In this guide, IT standardization means that each office or site of one firm runs the same agreed setup. That includes devices, accounts, software and the help route, with any difference written down and approved. It is not about the published norms that national and international bodies issue for whole industries. The work runs in a set order. First the IT lead records what each site runs, then agrees one baseline and sets a rule for exceptions. After that, one site moves, the rest follow, and the IT lead reviews the baseline on dates set in advance. The wider case for running every office on the same setup sits on a Signisys use case page.
Last reviewed 2026-11-02 by Manish Sharma.
IT Standardization Means One Agreed Setup
A firm with several sites already has a setup at each one. The work here is to make those setups match. One word comes up throughout. A baseline is the written description of one kind of device or account, such as a counter PC. In it, the IT lead sets out the firm’s agreed setup for that kind at each site.
Three people carry the work. The IT lead owns it and also writes the baselines. Each site manager answers for their own site, while the operations head agrees the order in which sites move. The day-to-day site work under these three can stay with the firm, go outside or be split, as set out in an in-house team and a managed provider compared job by job.
The six moves of IT standardization, listed below, run in sequence, with something written down when each one ends.
the IT lead and each site manager fill in one dated sheet per site.
from the sheets, the IT lead then writes one setup for each kind of device and account.
the operations head agrees when a site may differ, and who approves it.
one willing site comes onto the baseline, then the IT lead adjusts it.
the remaining sites follow in an agreed order.
the IT lead looks at each baseline again on dates fixed ahead.
The six moves come from a Signisys working method, which is no published rule.
First, a Dated Record of Each Site
Before anyone writes a baseline, the IT lead has to know what each site runs today. For that, the IT lead and each site manager fill in one sheet per site and date it. Why sites drift apart in the first place, from opening week to a departure, is traced in what goes wrong at a branch when each office sets up IT its own way.
The IT lead records five things on the sheet. First come the devices in use and their models. Then come the software and the version on each device, and the accounts, with who may open what. The network equipment follows, with who installed it. Last comes the route a site team uses to ask for help, such as a phone number or a named colleague.
At this point, the IT lead records what is there and leaves out scores. The site manager then fills in a record, not a test.
Once the IT lead files each sheet in one chosen place, the differences between sites sit side by side. Two outlets may run different versions of the same program, for example, or create accounts in different ways. Those differences are the raw material for the baseline.
IT Standardization Rests on a Written Baseline
With the sheets in hand, the IT lead writes one baseline for each kind of thing the sites use. These might include an office laptop, a till PC, a printer, a staff account, a manager account and the site’s network equipment.
For each baseline, the IT lead names the model, the software and version, the key settings and who may change them. A model here is a description, such as a screen size or a memory size, rather than a brand.
One short page per kind of device or account can serve as a baseline. Staff accounts have a wider setup of their own, worked through in the build order for one sign-in and shared access rules.
A public US guide covers the wider field. NIST Special Publication 800-128 is the US standards agency’s guide to configuration management, first published in August 2011. Its page describes it as guidance for organisations responsible for securing federal information systems.
The guide is aimed at US federal systems. Read it here as background reading, not a rule the reader must follow.
Before any site moves, the operations head and the IT lead settle each baseline and put a date on it.
Key Takeaway To use a baseline, hand its one page to whoever buys or sets up the next device of that kind, and ask them to match it.
Exceptions, Written Down and Approved
Some sites may need something different. A branch may run a special machine, or an outlet may sit on a weak link. Elsewhere, a landlord’s rules may limit what the IT lead can install.
The rule in this Signisys working method is short. Each exception goes down in writing with five details. These are the site, the difference, the reason, the approver and when the next look is due.
A difference left unwritten counts as a gap to close, not as an exception. Later, when the site’s turn comes, the IT lead either brings it onto the baseline or writes it up properly.
The IT lead also keeps the exceptions next to the baselines, and anyone reading one sees the other.
The operations head approves the exception, while the site manager says why the site needs it. When both names sit beside the reason, a later reviewer knows whom to ask.
Key Takeaway When you meet a difference between sites, look for it on the exception list: if it is there, leave it, and if it is not, treat it as a gap to close at that site’s turn.
IT Standardization at the First Site
One site goes first, and the choice matters. A good first site has a willing manager and work much like the others. It also sits close enough for the IT lead to visit.
At that site, the IT lead moves devices, accounts and software onto the baseline, one kind at a time.
Something may not go to plan. A printer may not take the agreed setting, for example. Or a site team may need a shortcut the baseline left out. The IT lead writes each of these down. Then, before the next site, the IT lead adjusts the baseline and gives the new version its own date.
By the end, the IT lead holds three things. One site is on the baseline, and the IT lead has a dated list of the changes. The site team has also written a short note on what it found harder or easier.
The first site is where the baseline meets a real office.
The Remaining Sites, in an Agreed Order
With the first site done, the operations head and the IT lead settle the order for the rest. In this Signisys working method, a few plain tests set that order.
Sites with the oldest equipment, or with the longest list of open differences, go early. A site with a busy season moves outside it, which can keep its team clear of changes in its heaviest weeks.
Each move then follows the first site’s pattern: the sheet, the move and the note.
While sites wait their turn, the IT lead adds nothing new to them that falls outside the baseline.
Key Takeaway When you draw up the order, write each site’s busy season beside its name, and schedule that site’s move outside it.
A firm that sets out to standardize IT across sites may also need work on the links between offices. Signisys covers making the links between offices reliable on a page of its own.
When the Baseline Itself Changes
New models arrive, software versions move on and a site’s work can change. The IT lead reviews each baseline on dates fixed ahead, and also when someone proposes a change.
When a baseline changes, it gets a new date. The IT lead keeps the older versions; anyone can then compare a site with what applied when it moved.
When a new site opens, it starts on the current baseline from its first day. Before staff start there, the site manager and the IT lead fill in its sheet.
A Bakery Chain Writes Its First Baselines
This bakery chain is invented and has no tie to Signisys. Its outlets sit across the GCC region and take their bread and cakes from one central kitchen.
Filling in the site sheets, the IT lead finds three kinds of counter PC in use. Outlets also create staff accounts in two different ways. The central kitchen also runs its own ordering screen, which an outside installer set up.
Next, the IT lead writes a baseline for a counter PC and one for an outlet staff account, which the operations head dates. As for the kitchen’s ordering screen, it stays as it is for now. On the exceptions list, it gets a reason, an approval and the month of its next review.
For the first outlet, the IT lead picks the one nearest head office, whose manager had asked for help. The rest follow in a sequence that keeps changes away from the busiest festival weeks.
For this chain, IT standardization ends with outlets that share one written setup. Beside each difference, the IT lead has also put a name and a reason.
After the Last Site Has Moved
Once the last site is on the baseline, the IT lead files the sheets, the baseline versions and the exceptions in one shared folder. Site managers can read that folder, while the review dates stay in the IT lead’s calendar.
Checking later how closely each site still matches the baseline is its own task. Signisys can draft first baselines for the sites the IT lead picks.
Two Signisys offers touch this work: IT consulting and managed cloud services and IT service management and operations automation. Signisys has a commercial interest in how firms set up their sites.
IT Standardization FAQ: Questions Asked Early
Does IT standardization mean every site buys the same equipment?
Can IT standardization go ahead while sites keep working?
Who approves a change to the baseline?
What happens to equipment outside the baseline?
Should the baseline include each site’s routers and switches?
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