2017 has been moving by pretty quickly. It is now September and the kids are back in school, football season is starting and before we know it, the Holidays will be here! Fall is a great time of year for catching up and getting ready for next year.
Top 10 list of things to do before yearend.
- Asset Management: it is critical to know all the systems running on your network. Get that list together and update your documentation. Besides, accounting will be looking at depreciation schedules soon and you will be sure to get some questions… might as well be ready for them.
- Disaster Planning: if you haven’t done your DR test yet, get it on the calendar now! If you have completed it, go back and make sure you have updated your policy and procedures for any issues noted in the test.
- User Access: Sometimes people fill in other positions during the summer or you have summer help. Now is a good time to make sure all account access is correct and summer employee accounts have been terminated.
- Holiday Season: During the holidays people like to take time off but there are still important roles that need to be filled. Now is the time to discuss time off and if an ‘on-call’ schedule needs to be developed, get it done now so people can plan for the holidays.
- Strategic Planning: Get with Senior Management and see if there are any initiatives that IT needs to be aware of. Also, be thinking about what initiatives that IT may have for next year and discuss that as well.
- Budgets: If you are a calendar yearend, be thinking about the IT budget and what resources you may be needing.
- People: Summer is over and it feels like we are back to the grind. Why not take this time to do something nice for your co-workers or employees. Maybe bring in lunch or ice cream. Even just taking the time to compliment someone in the office. It will make you and the other person both feel good.
- Cybersecurity: It is impossible for an IT person to go a whole article without mentioning this. But one thing you could do is to start planning a series of reminders for the next couple months. As people get busy, the cyber-criminals get busy too! An email reminder about social engineering and what to look out for may bring great returns! Make them fun so people will read them or do something unique like an IT Department Open House. Invite people in to ask questions and see where the magic happens!
- Fall Cleaning: Now is a great time of year to get rid of old equipment and cleaning up the office. It is easy to pile up old servers and equipment. Most IT departments have a growing collection of power cords… There are recycling companies that will take equipment and places that will shred hard drives. A quick Google search and I am sure you will find a number of places to take them. It can be like a field trip!
- Training: after all, it is back to school time! Make sure everyone has done their IT Security Training for this year. Work with HR or whoever oversees this process and make sure they are all complete. It is also a good time to review your training. Is there classes you should attend, webinars you should watch, or further training you need? Think about getting those requests in for next year.
Hopefully this list will remind you of something you need to do or inspire you to get moving on your own list. Happy Almost Fall!
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Throughout his time at YHB Curtis has provided IT audit and consulting to clients, even while holding the position of the firm’s IT director for several years. Now, as head of the YHB Risk Advisory Services Team, Curtis focuses on assisting organizations in a variety of industries with internal audits and IT-related audit and consulting services. Also, he frequently speaks and gives presentations on SOX compliance, internal controls, and data security.
