as the documentation administrator. The responsibilities of this detail-oriented role may include:  

• Cleaning up and organizing documentation  
• Managing processes and best practices 
• Updating articles to reflect accurate information 

And these things can’t just happen on occasion or when time allows. Strong documentation requires constant, dedicated observation and updates. An appointed documentation administrator serves as a resource for other team members to lean on when questions arise about data that may have changed or uncertainty around techniques that may be out of date. 

Include context and detailed instructions 

At Collabrance, all technicians are trained to uphold the mindset that when documenting a ticket or adding to an article in our knowledge base, it should be done in a way that anyone – even a brand-new tech on their first day – should be able to understand and follow the steps provided. That means taking the time to include the “why” behind various actions and adding context that can help technicians make informed decisions when troubleshooting, to get to resolution faster. Although adding those extra details may require a few extra minutes of someone’s time up front, it will surely lead to better utilization of your team’s resources overall.  

For example, if a tier 3 technician creates documentation around how to fix a complex issue and the instructions can be understood and followed by a tier 1 technician, you’ve essentially turned your tier 1 technician into a tier 3 technician – at least for this specific issue. And maybe the steps to resolve this specific issue can be replicated so successfully that the issue no longer requires a tier 3 technician at all. This enables your tier 1 technicians to expand the breadth of issues they can work on, freeing your tier 3 technicians to put more focus on the tickets and tasks that do require a higher level of expertise.  

Enhance instructions with visuals 

Diagrams, flowcharts, and screenshots are all elements that can facilitate comprehension. Visual supplements can help simplify complex concepts and procedures, especially for new products or applications that your team may be less familiar with.  

You don’t need to be a graphics expert to create visual aids. At Collabrance, we use Microsoft’s native Snipping Tool to capture screenshots and add markups that indicate where to look or click. Even a rudimentary visual representation can go a long way to reduce the likelihood of misunderstandings, which will positively impact resolutions rates and customer satisfaction – time and time again. 

Establish a cadence for regular review of processes and practices  

Documentation that’s outdated isn’t just unhelpful; it can be harmless to your business. But monitoring instructions and procedures to make sure they’re current is a task that requires near-constant attention. If there’s no system in place to keep documentation organized and up to date, it’s likely to fall through the cracks and quickly become a mess. A designated documentation administrator can make sure guidelines exist to keep information organized. 

Encourage cooperation among your team 

At Collabrance, our technicians are empowered to update documentation at any time. This individual responsibility is important, but a group mentality is key; if someone spots something they’re not sure about, there are plenty of outlets for help, including Microsoft Teams chat channels, regular team discussions, and opportunities for continued education. 

Every team member who touches a support ticket should have the same goal in mind: Resolving the customer’s issue in the most efficient, helpful, painless way. Fostering an environment where co-workers are encouraged to help one another keeps the big picture goals top of mind and will help your business achieve those goals more quickly.  

Related: How To Minimize Confusion in Managed Services Contracts with These Best Practices

Above all: Documentation is a collaboration

Remember, documentation isn’t just a formality; it’s a strategic tool that bolsters your technical team, improves communication, and, when done successfully, serves as a powerful differentiator from your competitors. Whether you’re managing a small IT department or an IT conglomerate, it’s never too early or too late to invest in the creation and upkeep of high-quality documentation. The future of your business – and the satisfaction of your customers – will be better for it.  

To learn how Collabrance uses robust documentation to support MSPs, visit our Services page.