the independent specialist consultancy

Relocation Management

When an organization is planning to move premises or expand/re-stack existing space, CAS has the experience and resources to manage the process from conception through to completion. The added value that CAS brings to this kind of project is the vision and expertise to review IT, telecom, audio-visual and all communications facilities and provide the opportunity to establish a new and better work space.

CAS has successfully managed large relocation projects for high profile clients, both as specific assignments and in parallel with the technical design aspects.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

The CAS project management service aims to meet project objectives, examples are:

• To ensure that the Project Management processes, procedures and standards effectively support business requirements.
• To work towards set business objectives with limited resources.
• To formally structure the management of scope, time, cost and quality.
• To understand the organizational risk and develop counter measures to minimize and control these.

Program Management

When simultaneous management and co-ordination of a number of projects is required, CAS can provide experience program managers.

Where the life cycle extends from inception and feasibility to commissioning and operations.

Where strategic vision is required to address business objectives.

Scope and Benefits

The experiences of managing complex, critical projects where large numbers of staff are being relocated bring significant benefits to CAS clients.

The areas where CAS has added real benefit are:

• Establish and develop relocation strategy, desktop relocation or pre-installation and technology refresh
• Setting up and helping to manage the project office
• Project management and staffing of user equipment audits
• Project manage and provide resource for technology installation
• Project management of testing activities to ensure a minimum defect relocation, including:
  • Quality Assurance for new fit out or refurbishment
  • Network Testing - ensure all "hot" ports can see the network
  • Application Compliance Testing - ensure all business critical applications run on all subnets, with no latency
  • Testing and acceptance of telephony equipment
  • Cutover of business critical systems, such as PBX, dealerboard, voicemail/VM and numbering schemes
  • User Acceptance Testing - involve users and manage support calls at Go Live
• Set up and manage relocation helpdesk, liaise with and direct operational staff to ensure IT and Facilities help points are able to handle and react to new building issues

The detailed analysis of user requirements, assisting in backroom systems delivery and the "up front" management of technology has allowed a seamless schedule of activities to be brought together, CAS being the catalyst that ensures all responsible client services are brought together.

Project Office Methodology

Due to the strategic planning and management roles CAS is able to provide, the concept of setting up a project office for the relocation is one that has been well received in the past. CAS considers that the successful relocation projects are those where the facilities, IT and building contract areas are managed from one central project office as shown below:

The end result is that there is one place to go for any management decisions and when the staff are relocated this is implemented with clear controls to include:

• Database management of user details
• Planning and execution of departmental meetings to gather all necessary data
• Cross-checking information with a variety of contacts
• Onsite presence to ensure that all building and IT service providers are working from the same project plan and that standards of execution are closely monitored

Ideally, the central project office should be set up 12 months in advance of the initial relocation.