Automated IT Documentation

Adopting automated IT documentation is a no-brainer. For starters, manually documenting your client’s IT environment is time-consuming and much more expensive. Even something as simple as network documentation takes ages to complete and the cost involved in undertaking manual site walks may frequently outstrip the value it brings.

Manual documentation can be mind-numbing and tedious as well, which is why you are likely to face resistance from your technicians. You might be able to get them to participate in the initial documentation drive, but chances are they won’t persist with it. In the end, you will be left with a bunch of vague, incomplete or outdated documents that are of no use to anyone.

The bottom line is that IT documentation without automation is doomed to fail. 

How to Automate IT Documentation?

The degree to which you can automate IT documentation depends on the documentation software at your disposal. The good news is that IT Glue comes with a ton of automation options. The idea is to help you automate much of the heavy lifting and tedious processes so that you can turn documentation into a competitive advantage quickly. 

Let’s look at different ways IT Glue can help you automate IT documentation: 

Integrations

Integrations reduce manual import/export of data. More importantly, it prevents data duplication and redundancy. Coming to IT Glue, we have a whole host of pre-built integrations that let you integrate your documentation with everything from your RMM, PSA and Office 365 to other productivity tools.  

The Office 365 integration lets you sync a wide range of client info from Office 365 into IT Glue. It saves you from endless copy-pasting and clumsy file conversions while the PSA and RMM integrations allow you to import client information stored in those applications to IT Glue in a few clicks. This way, your team won’t have to hop between multiple windows and manually document everything again.

Open API

In some cases, pre-built integrations may not be suitable for the unique needs of your business. That’s where IT Glue’s Open API comes in handy. It lets you build custom integrations, allowing you to connect IT Glue with third-party tools, which we do not currently have an integration for. 

To assist you with this process, we have set up a public GitHub Repo where we host various scripts and tools that leverage our open API. You can collaborate with our user community and use existing scripts to create new integrations that will automate documentation in your organization. We even have a PowerShell Wrapper to help facilitate the development of integrations using IT Glue’s API. 

Wrapping Up

Building a documentation culture is challenging. But if your team gets a firsthand experience of its benefits, you will be able to speed up the process considerably. For that, you need automation. So, take advantage of these integrations, make your documentation more centralized and structured, and in turn help your MSP reduce time wastage, improve efficiency and scale faster.

Want to find out how well you are leveraging automation in the critical areas of your business? Download this checklist now.