How to use When to use For whom Planning pitfalls Reaching deadlines

FREE Network Audit Template

Master network audit project plan timelines with our intuitive network audit template project plan Gantt chart template.

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Gantt chart template

Why use our Network Audit Template instead of Excel or Google Sheets?

Get started with our Network Audit Template in seconds while skipping the hassle involved with Excel or Google Sheets.

Build Gantt charts in minutes, not hours.

Build Gantt charts in minutes, not hours.

No project management experience? No problem. Tom's Planner offers a user-friendly, drag-and-drop interface that's intuitive and easy to learn. Creating Gantt charts is a breeze, saving you time and effort. Compare that to the time-consuming, frustrating, manual formatting-intensive process of building a Gantt chart in Excel or Google Sheets.

Create a Gantt chart in minutes, not hours

Move at the pace of modern business with no learning curve or Googling formulas.

Good luck figuring out how to make a Gantt chart work in Excel or Google Sheets. Excel’s user manual weighs in at a hefty 500+ pages. It takes just five minutes with Tom’s Planner to start planning your first real project plan.

Create a Gantt chart in minutes, not hours

Headache-free collaboration and sharing.

Tom's Planner offers powerful options for sharing and collaborating on Gantt charts, including public links, PDF exports, and team access with customizable permission levels. It’s never been easier to communicate or ensure everyone’s on the same page. Compare that to Excel, where sharing and collaboration mean jumping through hoop after hoop and dealing with confusion and chaos.

How to use Tom’s Planner’s network audit template to build and share your network audit project.

Getting your project off the ground is as easy as 1-2-3.

Step #1

Click the 'start with template’ button to open the Network Audit Template.

Step #2

Register for a free account and watch a short video on using Tom’s Planner. The account is free forever, with no strings attached.

Step #3

You’re all set to use the Gantt chart template. Need additional help? Our AI assistant can create a custom Gantt chart Network Audit Template based on your project description.

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What is a network audit template?

Ensuring network uptime and operability is critical in today’s world. However, too many businesses take a reactive stance on these problems. They only act to change things when a problem presents itself – an outage, for instance. A proactive stance, on the other hand, could prevent outages from happening in the first place, while also ensuring maximum operability and limiting risks. A network audit, sometimes called a network assessment, helps achieve these goals.

Network audits can be very complex. They include assessing all aspects of networked systems, from devices to applications, and even processes and policies in place. To help streamline the planning process and ensure a comprehensive, accurate assessment, IT teams can use a network audit template.

A network audit template acts as a framework for your assessment planning. It allows you to assign tasks, identify dependencies, create timelines, and more.

More benefits with a network audit template Gantt chart

Before using a network audit template in Excel or Google Sheets, it’s important to realize that spreadsheets are very limiting. Instead, a network audit template Gantt chart like Tom’s Planner can provide improved planning capabilities for a streamlined, successful network audit. Tom’s Planner makes it easy to plan, conduct discovery procedures, track dependencies, allocate resources, and more.

When to use a network audit template

Using a network assessment template is critical during several stages of the audit process. Some of the most important include the following:

Project Planning:

Planning a network audit is a complex undertaking. A network audit template Gantt chart like Tom’s Planner can simplify that process while ensuring improved accuracy throughout all phases of the audit.

Resource Allocation:

Network audits require a wide range of resources, from time and money to expertise. A network audit template helps you accurately allocate and manage resources across all phases.

Stakeholder Communication:

Both internal and external stakeholders must stay in the loop throughout the audit. A network performance audit template keeps everyone informed and in the loop throughout the process.

Effectively implementing a network audit template can yield major benefits for your processes, including improved planning accuracy, better resource management, and improved outcomes.

Who should use a network audit template?

Many professionals will need access to your network audit template Gantt chart. Some of those users may include:

MSPs:

Managed service providers may conduct audits and network assessments when onboarding new clients and when problems occur with existing clients. In some instances, MSPs conduct regular audits as part of their packages.

IT Team:

In-house IT teams will use a network audit template to organize their efforts, assign tasks, and track progress on tasks.

External Auditor:

External auditors may need to use a network audit template or network audit checklist to communicate with internal stakeholders and external teams, manage resources, and assign tasks.

In all instances, having the right tool is critical. A network audit template Gantt chart like Tom’s Planner ensures ease of access for all stakeholders, granular planning capabilities, and significant customization.

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The top three pitfalls to avoid when planning a network audit

Avoid these three pitfalls for a network audit that protects against risk, identifies weaknesses, and delivers peace of mind.

  1. Not Using a Network Audit Template

    Chances are good that you’ll audit your network repeatedly over time. Not using a network audit template Gantt chart means that you’ll need to start from scratch every time, wasting time, effort, and money.

    Solution:

    Make a network audit template like Tom’s Planner part of your auditing toolkit from the beginning.

  2. Not Writing Reports for Different Audiences

    You’ll create audit reports that go to a range of professionals within the organization, many of whom don’t speak IT. This can lead to misunderstandings and delays in remediation.

    Solution:

    Write your audit reports for different audiences and avoid technical jargon that might cause problems.

  3. Not Planning for the Full Scope of the Audit

    Network audits can be very in-depth, even putting some systems out of commission for a time. Without proper planning, this can affect business processes.

    Solution:

    Plan for all aspects of your audit and have contingency plans in place to ensure that if primary systems are offline during the audit, business processes can continue with other systems.

What does a network audit template include?

Network audits require a flexible, scalable scaffolding for accurate planning. Some of the things your network assessment checklist template might include are as follows:

  1. Planning:

    All successful network audits begin with in-depth planning. In this phase, you’ll set your objective, define the project’s scope, identify stakeholders, allocate resources, and create a timeline, among other tasks. Record all this information in your network assessment checklist for easier planning.

  2. Discovery:

    The discovery phase is where you begin developing a picture of the network. Stages in this phase include network mapping, device identification, data collection, vulnerability scanning, access review, protocol analysis, and more.

  3. Inventory:

    Maintaining an accurate inventory of devices and equipment is crucial. Steps here include asset listing within a network inventory assessment, hardware cataloging, software inventory, license verification, documentation review, data classification, vendor identification, asset tagging, and ownership assignment.

  4. Analysis:

    Once the audit gets underway, you’ll need to analyze the results. Steps in this phase include data aggregation, risk identification, threat modeling, impact analysis, gap analysis, and reviewing performance.

  5. Testing:

    Testing is crucial to determining risks to a network. Some of the steps here include penetration testing, stress testing, load testing, functional testing, security testing, and compliance testing.

  6. Reporting:

    Network audits don’t end with testing. All the findings must be put into a report and delivered to stakeholders for review. This can include data compilation, documenting findings, summarizing risks, creating visual aids, recommending solutions, and finalizing and distributing reports.

  7. Remediation:

    Finally, the business must act on the audit’s findings. This phase includes prioritizing issues, designing solutions, patching and updating, updating access policies, training staff members, developing incident response policies, and validation testing.

Don’t rely on a static or generic network auditing checklist. A network audit template Gantt chart can empower your planning and help keep your audit on track.

Four tips on how to make sure you reach your deadlines

1. Plan Regular Audits

Network audits can be complex affairs, but they’re crucial to your security and your network’s operability. Plan audits at regular intervals to ensure that patches and updates are installed, that equipment is operating at peak efficiency, and that you’re aware of your vulnerabilities. Tom’s Planner can act as the foundation for your audits so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel each time, which could cause missed deadlines.

2. Keep Stakeholders Involved

All network audits involve stakeholders throughout the organization. Keep them in the loop and involved so that the audit moves forward swiftly and that remediation actions don’t languish because someone didn’t know they were required.

3. Accurately Manage Resources

Resource management is a critical consideration within a network audit. Failure to manage them accurately can lead to slowdowns and bottlenecks that ultimately cause you to miss your deadlines.

4. Map Out Compliance Considerations Early

Does the network need to comply with industry rules or government regulations like HIPAA, PCI DSS, or GDPR? Map these out early so that you can take them into account and avoid unnecessary slowdowns that affect deadlines.

Gantt charts in Tom's Planner vs in Excel

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