Creating the Course
For a Flawless Installation, Expansion or Move of Your Company's Voice and Data Infrastructure, you Must First Set Clear Objectives and Formulate a Detailed Plan*

By Trestand Conrique, President, Rancho Santa Fe Technology, Inc.


Like any project, installing, enlarging, upgrading, or moving a voice and data network requires the discipline to apply fundamental project management steps. The difference between network infrastructure projects and most general business projects, is that incomplete planning has a mission-critical impact. As IT Management, the functionality and operation of your entire company depends on you completing this project on time and without error - during the transition and long after it has taken place.

Your goal is a smooth transition, with little or no downtime, and the confidence that your network will experience fewer problems, require less maintenance, and be easily expandable. The lack of thorough and detailed planning is by far the leading cause of problems in network infrastructure projects involving your critical voice and data systems. That's why setting clear objectives and creating a detailed plan are two essential elements necessary for success.

1. Set Clear Objectives

It seems obvious, but the more structured you make every step of this transition, the more control you have over its timely, cost-effective and successful completion. Starting with strong, well-defined objectives puts every player on the same course and helps keep them there. Like a mission statement, your objective should be in writing, clear, direct, and as goal-oriented as possible. Your objectives should cover the issues on which success of this type of project is measured - that it's completed on time, on budget and that the ultimate performance of your system is efficient, productive and trouble-free. Here are the elements we recommend your written Project Objective Statement contain:

A. What is to be accomplished?
This can be a simple description of what is to be moved, the size of the desired expansion or of a completely new installation. The objective should also include measurement parameters defining the amount of disruption to your operations that would be acceptable during the process.

B. Why is this move, expansion, or installation necessary?
It's important to include this element in your objective statement so your team will have a full understanding of how this project benefits your company's operation and its future.

C. When will it be completed?
This is the target date you want the entire project to be complete and the system fully functional. It should also include dates of critical milestones to ensure that the project stays on track.

D. What is the budget?
Your objective statement should include the bottom-line expenditure for the entire project. E. What is the exit criteria? Include all the actions and deliverables required to demonstrate the acceptable completion of the project. This will differ from company to company, but could include such items as test results, as-built plans, training, system documentation, product documentation, and a final walk-through.





2. Create a Detailed Plan

Our experience at Rancho Santa Fe Technology s that over 80 percent of the problems in network installations have been the result of something essential being overlooked in the planning stage, or that planning was not done at all. The following considerations should help insure your plan includes every essential element. First, decide to follow a "Design-Build" process. Rather than define a plan of the work needed, then issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) to a number of vendors, many firms today prefer the "design-build" option. Interviewing and partnering with an installation service firm, before you begin planning, eliminates problems common to the RFP process and offers many advantages:

* Lower completion costs. With the design-build option, you and your chosen installation partner agree to a budget based on the scope and design of the project. Because the firm is involved in planning from the start, it can guide the selection of equipment locations and materials, recommend layouts requiring fewer materials, and provide input resulting in a higher quality installation at a lower cost. In the RFP process, low bidders may end up charging higher completion costs due to not fully understanding the full complexities of the job.

* Shorter completion time. Design-build projects have shown to reduce the time required for installations from 25 percent to 50 percent.

* Fewer change orders. It's not unusual for a bid winner to discover problems, once the job is begun, that were not apparent on the original plans. When the partner is involved in the project from the planning stage, there are fewer surprises.

* Less material acquisition delays. When the installation service firm is involved in the job from the start, it can begin ordering special materials, cables and other parts sooner and avoid delays.



Your Executive Management may require you to issue a Request For Proposal (RFP) and obtain competitive bids. To be confident that the accepted bid and completion costs are not out-of-line, it's important that the RFP specify the full scope of the project in detail. The clearer your RFP, the more realistic the estimates will be. As a company familiar with the RFP process, Rancho Santa Fe Technology can assist in writing, reviewing and implementing the RFP on behalf of your organization. But remember, when making your final partner selection, know that it's not possible to get service, low price and quality from the same resource. If your final decision is based on price alone, be prepared to accept a compromise on the quality of work or service you receive.

Tune into future editions of the Tech Toolkit for the remaining steps to help you manage your network expansion, including more on Creating Your Plan, Effective Team-Building, Constructing a Project Timeline, and Creating Strategic Partnerships.

Trestand Conrique is president and CEO of Rancho Santa Fe Technology, a leading communications contractor in the western states. Rancho Santa Fe Technology is focused on providing customers with an essential suite of services in three interrelated areas - building connectivity through the implementation of voice/data structured cabling, rollout of new enterprise wide data equipment technology, and providing service level maintenance and repair contracts for distributed network products for both wide-area networks (WANs) and local-area-networks (LANs). Visit the company's website at www.rsft.com.


*This is the first in an article series to guide you through the ongoing challenges of managing the expansion of your company's network infrastructure. It is an excerpt from the publication "The IT Manager's Survival Guide: Five Essential Steps To A Flawless Installation, Expansion or Move of Your Company's Network Infrastructure." To obtain a free copy of the publication "The IT Manager's Survival Guide: Five Essential Steps To A Flawless Installation, Expansion or Move of Your Company's Network Infrastructure," please send an e-mail to Tish@rsft.com and be sure to include your name, title, mailing address, and phone number. In the Subject Line specify "Requesting Survival Guide"