ICT Auditing
We would like to thank Manchester Community Information Network for their help with this section.
What is ICT Auditing?
Auditing involves establishing an organisation's current ICT capacity- what hardware and software an organisation has, what skills the workers have etc.
Why is Auditing Important?
- To make the most of volunteers' time it is better if a project is properly defined, rather than having a volunteer turn up for a specific job and find out that the scope of the work is wider or has additional problems.
- It is also important that ICT help given be used sustainably by an organisation. This means that a project should be well defined and the organisation should know what skills it will need to have/acquire in order to make the most of completed work.
- Finally, it is useful if an organisation has had some help considering what information it wishes to make available to the community it serves and in what format.
If you're not sure what your ICT needs are then perhaps an audit should be your first IT volunteer project.
Examples of Auditing Forms:
- Hardware and Software Inventory
- Information Management
- IT Skills Evaluation Questionnaire
- TechSoup's IT audit checklist helps you make a systematic record of exactly what existing ICTequipment and resources you have.
- TechAtlas has some free online tools to help you plan a project and also assess (audit) your existing IT setup relatively painlessly. This is a non-profit organisation and its basic services are free, but some might feel put off by having information about your organisation and its IT resources stored online. Still, its tools are very useful.
