Hello everyone, I hope I came to the right place to ask my stupid question. I'm currently working in a company that stuck way way back in time. I'm talking some people are still working in DOS level back in time. There is some revamping of this in progres, but it's going to be a long run.
The "IT department" (called computing department, lol) consist basically of 2 people, boss and me. Boss loves the old days, he's "happily" using Win XP on his computer and hates everything newer than Win7, although half of everything he tries to do doesn't work there anymore (and don't even start with security of the OS). Anyway... that's about the company background and what to expect.
During currently ongoing upgrades to get this company at least to 21st cwntury, there will be some sw licencing happening. I'm expecting like buying dozens of Office 2021 keys and some other standalone soft too. But there's problem with managing those keys, as there is no precedence, no rules and everything's going to be from the scratch almost. People are coming and going, PCs are dying (remember, there are still some DOS machines), hard drives replacing, etc. etc. Windows domain? Not in this company. Ever.
So, how do you keep track of what is installed and where? Thank you very much.
Q: How do you eat an elephant?
A: One bite at a time.
Whilst you are faced with a multitude of issues, don't get lost in the weeds by details when you are trying to untangle the past to move it forward.
A simple spreadsheet to track hardware, licenses and other details like location, specs and primary contact is a perfectly reasonable starting point.
I say that because you don't know what you don't know yet. You might for example discover that some shops are doing their own thing, regardless of company policy.
Creating a ticketing system is useful to track stuff for everyone. I settled on
traxwith web access to people who need it, but the computer literacy levels might prevent some from using this.Burnout is a very distinct possibility in an environment like this, so make sure that you set aside time for you to think. Call it a meeting, call it an on-site visit, whatever you do, take time to think.
Also, remember to backup your work. It's not unheard of for it to vanish unexpectedly if you are perceived as a threat.
Source, I've been working in this profession for 40 years.