I came across a typical scenario this week. Dotman Design is finishing up a site that was started by another person. Generally, not a big deal, this stuff happens. People get started, and then get overwhelmed, over committed, leave, almost anything can happen.
It is a big deal though when the person that started it, is the only person that knows all of the information! Hours can be wasted trying to track down the correct access credentials. Yes, we get paid, but that’s not the point. It can add days or weeks to the scope of the project if your site is inaccesible.
At a minimum, know:
- your domain name username, password and what company it’s registered with
- web host username, password, control panel URL (web address) and hosting company provider.
With those two pieces of information, you can generally find out the rest (with varying degrees of difficulty).
Other helpful access information:
- If your site is based on a CMS (like Word Press, Joomla, or other Content Management System), there’s another application username, password and URL for the backend access
- database name, username and password
- Paypal or similar service credentials
- All of your social media credentials (Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Flickr, Youtube, etc)
- Reporting username and password
- Online services usernames and passwords (dropbox, basecamp, etc).
Know your info!
It will save time, dollars and frustration.
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