Workstation readiness

A session is only as orderly as the machine it starts from. Workstation readiness is the work of bringing the client's own laptops, desktops and shared positions to a documented baseline, so that an approved connection begins from a condition somebody chose.

What readiness means

Ready does not mean new and does not mean uniform. It means known. For each class of machine we record the baseline: who may use it, which accounts it holds, which services it may reach, what is kept locally, and what happens when it is lost or reassigned. A baseline written in plain language can be checked by a person and tested in minutes.

• Assignment. One named primary user per machine, with a person to contact when the machine is found or lost.
• Accounts. No shared sign-in for individual work; shared positions carry a documented handling routine instead.
• Reachability. Machines reach the agreed services and nothing beyond the agreed list by default.
• Local data. What may be stored, where it is kept, and which folders are cleared when the machine changes hands.
• Change. How the baseline is updated when a person changes role or a service moves.

Shared and public-facing positions

Reception desks, control rooms and site offices are the hardest cases, because several people use them and none of them owns them. We treat a shared position as a position rather than a person: it has its own documented routine, its own opening and closing steps, and a named person who checks it monthly. That approach keeps accountability concrete without pretending that a shared desk is an individual's machine.

Preparation work we carry out

Following the agreed baseline we prepare client machines inside the client's own estate: our engineers work under the client's own administration, using the client's own accounts, during the windows the client sets. We record each change in a log, test the result with the user present where possible, and leave a short readiness note for that machine or for that class of machine.

Handling loss and reassignment

A readiness routine is only real when it survives a bad day. We write, with the client, what happens when a machine is lost, stolen or reassigned: who is told, which authority is withdrawn, which local material is cleared, and how the event is recorded. The routine is short enough to be followed under pressure and specific enough to be audited afterwards.

Scope and limits

We prepare machines that the client owns and authorises. We do not ask visitors to prepare anything, do not publish anything for a household machine, and do not work on equipment outside the agreed scope. Where a machine cannot meet the baseline, we say so in writing and propose a choice: adjust the baseline, replace the machine, or restrict what that position may reach.