Handoff Documents

Here are a few of the documents used during the handoff. Before looking at these documents, please look at these two items:

1. Disclaimer. We use this and they work for us. We know they're not perfect and they need to be updated. If they work for you, great. If not, remember what you paid for them.
2. Request. If you substantially improve these documents, please share them back.

So, with that out of the way, here they are.

• Computer User Survival Kit - a multi-page packet of the things we most want everyone to remember
• One Sheet Overview - the bare minimum, on a single sheet
• Only Open - The computer security / anti-virus basics
• IT Checklist - notes for the instructor

There you have it. Comments welcomed.

Comments

[Chris Marsden]

I like the only open list for the non techy kind of person who might not be sure about what all those things mean. But...What do you do about the techy type person who uses photoshop, sends/recieves large files that require zipping to make space requirements, etc...? My concern as a staff person would be that I, as a Christian, signed a form stating that I would only open email attachments with these extensions, but I, as a techy, know the file is safe and from a trusted source (and perhaps even necessary to do my job). Just curious if this is even an issue for you or is the only open a guidline and not a rule.

[Tony Dye]

Great question Chris, and as you might imagine, "one size doesn't fit everyone." For the vast majority of our staff, the rules meet the need very well. Occassionally we will get a helpdesk request about a file with an .xyz extension and "can I open it?" We'll check it out and get an answer (an exception in some cases) back to the user. Of course, there is another group of users -- a very small group, fortunately -- who just go ahead and open whatever they like and assume the rules don't apply to them. Guess which group causes the most challenges? :-) Seriously, the "only open rules" PLUS a responsive helpdesk PLUS some system policies that help protect against the dangerous file types have been a good mix for us. Could the list be expanded, or could exceptions be made? Of course!

[Brian Glass]

Those are some very nicely put together materials. I may use them as a starting point for similar documents at Crossroads. Thanks for publishing these.