IT Glue is one of the more popular documentation solutions on the market. In this article, we will have an IT Glue review and alternatives to choose from to help you decide which documentation manager platform is best for you and your business.
What is IT Glue?
IT Glue is a cloud-based document management platform. It is a SOC 2-compliant IT documentation platform designed to help Managed Service Providers (MSPs) manage their documentation and reduce the time they spend searching for important information.
Apart from documentation automation, the software also offers features for flexible asset tracking, relationship mapping, checklists, workflows, and more. It is designed to help maximize the efficiency, transparency, and consistency of teams.
It also helps keep large amounts of wildly variable information secure and accessible. Everything from layouts to reports to fields is highly customizable. It also supports an MSP-style operation where clients have multiple companies as their clients.
What are its main features?
Let’s have a look at some IT Glue tools that make this an exceptional document management suite. These include:
- Vendor and password management This is an important feature that helps users with many vendors. IT Glue keeps track of account numbers, representatives, website information, knowledge base articles written related to them, and account passwords.
- Asset tracking This tool helps users track their assets using customizable and enforceable documentation standards. It can track technical elements like technical and non-technical assets.
- Knowledge base Users can also make processes repeatable by creating and storing knowledge and SOP documents in IT Glue. They can store their information using applications like Microsoft Word and Lucidchart.
- Encourages engagement It can be used to encourage teams on their good performance in contributing toward a healthy and efficient culture of documentation. This drives results and ensures the environments that are supported are all well-documented. There is a Public API to present real-time team engagement statistics that can be accessed via dashboards.
- Access control IT Glue allows for granular control over access to all resources using a customized, secure information hierarchy based on roles, users, and groups. Users can easily control and limit access to everything from specific assets to an entire organization. It adds an extra layer of security to valuable data by preventing access from suspicious sources using Access Control Lists. This allows for white- or blacklisting of lists or ranges of IP addresses.
- Role-based UI Allows for tailoring of the tool’s UI using role-based design including customizing views to accommodate the needs of various teams in an organization. The visibility of non-technical assets can be limited for technical teams, and vice-versa, for example, while the interface can be tuned individually by hiding unneeded documentation elements.
- Powerful search engine Users can quickly find the exact documents they are looking for. The tool’s intelligent search engine locates files across all asset types and in all organizations. The information that can be searched includes serial numbers, IP addresses, applications, and passwords.
- Document linking Related items can be linked together so all information is accessible at once. Users can define and understand relationships between various elements of documentation to reduce research times and provide instant peripheral vision and awareness.
- Browser add-ons The IT Glue browser extension is available through the Google Web Store for both Chrome and Chromium Edge, and through the Firefox Web Store for Firefox. This lets users access the tool using their favorite browsers.
- Wide integration choices The tool is capable of integrating with an impressive list of integrations. This helps in improving productivity and, thus, profitability.
What features make IT Glue stand out?
Next, let’s have a look at some of the features that make IT Glue a tool of choice for many businesses. These include:
- Version control and rollback capabilities The tool allows users to spot when changes were made and choose previous versions to revert to. It has automatic versioning and rollback of attributes like passwords, devices, domains, SSL certificates, and all custom asset types. The rollback feature also allows missing data to be easily restored from immutable audit trails in activity logs.
- Workflow management It comes with a fully customizable flow that lets users flag documents that need approval, completion, or revision. The flags also serve as triggers or search features. Notifications are only sent to authorized users who can be assigned appropriate roles.
- Collaboration Documents can be shared or unshared depending on granular permissions allowing for full control over who sees what. Users who can be allowed to access the documents could be business partners, clients, or third-party users and applications.
- Import and Export Documentation for the knowledge base can be imported from documents in various formats including Microsoft Word, Confluence, or spreadsheets thanks to an import tool that helps with parsing the data. It can also be used to export data in various scenarios including when offboarding customers or when all documentation needs to be backed up.
- Checklists Users can easily replicate recurring processes, guarantee service consistency, standardize team processes, and track the progress of critical tasks with IT Glue Checklists. The tool comes with out-of-the-box myITchecklist templates that are based on industry-approved frameworks. They can edit, copy, and reuse recurring processes while also being able to customize them according to organization-specific custom requirements. It can be used to ensure there is a step-by-step guide to help adhere to best practices like securing documentation and passwords.
- Audit trail Users have full transparency into their documentation and can ensure compliance by understanding what is being accessed, created, updated, or deleted. They can keep track of any changes and accesses as well as revert to previous versions, should the need arise.
- Live views without downloading With GlueFiles, users can upload documents in list view and preview attached files – like Microsoft Word, Visio, and more – without having to download the files.
Who is IT Glue for?
IT Glue is an ideal tool for IT professionals – especially for those that are MSPs, in co-managed IT markets or IT departments of SMBs. It is also an ideal tool for any user that wants a documentation platform that can further empower them with additional features by integrating its REST API with other MSP tools, creating and accessing permission-based SOPs, and implementing secure password management.
What is the pricing?
The relatively high price is perhaps the only setback we could see with this tool. The tool comes in three packages – with increasing numbers of features – priced at $29 for Basic, $36 for Select, and $42 for Enterprise options. The prices are per user, per month. All three packages have a 5 users minimum (with a 1 to 4 users option available for Enterprise subscribers).
You can try IT Glue – request a demo for FREE.
What are some IT Glue alternatives?
Let’s now have a look at some IT Glue alternatives. But, before we do, there are some comparative features we looked for in the alternatives, and that include:
Features to look for in a documentation platform
- Document format variety IT documentation solutions should be able to import/export and work with documents in different formats and from various sources including scanners, emails, manual uploads, applications, and services.
- Familiar UI Users shouldn’t have to re-learn using the documentation application. It should be familiar to them and, better yet, use drag-and-drop or click commands to get even the most complicated of tasks done.
- Robust search function The whole idea behind implementing these types of solutions is to make it easy to find documents and information. It should, therefore, have a search engine that is powerful enough to drill into the documents and search by content.
- Workflow Automation Another non-negotiable feature is the ability to move documents up and down command chains. It should be able to move documents along set workflows depending on security clearances and authorization levels.
- Tiered or allowed access Reliable security is a non-negotiable feature. It should have robust permission and role configuration capabilities to ensure only those that are allowed to access documents do so.
- Integration with legacy platforms Not all businesses have spanking new systems on their networks. An IT documentation system should be backward-compatible as well as able to work with older, legacy versions of operating systems, data, and applications.
- Edit history Another critical feature is keeping track of changes in documents and data so they can be restored and even recovered in case of crashes or malicious activities.
- Cloud-based and mobile access In a world that is quickly adopting cloud computing and where most users access the Internet using their mobile devices, it is important to have a compliant IT documentation solution.
- Customization Users and businesses should be able to easily customize their documentation solutions to meet their unique business environment needs.
- Pricing Any software solution should always have a positive ROI; this is especially true in a market where there are free alternative solutions that perform just as well as, if not better than, their premium competitors.
And so, with this in mind, and moving on to the alternatives we have:
1. Confluence
Confluence is a document management system from Atlassian. It is an easy-to-use collaboration tool that brings people, knowledge, and ideas together in a shared workspace to help leverage an entire business’ expertise.
Some more features:
- It has a structured page tree to organize content with a page tree that makes it easier to find documents.
- Advanced search helps to find and organize pages quickly and accurately.
- Granular permissions keep employees in the know with open access to information they need, while they can only share and protect sensitive content depending on set permissions.
- Confluence’s most outstanding feature is its easy-to-use simple UI that allows users to create content using drag-and-drop commands.
Try Confluence for FREE.
2. ITBoost
ITBoost is a product from ConnectWise. It is an IT documentation software that has a versatile dashboard that allows full insight into, and control of, one of the most advanced documentation solutions on the market.
ITBoost brings all of a business’s mission-critical data and documentation needs into a single tool that serves as a source for customer information and business intelligence.
Looking into more features:
- Centralized documentation to build a knowledge base that adheres to industry best practices for efficiency; it comes with customizable templates to offer consistent support and continuous service.
- ITBoost merges data across companies, assets, contacts, and more with centralized IT documentation to provide a seamless customer experience to stakeholders across the board.
- It creates a logical hierarchy of folders and subfolders to group the knowledge base articles into custom clusters that the business can work with; users can also add definitions and boundaries with role-based permissions to control access.
Try ITBoost for FREE.
3. Passportal
N-able Passportal is a cloud-based solution for defining standard operating procedures, standardizing structured MSP documentation across all clients, and providing seamless access to a knowledge base. It is also integrated with a native, built-in password management solution for increased security.
Some more features include:
- It is a centralized location for client information with version control that allows referring back to previous configurations and how they have changed over time.
- It has custom flexible templates for unique business scenarios and a convenient drag-and-drop bulk file upload for the easy population of knowledge bases.
- Unlimited documentation, free-form digital article editor, and relationship mapping between items make it easy to create an easy-to-navigate and use documentation storage.
- Per-document access control helps standardize documentation across all clients and works conveniently with linked passwords to ensure security.
Try Passportal – book a demo for FREE.
4. WorkClout
WorkClout is a documentation platform that was specifically built for automotive manufacturers. It is a document control solution that offers robust review workflows, automation, integrations, and the organization of a manufacturer’s knowledge bank.
More features include:
- It is a flexible solution that can scale to accommodate any organizational structure and set up as its requirements grow or shrink.
- Users can manage documents with the help of robust document control and versioning and functionalities like peer-review, adding notes, and version control.
- A rather unique feature of WorkClout is that it can scan QR codes or custom barcodes to access relevant work instructions and SOPs.
- The tool can be accessed securely via web and mobile apps – meaning any device with a browser and including iOS and Android devices.
Schedule a FREE WorkClout demo.
5. DokuWiki
DokuWiki is the documentation platform for businesses and MSPs that prefer the open-source community. It is a fast and easy-to-use Wiki that can be customized to meet any requirement.
Some more features:
- This Wiki software doesn’t require a database that has a clean and readable syntax; it is easy to maintain, backup, and integrate – three characteristics that make it an administrator’s delight.
- Built-in access controls and authentication connectors make it ideal in the enterprise context; of course, with no database, the read/write access to its web server must be configured correctly.
- But then again, features like support for read-only pages, Extended Access Control Lists, spam blacklisting, delayed indexing, email address obfuscation, and rel=nofollow support make it a trustworthy platform.
- It comes with a large number of plugins that have been contributed by the tool’s vibrant community of users and allow for a broad range of use cases beyond a traditional wiki.
Download DokuWiki for FREE.
IT Glue recommendation
We have seen that IT Glue is indeed a comprehensive IT documentation tool that will meet, and surpass most users’ needs. It ensures a secure documentation platform that is easy to use and access. It can deliver requested documents quickly and accurately thanks to its effective search engine. It can also ensure only those that are allowed to access the documents can do so.
The only drawback we can see to this solution is its price – if it were more affordable, this superb tool would be just perfect.
What do you think? We would like to hear from you – leave us a comment below.
