IT Consultant / Manage Service Practices
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@scottalanmiller said in IT Consultant / Manage Service Practices:
@DustinB3403 said in IT Consultant / Manage Service Practices:
@AshKetchum said in IT Consultant / Manage Service Practices:
The CEO are the one who will make the decision, not the IT people.
But you can report and make it painfully obvious as to the fact that the business is being extorted.
He has to already know... because it is the CEO being extorted. Or his team. Not IT. IT isn't involved here. The third party has threatened (directly or indirectly) the CEO and is controlling him. What good is the report, the CEO must know this all painfully clearly right now.
We would guess the CEO knows, or IT has received all of the veiled threats, and just not reported it for fear of being fired.
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@DustinB3403 No I'm not happy. when you are on this situation, at first you will be frustrated. you do what you feel is right, but since its not getting fix you will just be more frustrated. All you can do is document that you cover your ass, they may have some reason that they don't want to disclose but its their decision.
Report and make it painfully obvious, that is scary. I've seen someone tried it once and almost end up with legal issues. The boss position changes so fast, Monday she said - they will have to replace the consultant. Then Wednesday the poor IT guy was reprimanded. Well, the consultant - just smiled.
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@AshKetchum said in IT Consultant / Manage Service Practices:
Report and make it painfully obvious, that is scary. I've seen someone tried it once and almost end up with legal issues. The boss position changes so fast, Monday she said - they will have to replace the consultant. Then Wednesday the poor IT guy was reprimanded. Well, the consultant - just smiled.
I would not do this. The CEO knows already. Don't complain about what the CEO has done. This isn't going to help you.
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@IRJ said in IT Consultant / Manage Service Practices:
@DustinB3403 said in IT Consultant / Manage Service Practices:
An independent review by a business that up until being hired hasn't the slightest clue of how the business is configured to me feels like having a random stranger tell you that you're driving your car wrong.
I get that. We use Static IPs across a large network. We constantly are told we should move to DHCP, but there are reasons why we can't and once we lay the reasons out it makes sense.
You should be able to explain any abnormal configurations in your network. Sometimes, yes, you have to do things in a way that may not be ideal. As long as you document why and weight out all the options, it shouldn't be a problem. You just have to make sure that if you don't follow best practices, you have a specific reason why.
Talking about documentation, does the consultant documentation includes step by step guide on how to do certain process? We have an issue where a consultant implemented a server and doesn't want to provide documentation process nor training. He instead insisted to offer manage service as he is the only one who can operate the server he build.
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@nvila said in IT Consultant / Manage Service Practices:
@IRJ said in IT Consultant / Manage Service Practices:
@DustinB3403 said in IT Consultant / Manage Service Practices:
An independent review by a business that up until being hired hasn't the slightest clue of how the business is configured to me feels like having a random stranger tell you that you're driving your car wrong.
I get that. We use Static IPs across a large network. We constantly are told we should move to DHCP, but there are reasons why we can't and once we lay the reasons out it makes sense.
You should be able to explain any abnormal configurations in your network. Sometimes, yes, you have to do things in a way that may not be ideal. As long as you document why and weight out all the options, it shouldn't be a problem. You just have to make sure that if you don't follow best practices, you have a specific reason why.
Talking about documentation, does the consultant documentation includes step by step guide on how to do certain process? We have an issue where a consultant implemented a server and doesn't want to provide documentation process nor training. He instead insisted to offer manage service as he is the only one who can operate the server he build.
Then you should fire him instantly and hire someone else to make the documents for you.
of course it would have been better to have the requirement of documentation be in the statement of work for the server build, but if he refused today, then fire him and find someone who will do as you want.
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@nvila said in IT Consultant / Manage Service Practices:
Talking about documentation, does the consultant documentation includes step by step guide on how to do certain process? We have an issue where a consultant implemented a server and doesn't want to provide documentation process nor training. He instead insisted to offer manage service as he is the only one who can operate the server he build.
Talk to management, it's fine for a consultant not to document when documentation is not requested. But if the company will pay for it, they must do it. Doing work and refusing to turn over the documentation is kind of like extortion and means that you cannot trust the company and they must be fired.
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@nvila said in IT Consultant / Manage Service Practices:
@IRJ said in IT Consultant / Manage Service Practices:
@DustinB3403 said in IT Consultant / Manage Service Practices:
An independent review by a business that up until being hired hasn't the slightest clue of how the business is configured to me feels like having a random stranger tell you that you're driving your car wrong.
I get that. We use Static IPs across a large network. We constantly are told we should move to DHCP, but there are reasons why we can't and once we lay the reasons out it makes sense.
You should be able to explain any abnormal configurations in your network. Sometimes, yes, you have to do things in a way that may not be ideal. As long as you document why and weight out all the options, it shouldn't be a problem. You just have to make sure that if you don't follow best practices, you have a specific reason why.
Talking about documentation, does the consultant documentation includes step by step guide on how to do certain process? We have an issue where a consultant implemented a server and doesn't want to provide documentation process nor training. He instead insisted to offer manage service as he is the only one who can operate the server he build.
@Dashrender and @scottalanmiller have answered this.
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@scottalanmiller said in IT Consultant / Manage Service Practices:
@nvila said in IT Consultant / Manage Service Practices:
Talking about documentation, does the consultant documentation includes step by step guide on how to do certain process? We have an issue where a consultant implemented a server and doesn't want to provide documentation process nor training. He instead insisted to offer manage service as he is the only one who can operate the server he build.
Talk to management, it's fine for a consultant not to document when documentation is not requested. But if the company will pay for it, they must do it. Doing work and refusing to turn over the documentation is kind of like extortion and means that you cannot trust the company and they must be fired.
Yes, specifically refusing this is criminal if it was specified in the agreement.
Change the passwords immediately and hire a someone else to do a full security audit because there is quite likely to be a backdoor into the system.
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@nvila said in IT Consultant / Manage Service Practices:
@IRJ said in IT Consultant / Manage Service Practices:
@DustinB3403 said in IT Consultant / Manage Service Practices:
An independent review by a business that up until being hired hasn't the slightest clue of how the business is configured to me feels like having a random stranger tell you that you're driving your car wrong.
I get that. We use Static IPs across a large network. We constantly are told we should move to DHCP, but there are reasons why we can't and once we lay the reasons out it makes sense.
You should be able to explain any abnormal configurations in your network. Sometimes, yes, you have to do things in a way that may not be ideal. As long as you document why and weight out all the options, it shouldn't be a problem. You just have to make sure that if you don't follow best practices, you have a specific reason why.
Talking about documentation, does the consultant documentation includes step by step guide on how to do certain process? We have an issue where a consultant implemented a server and doesn't want to provide documentation process nor training. He instead insisted to offer manage service as he is the only one who can operate the server he build.
My problem with documentation is simply getting it all written takes forever because I procrastinate. Not because I refuse to give it to the clients.
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@IRJ said in IT Consultant / Manage Service Practices:
Hi, I am an IT department guy that works with a MSP
We use our MSP for mostly VOIP issues, but when we are overwhelmed or short handed we reach out to our MSP to help with certain tasks. It's nice for me to know we always have a bank of hours, that way we are never out of luck if we have a major issue or just need a hand.
Basically we use our MSP as a 6th man. This allows our IT team to get treated like a normal employee and get vacation time and a relief for being on call all the team. It makes a huge difference if you have a major problem and you can instantly add IT members to your team.
This is how it is at the place I work at, at least for today as it's my last day here. And it really helps especially being a one man shop. Our MSP handles backups and that's pretty much it. I could call on them for anything above my level of knowledge or of something was on-fire, but for the most part they just play the 3rd man role. In when needed.
