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The SOPs related to Users and Workstations cover specific parts of the journey from a new hire coming onboard at a client, to when they move on to another company and someone new is hired to pick up the workload. The journey looks like this.
User Onboarding -> Workstation Deployment -> User Workstation Setup -> User Offboarding -> Workstation Wipe/Reload
User Onboarding tasks include creating accounts, configuring email groups, AD accounts and groups. Often overlooked is adding the contact to Autotask and associating the correct billing items. This is when you are first introducing your MSP to this new user and the only time you can make a first impression. A little extra time up front designing the journey can result in a fantastic customer experience. You should have a series of messages that educate and assist the new user getting up to speed as quickly as possible. They will appreciate it and it will show in future interactions with the user. It is your job to help the new user succeed.
MSPs thrive by standardizing. It lowers the breadth of systems we have to know. It reduces the number of different errors that we can run into. And it provides a way to offer consistent quality support for our clients. During the workstation setup, we are tackling all the standardized items related to setting up a new endpoint. In Phase1, we take care of all the “Hands On” parts. Phase 2 installs all the items we install for all clients. Phase 3 is where we handle client specific items. Once complete, the workstation is ready to be assigned to a user.
This SOP is where we assist the user in setting up the workstation per their requirements. This may include moving the users data from an old workstation. Assisting in configuring email and setting up any special stuff. At a small company, its not uncommon for Quickbooks to be installed only on one users workstation, this SOP is where that is handled.
The user won the lottery and quit, or if you are more of a “Negative Nancy” you may prefer the “Hit by a bus” narrative. Either way, the user is no longer employed by this client and we need to take care of it. Close the accounts, reclaim the licenses, backup the users data and provide it to their manager. Forward email to whoever gets it now. Its important that we do it the same way every time so everyone who needs to know, knows where the data is.
I love this part. Once I made it my policy that I would wipe/reload a workstation after a user leaves, it became a great tool to get rid of legacy, weird stuff. The kinds of stuff that was done to get around a weird issue that absolutely had to be done, or that rouge tech that keeps doing crazy stuff like installing an FTP server on a workstation to receive scans from the copier. We can bring the workstation back into a standard setup with no surprises. I usually add a week or two pause in here just to make sure nothing is lost, but it’s important to turn off the workstation to help identify any strange stuff, like a license server running on the workstation, or a folder on the root of the C drive that has some important info in it.