This article describes how to integrate best practices into the Standards Library.
A Standards Library contains best practices related to a customer’s technology environment. It is a repository of institutional knowledge. Any and all information related to the client’s IT environment lives in the library which prevents issues common with tribal knowledge.
To access the Standards Library, click Standards on the menu bar. Note: this option will only be available for users with IT Provider Admin access. For more information please see: Adding Users.
Please note: The fields for Question text, How to find the answer, and Why are we asking now support formatting of bulleted and numbered lists as well as bold, italics, and underline. This formatting will be present when editing a review.
Hierarchy
Standards are hierarchical in the form of Sections > Categories > Questions.
| Hierarchy | Description | Configuration | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Section | Sections are groupings of Categories | Section Name: The name of the section | You may have a section called Security containing categories like Firewall, Anti-Virus, etc. |
| Category | Categories are groupings of Questions | Category Name: The name of the category | You may have a category called Firewall containing questions about how that firewall should be configured |
| Questions | Questions are a specific Yes or No question related to the Category |
Question Title: A short name for the question Question Text: The actual text of the question in a Yes / No format Question Priority: What is the impact of this question? This affects scoring in the client reports | Question Text: Is the Firewall configured for stateful packet inspection? |
Note: It is important to format questions where answering ‘yes’ is the default (aligned). Answering ‘no’ would state a best practice as being out of alignment and requiring resolution.
Adding a Section
- Click the Add Standard button toward the top right-hand corner of the page.
- Select Add Section.
- Choose a title, which clients to apply the section to (if any), and tags (optional)
Adding a Category
- Click the Add Standard button toward the top right-hand corner of the page.
- Select Add category.
- Choose a category title, the section it will nest under, which clients apply to the category, and tags (optional)
- Categories can have a reminder period where you determine the frequency you would like this area to be reviewed. After this time has elapsed, non-reviewed categories will show on the main page as Up for review. Note: Frequencies are triggered based on when the vCIO submits their portion of the review
Adding a Question
- Click Add Standard button in the bottom right-hand corner of the page
- Select Add question.
- Add a Title and set the Priority
- Next, Choose the Section and Category the question will nest under
- Add question text ensuring it complies with the yes/no format described above
- How to find answer (optional) - An area to define an internal process for finding the answer
- Why are we asking (optional) - An area to define the business reasoning behind a question
- Click Save to finish
For Information on Showing or Hiding Standards from a Client, template see this article