In the months leading up to your project, you’ll want to ensure the following tasks occur:
- Schedule a site visit with IT at your office location to review network cabling requirements.
- At least 2 months before you are ready: Contact all carriers, ISPs (internet service providers), and technology vendors and inform them of your move date.
If your network infrastructure is aging, now is a good time to update your equipment. Here’s a few steps you should follow while reviewing your equipment:
- Inventory all equipment to determine whether it still meets your needs and will be suitable for the future of your company.
- List any equipment that needs upgrading or replacing and order any necessary equipment.
- Return any leased IT and phone equipment that is no longer needed.
- Properly dispose of old or broken equipment.
- Evaluate server room requirements.
Your office might not have the installed cabling and infrastructure that your business requires. Ask yourself these questions in order to discover what you need and if anything needs to be added to the existing office:
- Do you have a firewall installed to protect your network?
- For data, how many Cat 5 cables do you require? Similarly, how many Cat 6 cables?
- Do you have a server room?
- How many TV devices do you have?
- Do you have Security Cameras?
- Do you need a phone system?
Once you’ve assessed your communications requirements, you’ll know what to keep track of during your site visit. A thorough site visit is essential in planning for a successful implementation. You should plan on having your IT provider join you, as well as your service provider. During the site visit, make sure to cover these steps:
- Review configuration plan of new office with your IT provider.
- Ensure the ideal locations for workstations, power jacks, and network cabling points are found.
- Decide prime location(s) for printers, scanners, routers, etc.
- Confirm whether the minimum requirements for the server room will be met (electrical, cooling, dimensions, and security).
It’s a good idea to have your IT and telecom solution provider in the office with you on Day One in order to help staff with any questions or network connectivity issues. After all stages are completed, you’ll want to do a walkthrough with your IT provider and check the following:
- Verify all cabling, equipment, and phones are in the right place.
- Check all individual telephone numbers and their locations.
- Test all features of the phone system.
- Start all servers and test network capability and data migration.
- Check incoming and outgoing emails.
- Check website, intranet, and extranet.
- Test each network connection.