This WAN assessment checklist marks one link at a time. Each of its 12 checks names the record to find and earns 0, 1 or 2. Every link then ends with a total out of 24. Here a WAN means the links joining a firm’s sites to each other and to their cloud services. Treat it as a network assessment checklist for links between sites only; devices, security and site IT sit outside it. Its reader is an infrastructure head in India or the GCC with live links and renewals ahead.
Last reviewed 2026-11-08 by Manish Sharma.
WAN Assessment Checklist Marks: What Counts as Evidence
You mark the link, meaning one circuit with two ends. A site with two links gets two sets of marks, and each mark depends on what you can open today.
A check earns 2 when a dated record you can open now covers all of it. It earns 1 when a record exists but has gone stale or answers only part of the check. It earns 0 when there is nothing to open, whatever people remember about the link.
A check can be N/A only with a written reason beside it, for example a small site on one link by decision. An N/A check comes off the top mark, so that link is marked out of 22 instead of 24.
This can be the hard part. A provider manager who says “the contract renews in March” has given you a memory. The contract itself is the record.
Invented example, for illustration only: a link from a Mumbai head office to a plant in Pune has a contract on file. However, the register’s renewal date predates the last renewal. The record exists but is out of date, so check 3 marks 1.
Give each link twelve rows, one per check. Add a column for where each record lives and its date. A colleague can then check your marks without asking you where anything is.
The WAN Assessment Checklist: 12 Checks per Link and the Records Behind Them
Work through one link at a time, in four groups of three checks. The person who looks after the link can give the marks, while someone else opens each record to confirm it. For a firm with links in India and the Gulf, that person might sit at head office and ask each site or provider.
Who Owns This Link, and What Does the Contract Say?
Start the WAN assessment checklist with the link’s paperwork. The later checks refer back to the register, the owner and the contract terms found here.
| No. | Check | Record to find | Mark 2 if |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The link is on the register | The circuit register or inventory sheet, with the circuit ID, both ends, the link type and the contracted speed. | The entry has all four details, and the circuit ID also matches the one on the provider’s latest notice. |
| 2 | A named person owns it | The owner field in the register, plus the date that person last confirmed it. | One person in the firm confirmed ownership in the last six months. That person also knows who manages routing. |
| 3 | Contract terms are on record | The contract or order form. It shows term, notice period, renewal date, support contact, and agreed uptime and repair terms. | Every item sits in one place. The renewal date is still ahead, unless the firm already logged its renewal decision. |
Check 3 follows a US federal planning guide, NIST SP 800-34 Revision 1, published in May 2010. In its section on telecommunications contingency considerations, the guide asks planners to list each communications provider, with a point of contact and the contract or service-level details. The check looks at dates and terms and leaves prices out.
Is the Link Sized for the Work It Carries Now?
Here a figure counts only when someone measured it on the link. The contracted speed from check 1 is the yardstick. Latency is the delay a packet takes to cross the link. Loss is the share of packets that do not arrive. Short drops and slow spells can pass between checks unseen, as set out in how slowdowns hide from simple up or down checks. In our experience, a monthly average can hide short peaks, so ask for the busiest hours as well.
| No. | Check | Record to find | Mark 2 if |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Use is measured against capacity | A usage report for the link over a window the firm sets; we suggest the last full month. | The report shows peak and average use against the contracted speed. A note also records expected growth, for example a new team or more video calls. When the site runs voice calls over the link, the note says so too. |
| 5 | Latency and loss are measured | Test results for delay and packet loss between the two ends of the link. | The results carry a date, and the firm compares them with a target it wrote down before the test. |
| 6 | The route to cloud applications is known | A diagram or note on whether the site reaches cloud applications directly or through head office, plus a timing from the site. | The record names the route, and the timing also comes from the site itself rather than from head office. |
What Happens When This Link Goes Down?
These three checks read the records of bad days. A second path drawn on a diagram earns 1 at best until a dated record shows someone switched to it. Two providers can still share one duct or exchange near the site. Ask each for its route to the building.
| No. | Check | Record to find | Mark 2 if |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | The site has a second path | The record of the site’s backup link, with its route and provider. | A second path exists on a separate physical route. Otherwise, a written reason for N/A sits in the register, for example a small site that accepted one link. |
| 8 | Someone has tried the switch | The dated record of the last switch to the second path: who ran it, what happened and how long it took. | The record names the person, the date and the result, and the result also matches what the site expected. |
| 9 | Outages are recorded | The outage log for the link over the last 12 months, with date, length, cause and who restored service. | Each outage that the provider or users reported appears in the log with all four details. |
When check 7 marks 0 because no second path exists yet, see the guide to putting a second path in place. It also covers the interval between switch tests.
Does Anyone Hear About Problems, and Is It Written Down?
The last group asks whether trouble reaches a person and whether changes leave a trail. What to monitor in depth is a separate subject; check 10 asks only whether an alert lands with someone. Building that deeper watch is covered in a guide that runs from a baseline per site to a tested alert route.
| No. | Check | Record to find | Mark 2 if |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | An alert reaches a named person | The alert rule for link-down and slow-link events, plus a recent alert naming who received it. | A real or test alert inside the firm’s window reached a named person, who also acknowledged it on record. |
| 11 | The provider’s support is on record | Fault tickets raised with the provider in the window, with response and repair times, plus the current escalation contact. | The tickets show response and repair times against the check 3 terms. Someone also confirmed the escalation contact within the window. |
| 12 | Change record and diagram match the link | The change log for the link and the current network diagram, including the way back for the last change. | The diagram matches the link as it runs today. Also, the last change has a written way back another engineer could follow. |
Key Takeaway A link’s total out of 24 counts the records you can open today, from owner and contract to alerts and changes.
From WAN Assessment Checklist Totals to a Fix Order
A total shows how well a link is documented. The order of fixes comes from the zeros and from where each link sits.
Which Low Marks to Close First
Order the zeros from your WAN assessment checklist by what each gap puts at risk. We suggest this order, and you can adjust it to your sites:
- A 0 on check 7 or 8 at a site that stops working without the link. A store, plant or branch counter that halts when one line drops goes to the top.
- A 0 on check 2 or 3, before the notice date passes. Missing the notice window can lock a link into terms nobody reviewed.
- A 0 on checks 4 to 6. Measure use, delay and the cloud route before asking the provider for more bandwidth.
- Every other gap, each given an owner and a target date inside the coming change window.
When the firm decides to accept a gap, it writes down who accepted it and when. The gap keeps its 0, and the record of acceptance means nobody mistakes it for an oversight later.
Invented example, for illustration only: a branch link in Riyadh marks 2 on eight checks, 1 on two, and 0 on checks 8 and 11. Its total is 16 plus 2 plus 0, which comes to 18 of 24. If the branch stops trading without the link, check 8 goes to the top. Meanwhile, check 11 joins the other gaps with an owner and a date.
Key Takeaway Close second-path and switch-test gaps first where a site stops without its link. Then close owner and contract gaps before any notice date passes.
When to Mark the Links Again
Mark every link once a year. Also mark a link again when one of these happens:
- Its renewal notice window opens.
- A site at either end moves, or a new site opens.
- An outage runs past the limit the firm agreed.
- The provider changes, or the provider changes the service.
These triggers are Signisys suggestions, and a firm can add its own. A renewal or a provider change can also reopen the type of link, and deciding between a carrier circuit and mixed links before the notice date covers that choice. Keep the old totals beside the new ones. A total describes the records on the day you marked them. The link can still go down the next week.
Where These Marks Stop, and When a Network Specialist Helps
These marks cover the records for each link. Network design and security each need their own review, and choosing a different kind of link is a separate decision. Branch security has its own review in a score card for the security of each branch site. SD-WAN, which steers traffic across several links by policy, is one option; see what SD-WAN means. For the reasons links break in the first place, read why links between offices break down.
Your own team can run the WAN assessment checklist. Consider outside help when:
- nobody can name a link’s owner;
- the provider will not share usage or outage data;
- the second path has no dated test;
- a renewal date is close and the records are thin.
Once the gaps are known, you can also plan reliable links between offices with a specialist.
Signisys provides enterprise networking work and network and data center services. We sell this kind of work, so weigh the advice here with that in mind. You can use every check without us. If you want someone outside your team to read the records and confirm the marks, book a consultation with us. No charge, with a fixed scope.
WAN Assessment Checklist FAQ
Does the WAN assessment checklist cover internet links as well as private circuits?
What if only the provider holds the usage and outage data?
Can the WAN assessment checklist serve as a template before a contract renewal?
Who should keep the marks after a link is scored?
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