Downloadable Templates for Runbook Documentation

Kelverion is invested in the success of our customers fulfilling their IT automation goals.  As part of this endeavor, we provide various resources to ensure our customers can implement and manage their IT automation goals with precision and efficiency.  Some of our resources include our webinars, blogs, technical discussions, and guides for things such as ‘Best Practices’ or ‘What’s New’ in the field of IT Automation. 

One of the biggest challenges customers are facing is upgrading their Microsoft System Center Orchestrator systems to the latest 2022 version or migrating across to the Cloud and Azure Automation.  To upgrade or migrate you need to know what you are moving, and in fact, customers often do not know:

• What the current Runbooks do
• Why they were created
• What assets the Runbooks use

This is often because the person who originally authored the Runbook has long since left the company and they did not document anything about the Runbooks.

The Importance of Runbook Documentation

One thing we always suggest to our customers is documenting their runbooks.  This helps in a variety of ways, such as:

• Troubleshooting runbooks when they stop working as expected
• Helping new runbook administrators get up to speed with your runbooks and processes
• Migrating to a new automation platform version, server, or environment
• Providing a resource with an overview that includes enough detail to identify key components that may impact runbook functionality

We have designed a Runbook documentation template for each platform we support – Microsoft Systems Center Orchestrator and Microsoft Azure Automation, as they both operate differently and, therefore, the data required to be captured varies. 

When we designed these templates, we wanted to make sure to include some things that are not easily derived from analyzing each runbook or using a tool like the Kelverion Runbook Surveyor but are equally important when it comes to understanding the spirit in which it was created.  These Runbook documentation templates allow customers to look at their runbooks from multiple angles, whether they are trying to see all runbooks that may be impacted by a particular credential that has been changed, or whether a runbook triggers another runbook, or perhaps if a runbook is triggered by another runbook.  Then there are areas where you can track other important things like:

• Who created the runbook?
• When was the runbook created?
• Who last updated the runbook?
• Why was the runbook last updated?
• Who last tested the runbook?
• When was the runbook last tested?

Capturing this type of data, as well as the specific details and descriptions of each runbook, plus general information about your environment, will provide a foundation for runbook administrators to have the knowledge and resources required to effectively manage, maintain, and continuously improve your IT automation processes. 

Each template includes multiple pages to help identify the type of data being collected, as well as an instruction page with detailed descriptions of the fields used.  Please download the template for your environment and know it can be customized or altered, but it already includes a comprehensive way to capture your critical business information.

Microsoft Systems Orchestrator Runbook Documentation Template

Microsoft Azure Automation Runbook Documentation Template