1

Hello Guys,

I have been trusted into a position of managing an IT relocation. What should I be on the look out for and the reports to sign off. Any checklists and templates will help.

6 Spice ups
2

A quick search found this, seems quite inclusive.

Perhaps a good start to build your own lists from.

3

Hi there,

Good checklist link posted above, and the point about making your own lists as a starting point.

Some thoughts from experience:

  • List what you’re moving. PCs? Servers? Networking Equipment? Etc
  • Does the new site have comms in place? If not, order comms as early as you possibly can. Here in the UK, lead times for comms can be significant.
  • Check that your comms are ordered and the lead times
  • Consider comms, whether comms are ordered, and how significant the lead time is. Ok, I’m half joking here with repeating it, but half serious. Getting external comms in place can be super important and often, a head ache. We have had cases where a customer is relocating to a new location, only to find the new location doesn’t even have ADSL available, let alone anything better. It happens, but keep it in mind as early as possible.
  • Consider documentation. The people doing the actual relocation, are you happy that they know what they’re doing and have suitably documented the infrastructure ready for re-connection at the new site?
  • Is there sufficient network cabling at the new site? We have had customers tell us there are plenty of network connections, but a site survey has found they are just old internal phone extensions.
  • If there is sufficient network cabling, have you had it tested? Are you sure it works? We moved a company’s IT to a new build/refurb type setup last autumn, just a small place, but all 24 brand new cable runs (arranged by building contractor) didn’t work (all wire mapped incorrectly, couple of opens and one short).
  • The people doing the relocation, are they planning to pack the equipment safely for moving?
  • Is Equipment fully inventoried and/or clearly labelled?
  • Are server cabinets being moved? And actually, is furniture being moved? If these sorts of items are being moved, it’s a careful piece of planning to remove all IT kit to a safe place, get the cabinets or furniture (such as desks) relocated , then move the IT kit to in place.
  • Have you got plenty of spare consumables? Power leads, Patch cables, Power extensions (for desk locations), etc.

The day before moving day, don’t hold back with a camera. Photograph everything! Every connection, the condition of every piece of kit. Also, make sure backups are complete.

In estimating the time required for the relocation, don’t underestimate the time required. If you promise a day to relocate, then spend a further two days troubleshooting what is connected to what, that’s not a great situation. If think you can do it in a day, but put forward two days, that gives some time to take a controlled/measured approach, get everything in place and working first time.

If you have any doubts over the documentation and planning (and blackout plans), don’t hold back in questioning it. If the people doing the move can’t give a good answer or they have their own doubts, relocating needs to be on hold until the gaps are well covered and planned.

Good luck with it.

4

Can you describe what you mean by IT Relocation? Do you mean you have a building being relocated and you need to make sure the IT infrastructure at the new site is what you’re looking for?

If so, a lot of that is going to depend on what you’re bringing with you vs budget for new equipment.

Without much more detail, it’s going to be hard for us spicers to give you a more detailed list.

Of course feel free to PM me if you don’t want to publicly share details. I’ve got probably hundreds of IT moves under my belt… from all new equipment, to all old equipment being “carried” over.