Site Surveys

[unisys12]

Heys guys! blackcat4866 asked this question in his LDAP server post and it got me thinking... I did to get to work on work on for our shop. So... I did some google searches and turned up a few that I have used to create ours. I thought I would post links to ones I found on-line, then post the one I created. From this, maybe others could post theirs.

http://www.aoscopy.com/_pdf/survey.pdf

Site Survey

http://www.documentmall.com/users/docs/manuals/Integration%20Package%20for%20Kofax%20Site%20Survey.doc

http://d.imgsw.com/sw/swchannel/CustomerCenter/documents/6627/14371/NETWORK.pdf

Hope some of these help with getting your own site surveys together!!

[blackcat4866]

Thanks

Thanks, Unisys. I just started a rough draft this morning. There's lots of good ideas here.

[unisys12]

I pretty much finished my first draft this morning. I gave one copy to one of our companies owners this morning (he does the other half of the networking) and our sales manager.

One thing I would like to point out to ya, just as a little heads up tip... stick with the basics. I found myself including so much information that it was unreal. A good example of this - I put a section on the sheet that allowed the person filling out survey to give 5 users that would be using the fax forward function, there e-mail address, as well as the fax numbers that each user would have forwarded to their e-mail. Now! That is all well and good, but the reality of things is that we only have maybe three clients actually using this feature!! So why would I put it on the survey.

Bottom line - Keep it simple and from all the examples I have seen, don't allow it to get past two pages. I was shooting for one page, but I have to keep in mind that this is a draft and there will be changes made. I just put the things on there that I knew we find ourselves programing for our customers the most.

Like I said before, I will be happy to share mine when everyone gets to have their say on it.

[Tin Man]

Site Visit Checklist

I am with you unisys12. We are in the process now of trying to figure out what the customer's network situation is, what they want to do, and how to make it all work. My limited past experience has shown that things go a lot smoother when the customer's IT Guy is onsite. However, this is not always possible. I like the links for site surveys you posted, but I am most impressed with your logic: "Keep it simple". Would appreciate seeing your checklist when completed if you decide to share it in this forum.

The only other issue I can think of centers on liability. Do you have your customers sign a waiver form to cover your company's access to their network? Not saying that you or I would mess something up, but there are a lot of customers out there who simply do not understand computers and networks. What they do know how to do is to blame us copier folks for something that goes wrong after we leave but that they do after the fact. Thanks for your help once again!

[dogsbody]

Hi guys,
This is the one I made for work, the blank space is where our company name goes.
The idea is they fill it out electronically and the form gets emailed back as a PDF (not XML data as is the default). This works fine on my machine at home but the button does nothing in acrobat reader (tried many versions).
Nothing I do seems to work, (all will email XML but this is not practical for us).
Like others I did originally have a four page document listing every obscure OS and network out there but have now found that this covers most all situations but is still work in progress.
Let me know what you think and if anyone is an acrobat guru that would be great - using Acrobat Pro 8.

Cheers

Just noticed, many of the boxes are drop down list yes/no etc. that is not indicated on the image.

[Cipher]

Nice idea, our sales team could do with a standand form like that, then there would be no excuses.

[Scott_Lewis]

I like your idea of keeping it simple. We have been messing with various survey forms for years now. My biggest complaint has been it is too crowded with tiny print. The client is challenged to write anything in the small spaces provided and we are equally challenged to read it. All this in an attempt to keep this on one page.

I've been working on one lately that will be a single sheet/ two page form.

Customer contact info
IT contact info - on-site/availability
Basic network topology - mainly just to confirm wired ethernet vs other topology
OS's used -
machine IP info
domain vs workgroup
Scan info -
SMB - authentication info and path
FTP - required? and where located
e-mail - server, authentication, admin
Checklist of drops, cables, etc.
FAX info

The challenge is to keep it clear, simple and understandable. Most of our sites have not had the use of a real network administrator and are cobbled together. We do work with our clients to put this info together where there is no IT person available. Part of the purpose of the form in that case is to let the clients realize this isn't a 'plug-n-play' product.

Hopefully, I'll have an updated form to post for comment before the year is out.

[blackcat4866]

I'll forward you a PDF Monday, that is, if I can use this form too...

[dogsbody]

I'll forward you a PDF Monday, that is, if I can use this form too...

Feel free to use the form, or take the bits you like and leave what you don't.
Anyone using it please comment on what you do like or dislike about, or anything i've left out that you feel should be there.