Lessons Learned: Installation progress tracker installers can relate to

Installation Progress Tracker (IPT) for the Big Health Care Project was a critical management tool.

After getting the updates from the AM-PM meeting we would update the tracker. At the beginning, we launched a traditional tracker with traditional milestones - for example, installation started, cable support installed, cable run, antenna installed, etc. But very soon I noticed that the installers were having a hard time to relate to my tracker. They would have to pause and think before they could give the answer. I wanted to have the process more organic and flow little better. I noticed that they always carry the engineering plan and drawing, and refer to milestones by referring to cable, antenna or splitter/coupler ID. So I restructured my tracker, and entered milestones that were closer to the actual work flow (see Screen shot 1). It does not appear to be a big deal right now, but in retrospect, it made a significant change to our reporting mechanism.

Screenshot 1: [click on the image to see a larger version]

So following are some notes about the structure of the tracker:

1. Milestones in this tracker followed the line diagram. So for example, if we had a remote connected (via cable) to a splitter which would be connected (via cable) to an antenna, then remote would be device 1, splitter will be device 2, and then antenna will be device 3. This way we captured the installation status of all the elements in the line drawing. Kevin - my Field Manager would capture these data from AM-PM meeting.
2. Eric (back at the head office) would verify the sweep results submitted by the vendor, determine if the sweep passed, and then entered the swept length.
3. Gray color shading allowed us to quickly determine which elements have not been installed yet.
4. Through formulas embedded in the tracker, all the entered data would be digested into a summary (see Screen shot 2). This summary would quickly show us what percentage of installation has been completed, and even exactly how much cable vendors have used (from sweeps). This is how we could accurately tell that by the end of the Phase 1 of the project we have used exactly 19.2 miles of coaxial cable. This can also be a quick check for how much cable we have given to the vendor, and approximately how much they have installed. 
5. Tabs for this progress tracker was divided by the vendor. So the performance of each vendor would be fed into a summary table (see Screen Shot 3), which showed there actual versus foretasted performance. We presented this data to the vendors as well as the client on our bi-weekly meetings. Vendors made sure they did not get embarrassed in front of the hospital folks (i.e., our vendors regular client). As a result, this project tracker worked as a very effective non-invasive management tool.
6. You know what, our vendors actually loved this tracker - which we found a little surprising, but pleasing nonetheless. 

Screenshot 2: [click on the image to see a larger version]

Screenshot 3: [click on the image to see a larger version]

Lessons Learned: AM-PM meetings. What you can get in 5 minutes?

We had more than 240 of these meetings over the course of the Big Project. Average meeting time was less than 5-6 minutes. Longest meeting was 11 minutes out of all the meetings we hosted.

Since we had 3 vendors working on the hospital campus, there were a lot of activities happening at the same time. AM-PM meetings worked as quick and easy management tool that kept us connected to the vendors, helped us staying on top of the project. Vendor participation was mandatory. I made a big deal if any vendor representative did not show up on these calls.

AM meeting took place at 7 AM, and PM meetings at 4 PM. Venue was a free conference bridge from Freeconferencecall.com. Vendors were supposed to answer the following short questions and drop off the conference bridge:

AM Meeting questions:

1. What are you going to do today?
2. Where will you be working today? (i.e., which building, floors, etc.). Our client - the hospital - insisted that know where everybody is working on any given day. So this was an important question.
3. Do you have all you need for the plan?

Right after the meeting, Kevin updated the project portal so that all the project stake-holders could check them if they wanted.

PM Meeting questions:

1. What were you able to complete today?
2. If there was a gap in planning vs. execution, what was the reason, and what will be the recovery plan?

We would also discuss any upcoming materials shortage every few days. After doing a few, I handed over the meeting to Kevin who did an excellent job in keeping up.

Besides being free, the cool factor about Freeconferencecall.com, is the automated report of the participants, numbers they called from, and how long they stayed, etc. If I found any vendor missing from the call, I would take a snapshot of the report and sent it to the Senior Program Manager of the vendor. I am not a control freak, but disciplined about certain things:) By the way, this was not a new idea... I used it while I was the Project Manager for the T-Mobile UMTS deployment a few years ago.

Interesting DAS related news in media this week

1. SOLiD (a.k.a. ALLIANCE) launches ClearLight ACCESS high-capacity digital distribution solution that delivers 16 independent channels of traffic over a single strand of fiber. If it works well, that will be really cool! Read more: SOLiD Technologies Launches ClearLight ACCESS High-Capacity Digital Distribution Solution
2. SOLiD has a penchant for spelling in a funky interesting way - first the small "i" in the middle of all capital letters, and now all capital letters - ALLIANCE. Read more; SOLiD Technologies Announces ALLIANCE Multi-Carrier DAS Brand Name
3. Covering 250,000 sq. ft. of convention area with DAS - but it got on Wall Street Journal (Market Watch) as Press Release. I'll keep my thoughts to myself... Read more: Little Rock's Statehouse Convention Center Taps Corning MobileAccess for In-Building Wireless
4. I am a Longhorn, and I usually don't find stuff at Aggie Land exciting. But this news was DAS related. AT&T Enhances Mobile Broadband Coverage At Kyle Field.

More in news...
An operator in Norway is deploying CommScope’s ION-M distributed antenna system (DAS) and Node A digital repeater platform for wireless coverage in train tunnels.

TE Connectivity announced FlexWave Prism IRU (Indoor Remote Unit), a new indoor version of its FlexWave Prism DAS. FlexWave Prism IRU uses rack-mountable, indoor remote units and works with coax cable to server antennas. This system is lightweight, has compact Prism Host Unit that supports up to eight services in just three rack units. It also incorporates 100 Mbps in-band Ethernet for carrying surveillance camera traffic, alarming, WiFi access points, or other applications.

Trend: AT&T Coverage Could Improve with Distributed Antenna System; proactively building consensus of residences

Original article: AT&T Coverage Could Improve with Distributed Antenna System

AT&T engineers have done something clever here, and it's just not the DAS I am talking about. On 9/13/11 they showed Palo Alto residents the company's latest plan for improving weak cellphone and broadband coverage throughout the city by building a DAS network. The DAS project was showcased at a community hearing. Residents who attended the event were able to voice their concerns to AT&T experts. But the good side of the article is, AT&T seems to be getting the backing from the residents. As an ex-Site Development project manager, I cannot imagine the trouble we would have to go through if we had to build a cell tower in Palo Alto.

The clever part is developing an awareness of upcoming network. Majority of the time to build a cell tower goes into leasing, and zoning. These awareness building is proactive, and hopefully make any kind of zoning activity much smoother than what it usually takes for a cell tower.

Also, read the comments from residences - Diana Darcy, and Hilary Gans. Comments are positive, and they are already rooting for the DAS network. Creating this kind of positive vibe is also good marketing.

Well done Minh Nguyen and his team! Other carriers should follow this trend.

Lessons Learned: Choosing the "right" vendor from client's toolbox

The Big Hospital uses several unionized cable vendors throughout the campus. We had to use cabling vendors from client's toolbox (i.e., list of preferred vendors). I will be honest... we were not used to interacting with a lot of union vendors, and as a result we were worried. So even before we entered into the bid process we (i.e., our company's principals) met their project managers a few times, visited their offices, and warehouse facilities. We also kept our ears perked during the initial site walks to get a feel for their knowledge and familiarity of the buildings, rules, regulations, etc. Overall, we were satisfied. There are good and bad sides in picking these vendors from client's preferred vendor list.

Good:

1. These guys had been working at the campus for many years. They know the intricate protocols involved with safety, infectious control and access to different buildings. They know shortcuts, and often cases the challenges we would face. This local knowledge is very valuable and would not be available to us if we just waltzed into the project.
2. They knew the campus specific, and even building specific rules that helped us a lot.
3. Another advantage was sort of understood, but unwritten. This is from liability perspective. Since the vendors were suggested to us by the Hospital authority, if there was any problem that came up due to workmanship or vendor’s behavior the hospital team took a shared responsibility. For projects like this where this is a potential minefield of heavy finger pointing, selecting the vendors from client’s tool kit was a good choice.

Bad:

1. Since we were not aware of their work style and workmanship, we were little concerned at the beginning if any of those 3 vendors will become an issue later. Out of the 3 vendors we only had problem with 1 vendor - mainly on communications issue. Crew supervisor would often not show up on the short calls we used to have daily, not return calls, not meeting commitment, etc. We got rid of them the earliest opportunity we had.
2. Training: The cable vendor had the local knowledge of the buildings, and very familiar with the cable routing and supporting portion of the project. But we had to train them in properly connectorizing cable, bend radius, sweeping etc. We brought out installation Supervisor Larry Marker from Houston, and took them through a rigorous hands-on training. We also arranged an Andrew trainer to come to the campus, and offered a 2nd training. The 2nd training worked as a refresher course and solidified the needed expertise for the project.

Our Big Project

For the past year, I had the opportunity to work as a Project Manager for one of the largest DAS deployments in North America. It's a healthcare / hospital facility located in Mid-West with over 8 million square ft of coverage area. We completed the first phase of the project in July (11). This phase included 38 buildings under 1 integrated system. Phase 2 is smaller in scope than the first one, but by the time we are done we have 1000+ antennas in this campus wide DAS. In Phase 1 alone, we have run over 19 miles of coaxial cable, and 60+ miles of fiber. This was a big team effort, and we finished the project before deadline and under budget.

I was intimately involved in the project, not only as a project manager, but also commissioned and integrated the system along with my Field Manager Kevin Wysocki . It was a hell of an experience!

In the next few blog posts, I will capture the lessons I learned from this project.  Due to liability issues, I will probably not get into lessons learned from the equipment side, and so focus more on the management side of the project.