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Technology handbook

By Lasa Information Systems Team

The Technology Handbook is designed to be a central repository of all information relevant to the configuration and management of the technology services within an organisation - from your ISP’s login details to where licence keys are stored.

The Technology Handbook is aimed at third sector technology staff who have responsibility for supporting, developing, managing and securing ICT systems. This will vary according to the size and complexity of an organisation so could be an accidental techie, ICT manager, trustee or volunteer. Whoever it is, the handbook should help in the smooth running of the systems.

The benefits of using the handbook are that it:

• allows ICT issues to be tackled methodically rather than piecemeal
• easily identify missing information - backup discs, licence keys, insurance, etc
• better plan and manage ICT for the future
• help an organisation to gather information required as part of an ICT healthcheck
• assists support staff, both internal and external, to easily access vital information when troubleshooting or upgrading

The 62 page handbook covers all areas of an organisation’s technology. It is split into eight sections:

1. The organisation – e.g. mission, strategy, budget
2. Compliance – e.g. health and safety, data protection, waste electrical regulations
3. Inventory – hardware, software
4. Configuration – passwords, server, network, internet
5. Contracts – e.g. support, maintenance, internet service provider
6. Policies – e.g. disaster recovery, acceptable use, data protection
7. Procedures – e.g. user induction, backup
8. Appendices – sources of further information

Update! The Handbook has been revised and issued as version 1 following a trial period. There are new Configuration sub-sections on accessibility, social media and cloud services and Policy sub-sections covering social media and training. There is also a Summary of Recommendations for use after working through the Handbook following a Lasa Technology Healthcheck, more knowledgebase links and icons to make them stand out. The colour scheme has been revised to make it easier to navigate.

Download the Technology Handbook (PDF - 358Kb)

Version 1.0 published in May 2011 by Lasa