MACs' costs stagger corporate imaginations - moves, adds, and changes - Industry Trend or Event

Communications News, August, 1999

Relocating a workstation involves personnel from premises/facility planning; cable and equipment infrastructure; desktop and network administration; voice administration; help desk, clerical; technical; and customer service. Staggering amounts of money, which continue to escalate, are expended yearly for relocating employees.

President of Transport Management Group, Inc. (TMG), consultants to cable and connectivity management, Walter A. Chiquoine knows the costs. "As networks continue to grow, simplifying the moves, adds, and changes (MAC) process becomes increasingly difficult, because there are so many layers on the physical network, complicated by the number of individuals required to participate in the move--over and above those physically making the move. It's not unusual in a dynamic workplace to have a 100% churn [move] rate." In IT-dependent industries, such as call centers, airports, brokerages, banks, and insurance firms, the situation is compounded. Cable-management system (CMS) software can fill the need for increased accuracy of infrastructure documentation and an improved level of service.

A CMS software program can greatly reduce MAC costs by automating tedious aspects, such as tracing complex network and wiring connections. Often a significant percentage of a network can be recovered since CMS software allows technicians to see how circuitry is connected and increase capacity by eliminating unused circuits.

CMS allows managers to view a database and/or CAD diagrams of the entire physical facility--workstation locations, wiring, computer connections, telephone lines. Macro planning, such as setting up systems from the onset, will meet--and even exceed--projected capacity. Existing cable, pathways, and equipment can be more effectively utilized; unnecessary cabling is avoided. MAC planning time and physical labor are reduced since the network or telecom systems can be planned and configured concurrently with the physical move.

MACs are concluded more quickly, and downtime is minimal. Troubleshooting time for network faults decreases because CMS directly manages the components responsible for at least 50% of all downtime, namely the physical layer. And CMS software is beneficial to asset-management and disaster-recovery planning. Managers can reconstruct a diagram of the facility's wiring in case of an emergency, quickly dispatching personnel to those areas that are affected.

"Crimp software complements network management software, so the IT network manager sees the entire network picture when he initiates a MAC process or reacts to a problem. This is crucial, because the MAC process is frequently rife with reworks and network fault rectification subsequent to the move. The troubleshooting aspects alone can add thousands of dollars to each MAC," according to Pete Pela, president of Cablesoft, developer of Crimp and a CMS vendor. Cablesoft has developed a Web-based benefits calculator (www.crimp.com) to help companies determine the monies spent annually on MACs and to illustrate the amount to be recovered by installing CMS software, based upon their individual scenarios.

Circle 266 for more information from Cablesoft, Inc.