standard manual

A "standard" IT department manual (I think of policies and general procedures) promote constancy of training, operations, and process improvement. The manual is the playbook on how things are done. It's a record of what works and "how we do business" - which can be a selling feature on its own.

You ask for six tasks, but each IT department is different. I'll give it a shot though.
1. How to backup your own data when the network is down.
2. How to fill out the form for ordering office supplies.
3. How to answer the telephone for an outside call.
4. How to reserve a conference room for a meeting.
5. How to fill out the form for an expense report.
6. How to update your status in the project management program.

The IT manual for the team should only have things that applies to every team member. People like short manuals - some prefer paper, some prefer hypertext.

The tasks that need to be in the manual are those that [1] everyone needs to know how to do, [2] are easier to explain in print than with an in-person demonstration.

Hoping this helps,
Rick

It is important to distinguish the difference between IT policies, standards and procedures.

Policies set the corporate direction - such as the management decision to purchase software whenever possible rather than write it in-house (or vice versa!).

Standards are criteria against which you measure something. Coding standards are used to define what types of programming languages should be used, how the code should be documented, the use of corporate methodologies, testing requirements, etc.

Procedrues are documents that provide step-by-step instructions for how to do something. Procedure manuals may contain standards within them, but more often there is a coprorpate Policies, Standards and Best Practices manual that applies throughout the company. The procedure manuals are usually associated with specific departments or business applications.

You can have procedures without have any policies or standards. However, the procedures wont' be as good as they could be. In fact, one of the first standards you should have is for your documentation (format, style, font, size, headers and footers, use of table of contents, etc.) This insures that all your documentation has the same "look and feel" and are easy to maintain.

Programming standards are vital for any serious IT organization, and these should include naming convention standards. Quality standards should be defined for all products and services.

Many companies have policies and standards on the tools and products that used in the company. For instance, you don't want people in the company using several differnt email systems or word processing programs, because this inhibits communications and requires extra support personnel.

Of course, there are also hardware and network standards to consider. Standards can apply to almost anything you do.

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