Assess the Situation

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Evaluate the existing corporate culture and networking environment, as set forth in Chapter 8. If you are the Wi-Fi champion, take a leadership role in obtaining wireless technology buy-in from influential executives and managers. Achieve this by:

  • Understanding the technological issues associated with wireless (e.g. security, interference, and the fact that the 802.11 series of standards is still relatively new technology).

  • Understanding the costs and how your executive board feels about the issue.

  • Creating a database that contains text written by journalists and analysts who cover the wireless arena, and academics who conduct research into it. Also try to build relationships with some of those Wi-Fi supporters.

  • Creating a list of wireless vendors and consultants using information from the aforementioned database.

  • Coming up with a short list of trusted vendors to whom you would feel comfortable issuing an RFP (request for proposal) or RFI (request for information). It should be relatively simple to come up with a list by using the two aforementioned databases.

  • Showcasing your findings to internal constituencies and external sources of expertise, e.g. consultants who can help with a WLAN deployment.

  • Using the showcase to find a business unit manager who believes that the use of wireless would be beneficial for his or her staff.

  • Forming an ad hoc group of interested parties to discuss wireless networking. The goal of such meetings should be to openly discuss wireless networking and the issues surrounding it, and to develop recommendations for implementing a wireless network within the organization's current network infrastructure.

  • Implementing a small pilot WLAN project with the help of the aforementioned business unit manager. (A small pilot WLAN should take no more than a few weeks to deploy.)

  • By using the data learned from the pilot project, it is easy to determine: what skills need to be developed to deploy and support a WLAN, a rough idea of the cost of an operational WLAN, the issues that may come up when dealing with wireless technology, and security and privacy concerns.

The astute WLAN enthusiast won't stop there. He or she will also look for patterns in the organization's purchasing records to discover which workers are already equipped with mobile computing devices.

Next, research and analyze the resulting data. Moving forward with a wireless strategy, without analyzing how wireless technology can help an organization, can bring unsound results. If you just buy into wireless networking without doing the necessary research and analysis, you might find that the WLAN project results in very little return on investment. For instance, say you've convinced a marketing manager to adopt wireless, but you didn't do your research. If you had, you might have discovered that a majority of the marketing staff couldn't use their PCs with any kind of proficiency. This would spell doom for any pilot program using that department's personnel.

However, through your research, you might have found out that the sales department had successfully introduced a computer-intensive sales force management solution within the last couple of years. Thus, the sales staff were (1) accustomed to using their computers as a sales tool, and (2) not adverse to new technology. That bodes well for any WLAN pilot program you might deploy within that department.

By following the above outline (and through the lessons learned during any pilot project), the Wi-Fi advocate will not only have created an opportunity to catalyze and manage conversations that can shape managers' and executives' decision-making, but also the IT staff will be better versed in what is needed for a viable WLAN project. This, in turn, will drive a wireless strategy and the subsequent WLAN deployment.

Users' Need Analysis

But more research is needed. The next step is to determine the actual wireless networking needs of the organization's employees. Weigh the results against what the organization is prepared to provide.

Normally, a wireless network is created because of some initial need or reason for the services that a WLAN can deliver. But a wireless strategy can also come about merely because of a desire to "stay with the times," or because "it's nice to have," as in the case of the H.J. Heinz Co. (see the "Case Study" section of this chapter).

Only through understanding the end-users' needs is it possible to match the wireless technology to the organization's business goals. While many times the analysis will indicate only a need to connect a mobile workforce to data residing on the corporate servers and the Internet, some user groups may need more. For example, the R&D department or manufacturing plant might need high bandwidth for their detailed schema. Or the survey may indicate that the executive suite desires wireless mobility, but only within specific areas, thus the network design might not need to immediately support Mobile IP. Or perhaps, after completing the employee interviews, it's determined that many within the organization need not rely on a WLAN for all their networking needs, which, in turn, means that fewer access points can serve more people.

End-user interviews are the only way to obtain the information for a User Needs Analysis. Unfortunately, in large organizations, it's usually impractical to try to interview every potential WLAN user. In such situations, it might be best to segment the potential end-users into user groups (i.e. secretarial, inside sales, outside sales, marketing, R&D, warehouse, executive suite, etc.), and then conduct personal interviews with only five or so employees within each group. Also interview departmental managers to learn their staff's tasks; how they perform them; how they interact with other departments, outside partners and customers; and how the managers feel wireless can help.

The interviewer must ask questions pertinent to the needs analysis report. Since each organization's reasons and needs for a wireless networking environment will differ, craft the questionnaire to fit your organization's specific situation. But there is a common ground to use as a guideline when drafting the questions. For instance:

  • How many hours per day the employee spends using his or her computing device?

  • How many of those hours are spent accessing the corporate servers, the Internet, or a partner's intranet?

  • What type of information and/or data do the users access, e.g. text documents, CAD files, marketing materials from outside sources, graphic files such as slide shows, high-definition graphics, streaming media, schematics, blueprints?

  • How do users utilize the data, e.g. review and analyze, draft or update, approve?

  • How often will they use the WLAN to send and receive data?

  • How often do they need access to corporate or Internet-related data when they are away from their workstation and how do they handle those situations? Why do they need access to information during these out-of-office visits-attending a meeting with co-workers, customers, outside partners?

  • How often do they participate in videoconferencing?

  • How often do they take work home with them?

  • How often do they work through their lunch hour?

  • How would they utilize a mobile computing device if the organization should provide such an item for their use?

  • What is the graphical coverage area where employees will access the WLAN outside the normal workstation, e.g. conference rooms, cafeteria and perhaps, training room.

  • What type of wireless computing device would the employee desire, e.g. how many will be happy with just a PDA and how many will require a laptop? When will they use these mobile computing devices-all the time, only when mobile, or only when, say, taking inventory or attending a meeting? (This will determine the battery requirements and power management requirements to look for when purchasing PDAs, tablet computers, and laptops.)

  • The number of employees requiring only sporadic mobility, e.g. to attend a training session or a conference or trade show, or perhaps while located in a temporary office space.

  • How large will be the typical information packet sent via a WLAN? What are the most bandwidth-intensive packets (streaming media, graphic files, blueprints or what), and how often will these types of files be sent and received via the wireless network?

  • How many end-users will access the wireless network at any one time? How many in each user group (e.g. marketing, R&D, engineering, executive suite)?

The results of the users' need analysis will help to determine not only the flavor of Wi-Fi, but also the number and the positioning of access points.



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Going Wi-Fi. A Practical Guide to Planning and Building an 802.11 Network
Going Wi-Fi: A Practical Guide to Planning and Building an 802.11 Network
ISBN: 1578203015
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 273

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