Velaspan performs hundreds of onsite assessments and designs each year, giving our team ample opportunity to spot patterns across engagements. One that stands out: Organizations with a few things teed up before they contact us arrive at desired wireless outcomes most readily, without delays or repeat work.
By things, we’re talking about decisions and deliverables usually in fairly close reach. When they’re not available to us at the start, it’s often because clients simply didn’t realize they were needed.
And so, without further ado, here’s what we hope you’ll prepare (or at least start preparing) before getting in touch with Velaspan:
High-quality floor plans, drawn to scale.
Floor plans are the first thing we ask for, for good reason: Accurate floor plans are integral to project quotes and all subsequent aspects of wireless design, from predictive modeling (which incorporates physical features and specifics like room size and wall placement) to related design documentation (which shows recommended hardware mounting locations relative to physical landmarks and specs). If these documents don’t align with reality because floor plans were off, installation deviations…then wireless performance issues…follow.
But here’s the rub: tracking down floor plans is almost always harder than it sounds. Quotes and project starts are routinely put on hold while our clients and prospects search for these drawings.
As such, try to get a hold of your facility’s floor plans (or at least get the ball rolling) before contacting a wireless vendor. Your organization’s facilities team is often your best internal contact.
And if workable floor plans really are nowhere to be found, it’s okay – just let us know right away. For smaller spaces, our engineers can use mapping tools to draw up sufficient substitutes. If your space is larger, we can bring in experts to draft up new ones. Most Velaspan clients who take the latter path find that updated floor plans come in handy for internal uses beyond wireless.
An internal point person.
Velaspan assigns a dedicated project manager to every engagement (even the smallest ones). We find that projects benefit in a big way when our clients do the same – that is, when they offer us a single point of contact within their organization.
Your internal point person doesn’t have to hold the title project manager. In fact, most don’t. Coordinators, supervisors, administrators – we work with them all. What matters is this person’s ability and availability to coordinate and disseminate information within your team (and with other vendors), ensure practical details are covered (making sure someone is available as needed to meet our team when we arrive onsite, for example), and all in all serve as our contact and point us in the right direction throughout the engagement.
“I can think of several projects where lining up site access or getting accurate floorplans felt nearly impossible until we connected with the right onsite contact. Having a seasoned, well-placed point person who can cut though those obstacles makes a huge difference in how smoothly and successfully a project comes together.”
– Howard Case, Velaspan Project Manager
A clear site access plan.
Because wireless design takes engineers to all reaches of your property, safety- and access-related requirements must be clear and underway before our team members arrive onsite to start working.
Velaspan project managers can handle all related tasks. However, we rely on you to share your enterprise’s specific protocol and point us toward right-fit internal resources. Some areas where clarity is needed:
- Do wireless vendor team members need to be accompanied by a company escort while onsite on your property? If so, what’s the ratio of escorts to guests?
- Will escorts stay with vendor employees the entire time? If not, will vendors have access to badges and/or access cards to move in and out of spaces as needed?
- Is personal protective equipment (safety vests, steel-toed shoes, etc.), background checks, vaccinations and related documentation, or any other specifics required?
- Does Velaspan need to register with a vendor credentialing program/ software?
- Will vendor vehicle and/or parking passes be needed and supplied?
Define technical requirements.
Your unique wireless network will be informed by the specifics of what you want and need it to do. Having that information ready to go can expedite design.
Before reaching out to any wireless vendor, then, encourage your key stakeholders to get clear on some fundamental wireless needs and goals:
- Which devices will use the network, and for what purposes?
- Which applications does it need to support?
- Are there capacity projections? Latency requirements? Performance targets?
- Where is coverage needed? Do bathrooms, elevators, stairwells and other ancillary spaces require coverage? If so, why?
Can’t arrive at a consensus – or just not sure who to ask? We can take the lead. Velaspan regularly performs use-case assessments, taking a diverse user group of individuals across your organization through a series of questions covering everything from key applications and workflows to space usage and growth plans.
“We’ve found that we have a knack for asking the right people the right questions, in the right way, which helps uncover use cases that might otherwise be missed. Often, knowledge about legacy devices or emerging technologies lives with just a few individuals, and bringing that insight forward can make a big difference in the final design.”
– David Bond, Velaspan Managing Partner
Know where you stand on hardware.
Your wireless network can’t be designed until hardware is selected. We don’t expect you to necessarily know which hardware model you want to use. But we will ask whether you have a preferred brand, a new brand in mind, or need help deciding.
If that last option resonates – if you’re looking for guidance – we recommend a hardware vendor selection assessment. Because Velaspan doesn’t sell hardware and is vendor neutral, we’re exactly who you want in your decision-making corner at this important impasse. We are also uniquely qualified. Our team has extensive experience with all hardware manufacturers worth considering and, in most cases, the teams behind them, critical to helping you make the best choice for your space, objectives, and needs.
Beyond informing design, there’s an added benefit to collecting the information outlined above: Put it all in one place and it becomes an enterprise wireless standards document that can prove hugely helpful to any future wireless projects. Like most things wireless, we’re happy to take the lead on this document if you prefer, organizing and saving it on your company’s behalf.
Have clarity around the points above? There’s only one thing left to do: Contact Velaspan.
