IT departments must regularly perform maintenance, upgrades and other service on organizational servers, systems, and networks either for upkeep or restorative purposes. This work often results in either intentional or unintentional downtime.

This policy, written by Scott Matteson for TechRepublic Premium, describes how an organization should plan for and announce scheduled downtime to specify who is responsible for communicating it and to determine when scheduled downtime and “service restored” notifications must be made.

• Featured text from the download:

  STAFF NOTIFICATION RESPONSIBILITY

  Designated IT staff (the IT manager/director should determine whom this will be) are responsible for notifying, via email, every user in the organization regarding scheduled system, network, and server outages.

  Each department director is responsible for communicating the impact of the upcoming planned outages to the department’s staff, making sure that any known technical dependencies are communicated to the IT director so that specific business processes and responsibilities will not be adversely impacted, or that such impacts can be addressed and mitigated in advance.

Enhance your IT operations with our in-depth eight-page document. This is available for download at just $19. Alternatively, enjoy complimentary access with a Premium annual subscription.

TIME SAVED: Crafting this content required 16 hours of dedicated writing, editing, research, and design.