Here is a list of the most critical and frequently overlooked items in your office relocation checklist when planning an office move.

Office moves are often difficult, but necessary. In order to help minimize the chaos and disruption to business flow associated with a location change, we have assembled the most common business moving tasks here to help with your office move.

Physical Planning

• For any office move, start planning at least 3 months prior to physical move
• Determine a timeline and budget for the move
• Obtain a floor plan of your current and future offices
• Create and seek approval of layout of proposed furniture, office technology orientation/office layout
• Obtain quotes on required build-out at new location
• Identify the telephone / server / data equipment room on the floor plan
• Identify jack locations for each computer and phone
• If modular furniture is being used, identify the network cabling
• Obtain a separate bid for phone and a separate bid for the IT work — use specialized experts, not jack-of-all-trades
• Begin compiling costs for office move budget
• Evaluate new location to determine if there are any special limitations for movers
• Assign each new office space an identification number
• Record all of the information you have assembled

Teams

• Create teams for each of the following segments of your business: computers, phones, office furniture, network wiring, and communicating with other personnel
• Develop a list of back-up team members
• Review all layout plans and jack locations for all equipment with team leaders in preparation for the office move
• Create an outline for each team member and vendor as needed
• Meet weekly to set and review goals for each team

Labeling for Move Day

• Label data jacks for phones as “POE” and data lines for computers as “ETH”
• All wiring should be labeled with the room ID to which it belongs and its location in that room
• All computer equipment should be labeled with the identification number assigned to the new space
• Label all boxes and binders with the identification number of their new home
• Color code labels for items belonging in network rooms or other common areas. Each color should correspond to a unique common space in the new location. At the new location the color should be clearly present on the door or wall space next to the door for easier unpacking
• Place each color on the building layout diagram you have created
• Ensure all team members are familiar with coding system for the office move
• Communicate color coding system with your movers along with a copy of the layout

Jack Wiring, Patch Cabling, Phone and Internet

• As possible, ideally 8 weeks in advance, determine which type and speed of internet services are available at the new location
• Most data circuits require at least 6 weeks to complete installation and testing
• Identify the telephone / server / data equipment room at the new location and label it on the floor plan
• Make the effort to centralize the new server room — it saves time and money and avoids data degradation
• Confirm minimum requirements for server room are met. (electrical, cooling dimensions, security etc)
• Schedule office cabling weeks in advance and in accordance to project timeline
• Test all network connectivity as soon as possible so problems can be corrected
• Use layout of desks to estimate cable size requirements
• Plan for any future configurations and ask for extra cabling where expected
• Test all backup batteries for phone switches and servers and take inventory of all sites- replace if needed
• Contact vendors for 800 numbers and schedule cutover date. Test the new phone lines several days before the office move
• Disconnect all paid lines at old location
• Review the programming and routing on the voice mail system to make sure everything is working as it should
• If the ISP is changed from the current provider, identify any changes that may be required to Company website

Remember, we help offices move their technology all the time. Please call us or request a quote – We’ll coordinate this for you at no additional charge!