Getting Organized: Field Book, USB Stick, Field Laptop

When you are under deadline and trying to finish commissioning a DAS, getting stuck for missing minor information can be very frustrating. Unfortunately, this happens a lot. Working at a DAS site demands you to be very disciplined. Purpose of the field book is to make the lives of technicians and Field Engineers easier by helping them to be organized. Give them information when they need most. Make it very accessible.

There are 3 things you can provide to accomplish this:


1. Field Book:
Obvious choice is to provide a hard-copy of these information in a file folder - or at least that's what we do. However, since folder is a dead-weight, only pack it with documents that will be accessed most frequently. We first compiled a Field Book for our installers and technicians over 5 years ago. We recently upgraded (much needed) that Field Book. It was surprising how much of the old data has changed. Anyway, following are some of the items we included in our Field Book:

• Frequency and Bands used in different markets by carriers
• Username, passwords, URLs or IP addresses of different DAS electronics
• How to change IP Settings in different Windows operating systems? How to get into Device Manager? (Yes, I forget those often!!)
• Quick Installation guides of the most frequently used electronics (Repeaters, DAS Head-end, etc.)
• How to set up a modem connections
• Various Tips and tricks, Debug codes for test phones
• Employee contact information
• Tech Support numbers of different manufacturers  

2. USB Stick (we call it Field Stick :)
Provide a companion USB stick with all Field Books. You can buy 8 GB of flash drive for less than $6.00. 8 GB will have plenty of space to pack all kinds of Spec Sheet for reference, frequently used programs, software and patch programs, and soft copies of all the information mentioned in the hard copy content.

3. Field Laptop:
This is the ideal solution if you can afford it for all of your technicians. A laptop which will be loaded with all the informations mentioned in the Field Book and the Field USB stick.

• Load it up with all frequently used browsers, softwares and programs (for example, MCT program for Mobile Access NMS, Skype, FastStone Capture, etc.). 
• Load up the browser's bookmark panel with frequently used IP Address based URL (e.g. 192.168.1.1, etc.). This can be really cool - because this can save a lot of time in the field.
• If you are using Windows 7 as OS, make sure you have the option to use XP version. Also, add some frequently used serial, USB cables, dongles - the usual suspects.
• If you have a savvy programmer in house, have them make a browser-based Switch Board. Basically, you will have all the links to your files from one place. This keeps things organized and streamlined.
• Make sure that your Field Engineers have the faculty of mind not to fill up the laptop with garbage files programs, malware, etc. It can ruin the whole purpose of getting organized and fast when you need to be.