Point of Sale (POS) Printer Rollout Study For Grocery Stores

If your company has experienced complications and hardship trying to roll out new technologies to several locations across the country, you may benefit from this article. As you would likely agree, communication and constant attention to detail are vital aspects to a successful roll-out. Problems can arise at any moment during a nationwide roll-out with obstacles at each unique location and difficulty coordinating each step of the process.

A Global Provider specializing in "customer driven marketing" for international grocery, drug and mass merchandiser stores, was in need of an organized and meticulous management team to complete a project requiring service at over 1,500 different site locations. This Provider/Customer distributes printed coupon advertisements at point-of-sale checkout counters in over 23,000 grocery, mass merchandise, and pharmacy stores nationwide. The Customer was looking to upgrade their point of sale hardware in various stores from black & white to high-speed point of sale color printers.

The job required installation of upgraded infrastructure cabling in over 8,000 lanes at stores owned by 11 large supermarket chains. The Customer needed to ensure that the new data cabling, which would accommodate incoming point of sale color printers, was properly installed and functional before distributing the new printers to the respective locations. The project was expected to be costly and complicated because of the vast number of unique locations.

Multiple challenges were identified for the customer in this case, but with no clear way to solve them simultaneously.

1. Customer needed custom cabling designs for multiple locations due to the different layouts of the stores.

2. Customer needed a way to coordinate and organize the on-going activity and installation at each individual site.

3. Customer needed to find contractors at each location who were qualified to complete the installation, without detracting from the quality of service provided by each contractor.

4. Customer had to ensure that the cabling installations would not cause the stores to close for installation nor would it be bothersome to the shoppers.

5. Customer had to verify that the work was completed in a timely and high-quality fashion with the system being fully ready for implementation with the new printers.

With all of these evident challenges to the job, this Global Provider chose to enlist A National Project Management and Cabling Contractor to complete the multifaceted project.

After receiving the contract from the Customer, the National Contractor initiated its standard procedures, as follows:

1. Identified the scope of work.

2. Met with the customer to discuss the criteria of the job and the specifications of the installations

3. Visited a pilot site location to obtain a visual understanding of the project.

4. Met with a subcontractor who was familiar with the typical grocery store layouts to gain an outside perspective on the best pathways to use for the cabling.

Following this diagnostic process, the Internal Team collaborated to establish two viable options for the cabling installation, to overcome the issue of various store layouts at the site locations. This solves the first challenge mentioned above because the National Contractor produced custom designed methods for the cabling to be installed.

The actual work to be completed was the removal of old cabling from the stores' infrastructure and the installation of new CAT5 data cables at each checkout lane in every store. The National Contractor produced two options for the installation depending on the layout of the store. If the pathway allowed for it, the "Homerun" option consisted of running cables from each of the lanes directly to the Communications Room. If there were space limitations in the pathway, a second solution was created in which the cables would be condensed at a midpoint and then two new backbone cables (a primary and a backup) would be run to the Communications Room. One of these two options would be suitable for every location and The National Contractor began checking the floor plans of each site to determine which option should be used.

As mentioned previously, some of the concerns about executing a multi-site technical roll-out are the uncertainty about the quality of work that you will receive from each individual technician and whether or not they are qualified to do the job. Without any prior experience, you never know exactly what kind of service you will get from the various contractors. Thus, an established National Contractor has an in-depth procedure for selecting and qualifying technicians as well as a comprehensive process to ensure that your installation is performed in a professional and customer-friendly manner.

Labeling oneself as professional is one of the most typical ways a company can project an image of qualification. As the customer, you don't want to discover after-the-fact that the contractor you hired is not only careless, but difficult to work with. With this Global Provider facing a project with coordination of over 1,540 sites, the National Contractor selected two experienced Project Managers (PMs) to supervise the job from start to finish. Once the scope of work was established, the Project Managers searched in its large database for qualified technicians near each location who were experienced in infrastructure cabling installation for similar marketplace buildings. The National Contractor also calculated optimum driving routes for the techs to minimize travel time and be more cost-efficient with the installations.

Another challenge with this point of sales printer project was that the Customer did not want the stores or its customers to be affected by the cabling installation. Thus, the Project Managers confirmed with the selected technicians that they were willing to work after-hours to do the job to maintain activity in the stores. The National Contractor was able to accommodate the after-hours request, and corresponded with the Customer's on-site representatives to ensure access to the stores at night. The store managers also had input in this planning and The National Contractor adjusted its time schedule around the busier days for the store such as blackout dates (i.e. double coupon promotions). This flexibility of work hours made it convenient for the Customer to upgrade its systems while the stores remained open.

A common cause for costly delays at the beginning of a large rollout is the absence of supplies that the technicians need to install the cables. To avoid this problem, The National Contractor's PMs ordered bulk materials to help save the Customer money and followed a strict schedule to have all necessary installation materials available before the techs arrived at the locations. While some companies suffer from the confusion of task scheduling with multiple sites, this National Contractor uses its signature management tool, Advantage®, to monitor and update the activity occurring at each site on a daily basis. Using the Advantage® System, the PMs were able to keep track of where installations were occurring every single day.

During the installation, the Customer did not want the in-place coupon printers to be inactive so The National Contractor devised a plan where the technicians installed the new cables before removing the old ones. Thus, the printers were always online and operating during the installation period, until the new cables were installed and ready for use. This type of quality assurance demonstrates this National Contractor's ability to customize its plans to the requests of the customer on any given job.

The Customer's initial apprehension about the quality of work was put to rest when The National Contractor explained the steps that each technician would take with the installation. Upon arrival, the selected tech would administer a "Pre-Installation Survey" to verify that all the printers were up and functioning properly. Then, the tech would confirm with the Project Manager which installation option to use at the site and install the new CAT5 data cables from the lanes to the Communications Room. For a typical contractor, this would be considered a completed job and the technician would leave, sometimes without notice, assuming that everything was working fine. This National Contractor, insists on active communication between the Customer, technician, and Project Manager to assure the techs sign-in and sign-out with the store manager each day on site.

As the customer, it can be very frustrating and often costly for an installation to be completed without checking to make sure everything is working as expected. The National Contractor's quality assurance program includes that technicians at every store conduct a "Post-Installation Survey" where the new CAT5 cables were connected to the current printers and tested to make sure it was working. The Customer's plan was to install the new point of sale color printers after the cabling was completed and The National Contractor made this much easier by providing cabling that was tested and functional, so that the new printers simply needed to be shipped to the locations and plugged in.

The new printers rollout consisting of 1,540 store installations for the Global Provider was completed in approximately nine months, within the estimated time frame. All challenges identified by the Customer, including quality assurance of installation and supervision with each store location, were completed in an organized and efficient effort by The National Contractor team. Accomplishing a project of this magnitude can often be costly and complicated which is why The National Contractor can benefit companies by providing ease of mind that the desired outcome will be achieved in a methodical and cost-effective way. For this Global Provider, The National Contractor was able to offer a more competitive price by supplying bulk materials at a lower average cost and with a more efficient Management Team. The decision process for selecting a suitable, yet competent contractor can be hectic and time-consuming. The National Contractor team strived to make the entire duration of a project as painless as possible for the Customer with the belief that through efficient management and by utilizing the right tools, any job can accomplished at a superior level.

For more information on national technology rollouts and/or to consult with one of our experts please call Celergy Networks Toll Free: (877) CELERGY (235-3749) or visit our website at http://www.celergy.com.

Fishing the Eleven Point - A Crown Jewel of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways

There is no other river like the Eleven Point. Its wilderness atmosphere, combined with blue ribbon trout and smallmouth bass populations make this one of the true jewels of the Ozarks. The river is situated in south-central Missouri, and north central Arkansas. The forty miles of river between the Thomasville, and the Narrows Access to the river is part of the National Scenic Riverways system. This means there is little or no commercial activity, or private land along the river. This helps keep the habitat, water quality, and beauty at a level unsurpassed in the Midwest.

The Eleven Point begins as a small stream high in the Ozark Mountains. From the headwaters to Thomasville, the river is lightly fished, but can produce very well for smallmouth bass. Almost no one floats this section. Below Thomasville, the river becomes a national river, and fishing becomes better. The area of river between Thomasville and Greer Spring is known for producing some of the biggest stream smallmouth anywhere. Trophy regulations help maintain this world class fishery. Shadow bass (also known as rock bass or goggle-eye) also are abundant, as well as several other species of sunfish.

The river changes dramatically at the mouth of Greer Spring. This massive, cold and very wild spring immediately transform an easy going, warm smallmouth stream into a large river with deep and rushing flows. Most notably, it makes the Eleven Point an excellent trout stream. From the mouth of the spring branch downstream to Turner Mill Access the stream is managed under Blue Ribbon trout regulations. This means an 18" length limit, and artificial lures and flies only. This beautiful and interesting stretch of trout water relies on both stocking and natural spawning to keep fish populations up. About 5000 rainbow trout are stocked each year in this five and one half mile portion of the river. You can access this part the Eleven Point at the Greer Crossing Access at the upper end, and the Turner Mill Access at the lower end. You can expect 300 to 500 trout per mile.  Wading anglers do well wading up, or downstream of these public access areas. Most people float it.

Below the Blue Ribbon trout area, you will find the White Ribbon Area. This is managed a lot differently. It is stocked every few weeks from April through September, but you will find trout here all year-long. The White Ribbon area allows four trout to be kept, with no length limit, and no bait restrictions. Most people think of this trout water as a put and take area, but there is only limited truth to this. Fish populations do decrease rather significantly between stockings, especially in the winter when no fish are stocked. However, even at times when fish populations are at the very lowest, (which is usually during February or March) trout can be caught, and good catches can be made consistently, if you know how to read the water. The best fishing generally is in June, July, and August when fish populations are really built up. About 15,000 rainbow trout are stocked per year in this fourteen mile section of river each year.. Wading and floating access will be found at Turner Mill, Whitten, McDowell Access, and Riverton. The best trout fishing will be found between the Turner Mill and McDowell Access, but trout can be found in fair numbers all the way downstream to the Riverton Access, and sometimes even significantly further downstream. Below Riverton, the river transforms back into a smallmouth bass stream, typical of the Ozarks. It is now a large river, and species such as largemouth bass, spotted bass, and even walleye can be found. The river slowly warms, and by the time it reaches the Black River in Arkansas it appears very little like the upper section.

The Eleven Point is certainly special. This is one of the best rainbow trout streams in the Ozarks, as well as an excellent smallmouth bass river. It is however, rather undiscovered. It is not used nearly so much as nearby streams such as the Current River, Buffalo River, or the Black River. Come out and give it a try.

Davdison Manning is an avid outdoorsman spending over 100 days per year pursuing his passion for fishing, many of them in the Ozarks of Missouri and Arkansas. He details many of his favorite spots on his website http://family-outdoors.com/ which is a good resource for general fishing, hunting, and camping information. His website area on Missouri Trout Streams and techniques can be located at http://family-outdoors.com/Missouri_Trout_Fishing.html and covers some amazing opportunities.

His other pursuits include many days spent in the field camping and hunting. Davidson loves to share his knowledge of the outdoors in the hope of helping others to find their own connection to the outdoors.