Relocation Management

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

Scope and Benefits

This experience is confined to the high level management of complex, critical projects where large numbers of staff are being relocated.

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 for new trading floors
• Project management of testing activities to ensure a minimum defect relocation, including:
  • QA of fit out of the floor
  • 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 - telephones, dealerboard turrets, ringdown/private wire relocation preparation, facsimile lines and machines etc
  • Cutover of key 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" trading floor 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
• Trading floor 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.