The key to successful IT audits is to keep them short – at about a half day. If you need to do more work, schedule additional time at a later date.
IT Audits Should Be Short and Sweet
Keep IT audits short and minimize the amount of work you do. You don’t want to accidentally make a mistake and get yourself into a problematic situation! Keep your audit as short as you can to minimize risk and schedule more work for a later date if necessary.
How Do You Time It?
Keep IT audits limited to 4 hours or less with a dozen or a few more areas to look at. The following is a standard list of items to check with IT audits:
1. Half an hour to an hour should be spent on the main server.
2. Spend 15 or 20 minutes on a secondary server.
3. Spend just a few minutes on LAN hub infrastructure.
4. Look at routers, CSUs, DSUs, DSL routers, hub switches, etc. in time blocks of 10 to 15 minutes. Make basic notes about how the items look when you inspect them and some elements you notice with LADs or surge protection.
5. Spend half an hour or 45 minutes on some “representative PCs.”
Representative PCs
These PCs are defined as the most important in the company. Ask the main contact where these are located during your IT audits. The person in charge of accounting or billing or the owner of the company will have important PCs. You need to look at two or more PCs to get a good idea of configurations, drive mappings, network protocols and others. Determine whether or not they are in good shape.
The Main Point About IT Audits
IT audits will let you know the priority list of a prospective client. See what needs to be addressed immediately, what can wait a month or two and what can go onto the list for long-term planning.
Blogged By: Joshua Feinberg
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