Operations Manual

Definition

The operations manual is the operations work product that documents the procedures for performing operations tasks.

The typical objectives of an operations manual are to document procedures for performing:

The typical benefits of an operations manual include:

There will be no confusion as to how the members of the operations team are to perform their tasks.
The operations manual will enable new members of the operations team to quickly come up to speed.

The typical contents of an operations manual include:

Application Operation Procedures
Database Administration Procedures
Network Administration Procedures
Security Procedures:
- Secure startup and shutdown
- Security log or audit definition and management
- Security audit log archiving and restoration
- Security relevant time synchronization.
- Handling of secure removable media
- Anti-virus tasks
- Intrusion detection and prevention
- System security policy maintenance.
- Access control management
- Security labeling and label management
System Administration Procedures
Appendices:
- Major Issues
- TBDs
- Assumptions

The typical stakeholders of an operations manual include:

Producers:
- Operations Team
Evaluators:
- Deployment Inspection Team
Approvers:
Maintainers:
- Operations Team
Users:
- The database administrators follow the operational procedures in the operators manual to administer the databases.
- The computer operators follow the procedures in the operators manual to execute the application.
- The network administrator follow the operational procedures in the operators manual to administer the networks.
- The systems administrators follow the operational procedures in the operators manual to administer the systems.

An operations manual can typically be started if the following preconditions hold:

An operations manual typically has the following inputs:

Operations manuals are typically constrained by the following conventions: