Creation of IP documentation

Introduction…

Decided to continue the article
“ The history of one infrastructure. MS solutions. Part 1 »
“ The history of one infrastructure. MS solutions. Part 2 »
“ The history of one infrastructure. MS solutions. Part 3
and consider in more detail the creation of enterprise information system (IS) documentation. Immediately make a reservation that I do not claim the truth, just my approach and my thoughts on this issue. I hope that I can help novice documentation developers in this difficult task.

What am I talking about?

And why, actually, the Information system? And why not IT infrastructure? I propose to understand the subtleties of concepts and the meaning that I put into them.
We decided for ourselves that the IT infrastructure will call the basic “foundation”, which allows building information systems on it.
And the concept of IP will be used in the broadest sense, i.e. We will not separate the existing systems and “produce the essence”. Therefore, first of all, the definitions of these concepts were developed:
The company's information system (IS) is a set of automation tools for processing, storing information and interacting components, includes the company's IT infrastructure, company information, personal computers (PCs), and other IT assets.
IT infrastructure (Infrastructure) - a set of interrelated applied technologies, hardware and software, communication and communication systems, components and / or providing the foundation of IP.
And what is "Services"? These are units of functional division, the next level of detail, this is usually what the IP user receives.
IT services (Services) - conditionally separated functions of the Infrastructure, also represent a set of interrelated applied technologies, hardware and software, communication systems and communications.

Well, something like that ... Everything is conditional, subjective and confused.

Why is it even needed?

It is not enough to build, satisfying the needs of the enterprise IP, it is necessary to make it as manageable as possible. And it’s impossible to call an IP controlled if there is no adequate documentation. Those. IP can be managed by the creators, but what will happen when they are replaced by others?
Management, which invests in the company's IP, is worried about this a lot. An enterprise depends on its processes, which, in turn, become seriously dependent on IP. And all the critical IP management processes in a small enterprise often close in one person. And, in my opinion, it is not common for the majority to have the desire to freely share “control levers” and, associated with this knowledge, because of fears of losing importance and weight. Although, in my opinion, these fears are unjustified and the desire to freely share knowledge has the opposite effect. Therefore, I often see that the person controlling the IP is “a proud carrier of secret knowledge” and an “irreplaceable button-press”. Here it is, one of the possible prerequisites for distrust between management and IT representatives. Some do not want to share money, others - knowledge. The vicious circle that needs to be broken in order to continue to work effectively.

• Detailed documentation is needed for the management in order to keep it in a safe and feel comfortable and confident (here I, of course, am somewhat cunning - there is self-deception, but still ...).
• Detailed documentation increases the importance of IT representatives in the eyes of management (management notes a serious systematic approach, but one should not forget that this should be properly presented).

Another important factor is that the documentation is vital to the person from IT.

• The process of creating documentation allows you to detect and correct existing deviations.
• The process of creating documentation allows you to systematize and “wrap in forms” existing ideas about IP, allows you to strengthen your knowledge.
• Created detailed documentation is designed to help in understanding the “what”, “how” and “why”. And since, people tend to forget, then, as they say, "A bad pencil is better than a good memory ...".

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"Experience, son of difficult mistakes ..."

At the very beginning there was a lack of understanding of the need for any documentation. And in the implementation process, attempts were made to create it. But there was no experience and knowledge of which side to approach the solution of this issue and there were no those who could be leveled at. The results of the attempts can hardly be called successful, the best of what was created had two schemes - the “logical infrastructure diagram” and the “territorial scheme” (created in Photoshop), and the document trying to describe it. In general, the "documentation" did not exceed 20 pages and did not have the right to "bear a proud name." There were still separate tables (lists of accounts, records, PCs, etc.), but there was no system.
Time passed, new services were introduced, errors were corrected, knowledge was systematized, an understanding of the tasks was made out ...
And, first of all, the document “Rules for Access and Use of Local Area Network Data” was developed. The document, in fact, described the enterprise security policies in the context of IT and regulated the relations of users with IT. The management approved this initiative and issued an order making the document an integral part of the “Internal Rules of the Enterprise”. Though we tried to develop a document that does not lose relevance, but, at the moment, it still needs updating.

Let's get started

The understanding took shape and it was decided to “gather the will into a fist and issue, finally, an acceptable version of the documentation within a month.” The documentation should be as detailed as it is necessary, so that it can be used to build an IP from scratch and not to miss important details.
The Service was chosen as the key element of the documentation, i.e. it was decided to divide the available technologies that are provided to users into understandable services and document them in detail. The following documentation structure was adopted:

• General description of the IS (generalized scheme of the IP architecture, description, goals, objectives, a brief description of the services)
• Lists of used hardware and software
• Equipment layout schemes (racks, cabinets, servers, switching equipment, UPS, power supply, equipment are given unique names and numbers)
• The logical layout of the services (location and interdependence of services, the use of OS services)
• Service descriptions (each service can have its own set of documents reflecting the specifics, for the most part, the “Service Description” and “Organization of Service Data Backup” are common)
• Annexes to the documentation (lists “List of server administrators and services administrators”, “List of user accounts, PCs and security groups”, “Recommendations for maintenance of IP services”, generalized lists “General list of server settings” and “General list of backup tasks copying ”)

Thus, using this structure, we can “easily and naturally” make changes to the content by adding or removing services (which was proved empirically later).
Further, “the most difficult” is to choose the optimal level of detail, to divide the functionality and call Services, and, as they say, “What do you call a boat - so it will float”.
Let's start with the switching and call it “Physical communications service”. Let's unite under this name switching equipment, its configurations, communication lines, wiring diagrams.
The next step is to merge Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, Certificate Authority and call it “Directory Service”.
Forefront anti-malware and anti-spam products are merged under the name “Protection Service”.
And so on - “Database Service” (SQL Server), “Mail Service” (Exchange), “Enterprise Management Automation Service” (1C), “File Storage Service” (file server), “Document Management Service” (SharePoint (developed functionality supplements the service documentation)), Routing Service (ISA Server), Conferencing Service (Office Communication Server), Software Update Service (WSUS), Design Services Automation Service (CAD), Virtualization Service (Virtual Server), “Website Service” (Windows SharePoint Services).
The main tool is Office 2007. Visio was used to create charts, descriptions and tables, of course, using Word and Excel. By developing and supplementing the general with documents describing the specifics of the service, we get a completely complete structure of the documentation of the IP (“List of documentation of the IP”).

Contents of the “List of IP documentation” (currently)

 1.    : 1.0.     () 1.1.     () 2.    3.     4.    : 4.0.     () () 4.1.     () () 4.2.     ( ) () 4.3.     ( ) () 5.   : 5.0.     () 5.1.     () 5.2.     (  №0) () 5.3.     (  №0) () 5.4.     (  №1) () 5.5.     (  №1) () 5.6.     (  №2) () 5.7.     (  №2) () 5.8.     (  №3) () 5.9.     (  №3) () 5.10.     (  №4) () 5.11.     (  №4) () 5.12.     (  №5) () 5.13.     (  №5) () 5.14.     (  №6) () 5.15.     (  №6) () 6.    : 6.0.      () 6.1.      () 7.   (Active Directory): 7.0.    7.1.     () 7.2.     () 7.3.   7.4.   7.5.    (DNS) 7.6.     (DHCP) 7.7.   (CA) 7.8.       8.   (Forefront) 8.0.      8.1.      9.   (Exchange): 9.0.    9.1.     () 9.2.     () 9.3.       10.    (SQL): 10.0.     (SQL) 10.1.       11.     (1): 11.0.      11.1.       11.2.         12.   : 12.0.        12.1.     () 12.2.     () 12.3.     12.4.        13.   (SharePoint): 13.0.    13.1.         ()    ()    ( )    (   )    ( )  .. 13.2.       13.3.       13.4.      13.5.       14.   (ISA): 14.0.    14.1.     () 14.2.     () 14.3.      14.4.     14.5.       15.   (OCS): 15.0.    15.1.       16.    (WSUS) 17.    : 17.0.      17.1.       17.2.      18.   (VS) 19.  - (WSS): 19.0.   - 19.1.     - :  1.        ( , ,    , ).  2.    ,     (,  ,    , ,    ,  ,    ).  3.     (,  ,  ,  ,   ,  ).  4.      ( , ,     ,  ).  5.      . 

Detailed equipment layout (for example)

Conclusion ...

Documentation is ready on time and flaunts on the shelf. At the moment, the documentation has more than 100 documents, 30 of which are charts, in electronic form and 250 pages on paper. The result satisfied all expectations - it is convenient to use, easy to study, just to make changes and expand, and most importantly - a lot of nice looking, color pictures ...
It is also necessary to take into account one important point - to ensure the processes of timely updating of documentation, otherwise - useless work. And therefore - we will work in this direction ...

About the IT management system and how we managed to ensure the actualization processes