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Hi everyone,

I have been in IT for 12 years in various roles. My currently role for the past 2 years has been a strictly Security Administration role. Previously I did 5 years as a system admin doing bits and peices of everything from networking to desktop. I have accepted a new position as IT team lead for a small-medium(300 users) construction company and the director is giving me the reigns. From what I can see they don’t have much in terms of structure/organization as they have been a small skeleton crew and have just been keeping their heads afloat with support.

So I really need to get in there and start putting things together. Ticketing system/documentation/network layout etc. I was wondering if anyone knows of any resource, be it a book or online resource that is kind of an all in one. General IT or system admin guide to managing this type of environment. Kind of a best practises/basic knowledge for all areas networking, desktop, virtualization, backups, etc.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks much.

10 Spice ups
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Coming here is a good start. Spiceworks Cloud Helpdesk is free and very simple to setup. As for documentation, there is no easy way on that one. Network layout I’ve done in Visio for years, though I’m sure there are other methods out there.

I would suggest reading some of the forums and How To’s on here. Follow a few groups and join your local SpiceCorp (if there is an active one near you). It’s a start that should point you in the right direction.

Welcome to Spiceworks.

2 Spice ups
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Start talking to your users and when you find really easy things to fix, do so on the spot. You need to build goodwill with your user base and this will go a long ways for towards this. While you’re doing this, take notes and start documenting your systems, their strengths, and their weaknesses.

Welcome to Spiceworks.

9 Spice ups
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Mike has a great point. I visited some remote sites and asked people there, “What are your pain points? What keeps you from getting things done?” That starts off a great conversation usually. Remember, you aren’t asking them what to do or how to do it. You are asking them what problems you need to solve. It’s your job to decide how.

6 Spice ups
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Here is a link to a documentation template that I stumbled across awhile ago. The Dropbox is mine.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hlwlbg33oefbw1g/Documentation_Template.docx?dl=0

2 Spice ups
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First welcome to the community. I hope it’s helpful to you!

I would do nothing for a week or two. I’d spend that time listening. What problems are the users having? If everyone is having issues with, say, on-prem Exchange, then fixing that first would be a good thing. Maybe schedule some meet&greet sessions around the firm

I’ve seen, all too often. the new guy coming in wanting to make his name. Rather than learning the company culture, ethos and values, he/she attempts to impose their own views first. This often ends in tears. Also, don’t spend the first week in the job doing things like re-decorating your office or going to test drive alternatives for your new company car during work time. That goes down very poorly!

Also, get to know your team. What do THEY think are the issues? As a consultant, I’ve found all too often that junior players have great insight over problems and solutions that are largely ignored by senior management. And since management is paying for the consultancy, there is a tendency to listen more to the consultant than their own people.

[later] I need to learn how to type faster. When I started writing this, there were no responses, but when I posted it 1st time - there were several! :slight_smile:

8 Spice ups
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Accept you will make mistakes, do the best with what you have been given and don’t be afraid to ask for help, they hired you for the position, good luck.

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First thing you need to do is install spiceworks and let it find devices. Second set up a ticket system if one is not being used right now.

Listen to users and take some suggestions from them. Crawl the spiceworks forums daily for new ideas.

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Reading a book or blog is not the best approach IMO. You only hear from one or few people. Spiceworks and forums are the best because you get exposure to multiple people’s experiences, issues, and tips. One thing I will recommend is that you walk around, see what needs to be addressed and upgraded and immediately have a meeting to discuss a plan for fixing the issues. Although it will cost money to fix, it shows the boss that you have good intentions and are a good worker. Hope some of this helps, good luck.

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Reading the responses so far, I tend to agree, I would go about it from a consulting perspective, Inventory, identify user issues, identify current IT staff issues, create a plan

submit the plan to the C suite, duck as smelly stuff contacts the rotary oscillator. Re submit revised plan. repeat as necessary. After approval get busy before they deem you redundant.

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Top down. Research and plan.

Lay out what the company does. What tech do they use to do which bits? What capacity and capability does the base infrastructure have and how is it being utilized? What, currently, is the objective of your department? If it’s ‘keep stuff running’ then this is on you to figure out too.

With a general picture of your environment in hand you can drill down some. What do the user end points look like? Computers, Printers, Phones, wifi coverage, industry specific hardware bits etc. Do these actually suit the workflows you are there to support? Where it doesn’t find if it’s a training issue, config issue, hardware issue, software issue, whatever it happens to be.

With the base infrastructure understood and out of the way, what does the software environment look like? One big ERP/CMS/whatever? Lots of lightly used services? What % on prem and cloud? Do your internet connections match that idea? Is everything up to date? Are they using EOL systems for core workflows? These kinds of things.

Only now with this perspective do you go to the user level. First concern yourself with how they are using these systems. Understand how they interact with them. What is holding them up or causing them more time than it needs to? What frustrates them? What are they missing?

With this info in hand you now write out what you are going to do. Where the pain points are. What is causing them. How you will fix them. Why your way of fixing them is the way to go about it. Basic scope of the projects needed to complete this. How you will keep the company running while all this is in progress. This will justify the first chunk of time there.

Then propose project cycles to keep the company in step with their service agreements and warranties. What EOL means in your organization and why. How this will affect budgets. Why this is a good thing and how it will keep the company from having to suffer again like they did in the first stint of your having the reigns here.

If you just install a ticket system, network monitor and ask people why things suck with no perspective you are going to end up a firefighting department. Understand your environment and plan ahead.

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Wow, cannot tell you all how much I appreciate these responses. I will certainly take them all into consideration and likely lean on SpiceWorks tools/resources in the process. Thanks again for your comments, I look forward to the challenge.

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Hi Brad! Welcome to the Spiceworks community and congrats on the new role! Sometimes, it’s nice to be able to “start from scratch” as it were. You can throw in your own personal experience along with the feedback from your users and various departments on what worked and what didn’t in the past to build a solid foundation and build up from there. I understand that it seems that there wasn’t much process in place before you started, but if there’s any documentation from your predecessor, that would be helpful as well. Also, you’re here in Spiceworks now! Spiceheads are always willing to help out if you happen to get stuck and need some advice on process, your environment, etc… and Green Guys/Gals such as myself will chime into conversations if you’re looking for certain solutions and/or products. We’re all here to help! Again, welcome to the community!