Documenation - Bye for now, Mediawiki

Chris_sctech · September 14, 2019, 9:37am

Hi all

For a long time now I’ve been using MediaWiki as our Documentation system.
Recently I’ve realised that sometimes it can be cumbersome, bearing in mind I’m not the only person to use the Doc system - or even add to it or amend it. It has to be ‘technician and wife’ friendly.

So, A thing in Wiki which would be handy would be a way to have drop down option lists and multiple-choice selections - not something that Wiki does. I’ve tried them all, ITGlue, SIPortal etc etc - its like buying a new suit, unless it’s tailor-made - it just doesn’t fit quite right. I’ve been looking around at different solutions and a good one that I have used in the past is Knack.com - this is now where I am building my Documenation system.

So far it’s been slick, I designed a Documentation system for a previous IT company that I worked for, and it worked very well for them, so I adopted the same system (Since originally, I had designed the one they use anyway) .

When it comes to Documentation - I believe it has to be relational.

When a person calls from a company, you need the ability to see which company that person is calling from and see everything about the company you need to know - other related people, Equipment data, Location, on-going work etc.

I like my documentation to flow thusly: Companie(s) >> People >> Equipment/Devices >> Support services subscribed & Whats covered >> Other information.
When a call comes in, you find the person in the system, and see everything you need to know related to that person - Do they use a PC/Laptop? IP Address? UserName? Direct PhoneNumber? Email address? etc. From those details you have a relational link back to the company they work for, so now you can see information and data pertaining to Servers etc (Equipment and Devices), Other people you may need to communicate with, which services are supplied to the company - Are they Fully Managed? Do they have managed Bakcup? Do they have Office 365? etc.

Anyway here are some screenshots of my system so far:

This is revision 1, I’m adding and changing things as we add more information to it.

Information on Knack here:

This weekend we have done a major 365 migration, having this system in place has really sped up our Documentation process and has aided in smooth migration.

I am on a plan where I can have 3 Apps with Knack, so I may replicate my current system with dummy data for anyone who wants to have at it.

Thanks.

LTS_Tom · September 14, 2019, 12:09pm

How is security and encryption of the back end handled?

Chris_sctech · September 14, 2019, 12:25pm

Here is the information:
https://www.knack.com/tour/security

I’d say its as secure as any of the other products out there!

LTS_Tom · September 14, 2019, 12:40pm

I am not ready to have my data hosted in someones else’s infrastructure with no ability to move it to another platform.

Chris_sctech · September 14, 2019, 12:45pm

I completely agree with what your saying. this was my first concern. Even though I am paying for this service I will keep finsing a more permamnent solution. If I could find something self-hosted and open source that would build a system in a similar way then id jump at it.

Chris_sctech · September 14, 2019, 1:14pm

One of the nice things about the login is, if someone tries to login it notifies you - you can approve and disapprove people also!

g-aitc · September 16, 2019, 9:11am

Try OTRS or SuiteCRM that has plugins for IT docs etc. SuiteCRM is what I use works for me. Both of these are on prem but have online options as well.

Chris_sctech · September 16, 2019, 8:24pm

Ill chec k it out… doesnt SuiteCRM cost?

g-aitc · September 16, 2019, 9:27pm

@Chris_sctech SuiiteCRM is FOSS some of the plugins are pay some are free if you want support from SuiteCRM you can pay for it their business model is similar to RHEL. Community support and docs are good. Give it a look see it was forked from Sugar CRM.

Chris_sctech · September 16, 2019, 9:43pm

OK ill take a look at Suite, I looked at thoe riste but saw free trial So I assumed it was not free.

g-aitc · September 17, 2019, 8:43am

@Chris_sctech SuiteCRM offers SaaS that is a paid service and has a trial where you can experiment. Just go to the download and get the docs as well. Let me know what you think.

Chris_sctech · September 17, 2019, 10:14am

OK cool, are you self hosting it?

Ill check it out!

g-aitc · September 17, 2019, 3:14pm

Yes I self host SuiteCRM

Chris_sctech · September 17, 2019, 4:23pm

Its looking quite good, Now, Im taking a look in the studio so I can make it how I need it… But

How do I remove this crap?

I dont need half of that and want to keep/use what I need. How do I get rid?

Thanks

g-aitc · September 17, 2019, 6:24pm

Go here in the docs is where you config modules: https://docs.suitecrm.com/user/core-modules/accounts/

Chris_sctech · September 17, 2019, 8:15pm

I am loving it! Where has SuiteCRM been all my life!

g-aitc · September 18, 2019, 10:32am

SuiteCRM is a fork of Sugar CRM that went closed source. They don’t do much in the way of promotion from what I see. Part of what I do is look for solutions for clients and I find gems like SuiteCRM. One of the strong points of SuiteCRM is it scales as your business grows and is versatile.

Glad you like it.

ITechnify · December 13, 2019, 2:21am

good stuff…
are the ITplugins free of charge? which one do you personally use?
Thanks

g-aitc · December 13, 2019, 5:12pm

@ITechnify Plugins are both free and paid. The base application is very easy to customize so I do not have any plugins currently. I try to keep things very simple makes for quick data entry and when thing are easy to work with they get used. I am getting to move SuiteCRM to another server over the Holiday week, right now juggling couple projects so my time is tight til January.