The 7 Mistakes to Avoid in IT Documentation and How to Fix Them
Why is Effective IT Documentation So Important?
If you are reading this article, you surely already know.
High-quality IT documentation is much more than just an administrative tool—it’s a true strategic asset for MSPs. It directly enhances overall performance by optimizing team productivity, significantly reducing technicians’ cognitive load, and streamlining IT service management.
Yet, despite these clear benefits, most businesses still make simple mistakes that compromise the effectiveness of their documentation. Find out the 7 most common pitfalls and actionable solutions to avoid them.
1. Dispersion of Information Instead of Centralizing It
Problem: Information spread across multiple tools (PSA, IT Glue, Drive, personal notes, emails… or even just in your technicians’ heads!) causes fragmentation that significantly slows down access to critical information. This disorganization leads to frustration, wasted time, and a higher risk of technical errors. Your technicians will soon no longer read documentation.
Solution: Use a centralized platform that consolidates all your IT data into one, instantly accessible repository. Centralizing ensures that technicians can find the needed information in just a few clicks, regardless of the client or situation.
For even greater efficiency, use AI to make automatic searches within your documentation and deliver the right information at the right time to your technicians.
2. Neglecting Regular Documentation Updates
Problem: Outdated documentation represents a critical operational risk. It can lead to incorrect interventions, misconfigurations, and a loss of trust in available documentation resources.
Solution: Implement an automated IT documentation system that includes smart reminders and AI-powered update mechanisms. This process ensures that your procedures and technical information always reflect the reality of managed environments.
3. Creating Overly Complex or Excessively Detailed Documents
Problem: Documentation overloaded with technical details can discourage its use. Technicians may avoid these dense resources, choosing instead to troubleshoot problems via trial and error or by escalating the ticket to a co-worker.
Solution: Structure your documentation with clear, step-by-step procedures, actionable checklists, and relevant screenshots.
For further improvement, use AI to identify the topics within your documentation and suggest the most relevant documents to your technicians.
4. Ignoring Standardization in Documentation Formats
Problem: The absence of standard templates results in inconsistent documentation where critical information is presented differently depending on the author. This variance makes navigation and comprehension more difficult.
Solution: Implement standardized templates for each type of document (installation procedures, troubleshooting guides, network configurations, client onboarding, etc.). A standardized approach ensures consistency and predictability, so that technicians can quickly access relevant information, no matter who wrote the document.
5. Overly Restricting Access to Documentation
Problem: Limiting access to a small group of collaborators creates information silos and critical failure points—especially problematic during absences, employee departures, or emergencies.
Solution: Deploy granular access management that perfectly balances information sharing and security. This approach allows for role-based permissions while protecting sensitive data, ensuring operational continuity and organizational resilience.
6. Underutilizing Automation Capabilities
Problem: Manual documentation is time-consuming, prone to human error, and gets neglected due to daily workload pressures. This leads to a vicious cycle of incomplete or inaccurate documentation.
Solution: Leverage AI and automation to generate and maintain your documentation. AI can capture configurations, infrastructure changes, and incident resolutions to create dynamic, continuously updated documentation—freeing up valuable time for your technical teams.
As a first step, use AI to identify similar tickets in the PSA, compensating for the lack of documentation.
7. Isolating Documentation from Daily Workflows
Problem: Even excellent documentation is useless if it’s not integrated into technicians’ daily tools and processes. The need to switch between multiple systems discourages regular use.
Solution: Choose Mizo, which natively integrates with your PSA, and other IT solutions. This seamless integration keeps documentation at the heart of your workflows, making it as natural and effortless to access as possible.
Transform Your IT Documentation
Avoiding these common mistakes is not just about improving your documentation—it’s about fundamentally transforming the efficiency of your MSP. Optimized documentation reduces incident resolution times, accelerates new client and technician onboarding, and significantly enhances service quality.
Want to take your documentation management to the next level? Try Mizo today!