Starting in August 2018 through to May 2019, we project managed the Sales Floor Printing (SFP) rollout for Morrisons. Liaising closely with the other third-party suppliers – ARH Electrical Contractors (Power & Data), Retail Services & Bench Mark (Furniture), DeeSet (Merchandising) and Vodafone (network services) the project was delivered on time and in budget.
During the Christmas moratorium POS Networks re-worked the rollout schedule and by doing with the buy-in of the other suppliers we upped the weekly number of stores from circa 12 per week to 16 per week.
The Morrisons Space Planning / Drawing Office supplied the drawing for each store showing where the POS bay was to be located. Using historic documentation, we have on many stores, our store knowledge and LAN Topology drawings we were able to determine which data cabinet would be closest or most suitable for ARH to run the data cabling from. We then produced a As Fitted Drawing for ARH showing where the POS Bay was to be installed, and the location of the data cab in relation to the bay.
The preferred data cabinet information was then advised to Vodafone who in turn would allocate switch ports for the desk top devices. Where there were insufficient LAN ports in the preferred data cabinet, we would either have to arrange for an additional switch to be installed or look at the possibility of using alternative data cabinet if possible (e.g. if the distance between POS Bay and cab was not over 90m or too difficult to cable). This ensured additional switch costs were kept to a minimum for the project sponsor.
For every store completed, a sign-off documents was produced a long with a photographic report showing the finished POS Bay which detailed the hardware patching information, the store employee who signed the job off and accepted the sets of keys for the furniture and Kensington locks, and if there were any issues or exceptions that required further investigation or revisits.
As PC we engaged with pmConnections to develop our Health & Safety policies and Health & Safety Environmental Quality (HSEQ) documentation.
POS Networks have worked with Morrisons from the very first Store Picking Hub (internet order fulfilment) installation in 2016. We install the desk top PC’s & configure the new LAN printers, as well as ensuring HHT cabinet, telephony devices and RF data devices are patched correctly. An additional LAN switch is installed as part of the project requirements and we prepare the data cabinet to enable Morrisons outsourced managed network provider to do this piece of work.
At the start of 2020 no one knew how the year would unfold like it did. The way everyone approached work, leisure and shopping had to adapt very quickly and retail has very likely seen a permanent shift in how customers engage with sellers across all sectors, but none more so than supermarkets where the growth in demand for Home Delivery was astonishing. With many customers not wanting to leave their homes and trying to social distance themselves as much as possible, online shopping for food and essential items was the preferred option for many.
When the first lock down was announced in March 2020, POS Networks were tasked with installing data cabling infrastructure and the deployment of desk top hardware to circa 300 stores for Store Pick (Home Delivery) plus the repurposing of hardware in a further 85 stores for Click & Collect operations.
To ensure the project team met go-live dates, POS Networks had to hit the ground running. Through reviewing existing store plans, close liaising with store management and working with other suppliers on LAN/WAN capacity, RF coverage and hardware supply, POS Networks were able to pre-plan installations in to agreed locations before deploying multiple teams of engineers to install network cabling, and where needed additional data cabinets with fibre links back to primary data cabinets, then following up with engineers of a different skill set for the installation of a PC, printers and LAN connectivity of additional hardware. For each cabling installation and hardware deployment a photographic report was produced. The report for the cabling showed where the cabling was installed along with test results, and the hardware report showed the devices installed, configured and ready for operation.
By being flexible and nimble to react to business changes or demands from stores, POS Networks were able to respond to the requests made on the project team; whether it was changes to the schedule regarding which stores received the solution, where in store the installation needed to be or dates that needed to be brought forward. Delivered in 4 phases over 9 months, there were numerous challenges that had to be dealt with along the way, yet all phases were delivered and completed on time and became operationally live on the Business’s specified dates.
The follow up to this rapid deployment has been the rollout of permanent installations in to dedicated Store Pick hubs (internal with in a store) and Pods (additional purpose built spaces). By working with Main Contractors and the incumbent electricians, we have seamlessly migrated IT operations from temporary working spaces to their new permanent home.
The Fresh Format refurbishment programme that started rolling out in 2016 has in numerous instances required the relocation comms cabinet within a store. None-sales floor areas (such as corridors and storage areas) can be opened-up and used as additional sales floor area. If a remote data comms cabinet is in the area that is to be re-used for sales floor, it must be relocated to a new location.
Along with our data cabling partner Washington Comms, POS Networks over an agreed number of nights installed a new data cabinet(s), run fibre links from the main Admin data cabinets and re-cable departments that are serviced by the legacy cabinet back to the new cabinet, then migrated all end-point devices over to new infrastructure to allow the removal of old cabinet. These have always been completed on time and in budget.
24 stores across all regions were originally chosen to be Centres of Learning. POS Networks provided a full turn-key solution by installing data cabling, setup and configuration of desktop PC’s. A further 50+ stores required cabling for additional PC’s. POS Networks cabled, tested, and commissioned the PC’s.