What keeps things running.
WHY IT MATTERS ACUTELY
Systems fail at inconvenient moments, and the person who configured them is frequently unavailable.
WHAT TO DOCUMENT
What systems exist and what each does Where they are hosted or installed How they connect to each other Who the provider is and the account details Renewal dates and costs Who has access, and at what level How to restore or recover
WHY THE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN SYSTEMS
Failures propagate, and nobody knows what depends on what.
WHAT TO RECORD ABOUT ACCOUNTS
Which email address they are registered to Who controls that address How recovery works
WHY THE REGISTERED ADDRESS
Accounts registered to a departed employee's address are lost.
WHAT TO VERIFY
That every account is registered to an address the business controls.
WHAT TO DOCUMENT ABOUT DOMAINS
Registrar, expiry, and who controls the account.
WHY
Domains lost through expiry or agency control are a common and severe failure.
WHAT TO DOCUMENT ABOUT BACKUPS
What is backed up Where How often How to restore When restoration was last tested
WHY TESTED
Untested backups fail when needed.
WHAT TO KEEP OFFLINE
A copy of critical access information.
WHY OFFLINE
The failure may be that systems are unavailable.
WHAT TO ESTABLISH
Who maintains this documentation.
WHAT TO REVIEW
It, when anything changes or anyone leaves.
