NORTH STAR | SERVER RESPONSIBILITY REGISTER
Template version: 2026-09-20
Guide: https://northstarit.ca/learn/msp-server-management/

PURPOSE
Compare proposed server-management responsibilities and retain completion evidence.
Use one copy of the record below for each workload and control. An empty field
means unresolved scope. This template is not a contract, audit certificate,
security guarantee or service-level commitment.

PRIVACY
Keep completed records in your own access-controlled workspace. Do not record
passwords, API keys, recovery codes or sensitive customer data. Use references to
secure evidence locations instead of copying confidential material into this file.

WORKLOAD RECORD
Internal workload reference:
Business purpose and owner:
Platform, operating system and support status:
Critical application, identity, network and vendor dependencies:
Business impact of an outage:
Business-approved recovery time objective:
Business-approved recovery point objective:
Objective assumptions and approval date:

CONTROL / TASK RECORD (repeat for each control)
Task (for example: patch validation, access review or restore test):
What is explicitly included:
What is excluded or separately quoted:
Provider task owner:
Customer decision-maker / approver:
Vendor or other dependency owner:
Agreed frequency or trigger:
Coverage hours and time zone:
Change / test window:
Required approval before action:
Expected evidence and acceptance criteria:
Secure evidence reference:
Last completed and checked by:
Observed result (not completed / passed / failed / unresolved):
Observed restore duration or other measure, if relevant:
How the business workflow was validated:
Exception, risk and business impact:
Exception owner and review date:
Escalation contact and agreed response arrangement:
Rollback / recovery decision and authority:
Additional cost requiring approval:
Next review date:

HANDOFF AND EXIT
Customer-owned accounts and access confirmed:
Documentation and configuration exports to hand over:
Backup ownership, retention and restoration access:
Licence / vendor transfer requirements:
Actions to revoke provider access safely:
Open exceptions and receiving owner:
Customer and provider scope acceptance references:

BEFORE SIGNING
- Separate alerting from response, and response from authority to make changes.
- Confirm application and vendor responsibilities, not just operating-system care.
- Agree on recovery objectives before treating a backup result as sufficient.
- Keep test evidence and review unresolved items after meaningful changes.
- Confirm hours, exclusions and charges in the actual written agreement.