To keep it organized regarding IT communication templates, we distinguish 6 main triggers here. Make sure you have a workspace for IT Communication Assistant to run the formats.
Trigger 1: Incidents
Incidents are defined as all disruptions and issues that keep the IT infrastructure and operations from working properly. Incidents can range from small-scale (low priority) with a few users to an enterprise-wide disruption with the highest priority.
Incident classifications may vary by organization / IT department.
Communicate about outages and other issues
Thanks to the IT communication templates and tools in IT Communication Assistant, this is very easy.
Use the Disruption formats
Simply choose whether to send a new incident alert or provide an update/resolution on an existing incident. Then you go through the prompts. It’s a fill-in-the-blanks exercise resulting in a professional message draft, ready for you to edit/publish.
Vulnerability? Use the Security alert format
Simply go through the prompts. Again, it’s a fill-in-the-blanks exercise resulting in a professional message draft, ready for you to edit/publish.
Does an incident force you to make a change to an IT system or service?
Use the Emergency change format. And again, simply go through the prompts. It’s a fill-in-the-blanks exercise resulting in a professional message draft, ready for you to edit/publish.
Major incident resolved? Communicate a summary report
Use the Post-mortem report format. And again, simply go through the prompts. It’s a fill-in-the-blanks exercise resulting in a professional message draft, ready for you to edit/publish.
Avoid IT jargon. Explain terms related to the incident
Use the Technical concept explainer to “translate” technical terms. Use (parts of) the “translation” of the tech term to clarify things. End users will feel more engaged.
Workaround available to bypass a disruption?
Use the Workaround creator to set up a professional user manual. This allows employees to continue to perform their jobs to the best of their ability during the disruption.
Answer seemingly common questions about the incident in advance
Use the FAQ creator to set up a user-friendly PDF file with questions and answers. With this, you make end users more self-sufficient, leading to less workload on the IT department.
Trigger 2: Problems
Problems arise from an incident. This may be the case, for example, when an incident persists for an extended period of time or when an incident recurs among a large group of users.
The playbook on when an incident becomes a problem can vary by organization / IT department.
Communicate about the road to recovery
Thanks to the IT communication templates and tools in IT Communication Assistant, this is very easy.
Introduce the recovery plan
Use the Problem recovery plan format. Simply go through the prompts. It’s a fill-in-the-blanks exercise resulting in a professional message draft, ready for you to edit/publish.
Provide status updates on the recovery plan
Use the Problem recovery status update format. Again, simply go through the prompts. It’s a fill-in-the-blanks exercise resulting in a professional message draft, ready for you to edit/publish.
Does a problem force you to make a change to an IT system or service?
Use the Emergency change format. And again, simply go through the prompts. It’s a fill-in-the-blanks exercise resulting in a professional message draft, ready for you to edit/publish.
Announce it when the problem is resolved
Use the Problem resolution format. And again, simply go through the prompts. It’s a fill-in-the-blanks exercise resulting in a professional message draft, ready for you to edit/publish.
Resolution announced? Communicate a summary report
Use the Post-mortem report format. And again, simply go through the prompts. It’s a fill-in-the-blanks exercise resulting in a professional message draft, ready for you to edit/publish.
Avoid IT jargon. Explain terms related to the problem
Use the Technical concept explainer to “translate” technical terms. Use (parts of) the “translation” of the tech term to clarify things. End users will feel more engaged.
Workaround available to bypass a problem?
Use the Workaround creator to set up a professional user manual. This allows employees to continue to perform their jobs to the best of their ability during the problem recovery process.
Answer seemingly common questions about the problem in advance
Use the FAQ creator to set up a user-friendly PDF file with questions and answers. With this, you make end users more self-sufficient, leading to less workload on the IT department.
Trigger 3: Changes
Changes here means all, deliberate, stakeholder noticeable changes to the organization’s IT landscape. From updates to existing IT services to implementations of new IT services.
In terms of communication, this is separate from the “change management process”, which includes all (background) changes (which are not necessarily noticeable to stakeholders).
Communicate about noticable changes for end users
Thanks to the IT communication templates and tools in IT Communication Assistant, this is very easy.
Is there an important update coming up to an existing IT system, service or application?
Use the Major change format. Simply go through the prompts. It’s a fill-in-the-blanks exercise resulting in a professional message draft, ready for you to edit/publish.
Does an issue force you to make a change to an IT system or service at short notice?
Use the Emergency change format. Again, simply go through the prompts. It’s a fill-in-the-blanks exercise resulting in a professional message draft, ready for you to edit/publish.
Provide an update on a change implementation
Use the Change update format. Whether the implementation succeeded or was reversed. And again, simply go through the prompts. It’s a fill-in-the-blanks exercise resulting in a professional message draft, ready for you to edit/publish.
Are you launching a new IT service?
Introduce it through the New service launch format. Again, simply go through the prompts. It’s a fill-in-the-blanks exercise resulting in a professional message draft, ready for you to edit/publish.
Is a particular IT service being phased out?
Announce it through the Phase-out notice format. Again, simply go through the prompts. It’s a fill-in-the-blanks exercise resulting in a professional message draft, ready for you to edit/publish.
Is there a change freeze coming up?
Use the Change freeze format to inform end users that IT changes are on hold for a period of time. Again, simply go through the prompts. It’s a fill-in-the-blanks exercise resulting in a professional message draft, ready for you to edit/publish.
Avoid IT jargon. Explain terms related to the change
Use the Technical concept explainer to “translate” technical terms. Use (parts of) the “translation” of the tech term to clarify things. End users will feel more engaged.
Workaround available during any downtime during the implementation of a change?
Use the Workaround creator to set up a professional user manual. This allows employees to continue to perform their jobs to the best of their ability during the change implementation.
Answer seemingly common questions about the change in advance
Use the FAQ creator to set up a user-friendly PDF file with questions and answers. With this, you make end users more self-sufficient, leading to less workload on the IT department.
Trigger 4: Projects
Projects refer to the plans and realizations taking place in the background to improve the organization’s IT landscape.
Communicate about what is happening behind the scenes
Thanks to the IT communication templates and tools in IT Communication Assistant, this is very easy.
Introduce your IT-related project
Use the Project introduction format. Simply go through the prompts. It’s a fill-in-the-blanks exercise resulting in a professional message draft, ready for you to edit/publish.
Provide status updates on your project
Use the Project status update format. Again, simply go through the prompts. It’s a fill-in-the-blanks exercise resulting in a professional message draft, ready for you to edit/publish.
Are you launching a new IT service?
Announce it through the New service launch format. And again, simply go through the prompts. It’s a fill-in-the-blanks exercise resulting in a professional message draft, ready for you to edit/publish.
Avoid IT jargon. Explain terms related to the project
Use the Technical concept explainer to “translate” technical terms. Use (parts of) the “translation” of the tech term to clarify things. End users will feel more engaged.
Answer seemingly common questions about the project in advance
Use the FAQ creator to set up a user-friendly PDF file with questions and answers. This allows you to provide information in advance regarding possible questions and concerns that stakeholders may have, to relieve the IT support department.
Trigger 5: Other events
These are the other happenings and newsworthy information that occur in the organization’s IT landscape. Often resulting from (or preventing) one of the previous four (incidents, problems, changes and projects).
Communicate about news and events
Thanks to the IT communication templates and tools in IT Communication Assistant, this is very easy.
Notify about scheduled maintenance
Use the formats for scheduled maintenance. Simply go through the prompts. It’s a fill-in-the-blanks exercise resulting in a professional message draft, ready for you to edit/publish.
Invite end users for a training session
Familiarize them with whatever IT topic they are dealing with. Use the Training invitation format. Again, simply go through the prompts. It’s a fill-in-the-blanks exercise resulting in a professional message draft, ready for you to edit/publish.
Ask for feedback from users of an IT service
Don’t be afraid to question end users about how you might improve the service. Use the Feedback request format. Again, simply go through the prompts. It’s a fill-in-the-blanks exercise resulting in a professional message draft, ready for you to edit/publish.
Communicate whatever information may be newsworthy to end users
Use the Announcement format. And again, simply go through the prompts. It’s a fill-in-the-blanks exercise resulting in a professional message draft, ready for you to edit/publish.
Avoid IT jargon. Explain terms related to the event
Use the Technical concept explainer to “translate” technical terms. Use (parts of) the “translation” of the tech term to clarify things. End users will feel more engaged.
Answer seemingly common questions about the event in advance
Use the FAQ creator to set up a user-friendly PDF file with questions and answers. This allows you to provide information in advance regarding possible questions and concerns that your audience may have, to relieve the IT support department.
Workaround available if a particular event calls for it?
Use the Workaround creator to set up a professional user manual. This allows employees to continue to perform their jobs to the best of their ability during the event.
Trigger 6: Knowledge
This covers all structural IT-related knowledge items, such as manuals, workarounds, FAQs and glossaries.
Help end users become more self-sufficient
Thanks to the IT communication templates and tools in IT Communication Assistant, you can easily create the most structured knowledge items.
Organize answers to common questions about IT services and situations ahead of time
Use the FAQ creator to set up a user-friendly PDF file with questions and answers about a particular IT service or situation. This way you help end users move forward without burdening the IT support department with the same questions.
Establish glossaries to clarify certain issues and concepts
Use the Technical concept explainer to “translate” technical terms. Use (parts of) the “translation” for a clarifying glossary of terms.
Establish workarounds to circumvent (common) issues
Use the Workaround creator to prepare professional user manuals. This allows employees to continue to perform their jobs to the best of their ability during a particular issue.
Explain processes within the IT department to end users
Be transparent and build more trust. Process concepts are also easy to explain using the Technical concept explainer.
