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Business continuity good reasons to get docs up-to-date
Subject:Business continuity good reasons to get docs up-to-date From:"KL Henderson" <klhwrites -at- idirect -dot- ca> To:<techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 31 May 2000 12:09:13 -0400
>>Any brilliant suggestions? Any solid reasons as to why we cannot go
>another minute with out having our systems documented? Our IT department
>reports to Finance and our CFO is a very demanding task master. It is he I
>need to sell the idea to.
-----
At one of my last jobs I was a disaster recovery/business continuity
analyst. Among other things, complete and up-to-date system documentation
stored offsite was a requirement of this program. The DR plan was
frequently audited by head office or by potential clients and had the power
to make or break a deal.
Under our plan, each department was responsible for updating its own
documentation.
Unfortunately, the techies never got around to updating their documentation
while I was there. They never had time, it wasn't their responsibility,
etc.
They would have been thrilled to turn it over to a tech writer I'm sure.
I don't know what kind of business your company does, but
business continuity is a good reason to keep the documentation current.
Unfortunately, it is often not taken seriously until the advent of flood or
flames.
