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How to plan an office move?
Regardless of whether you expand or reduce your business, moving your equipment, inventory and personnel will require detailed training.
Even the seemingly simple office relocation requires careful planning if you want to avoid disruptions to your business and the loss of customers.
Obviously, there are so many variables that it is impossible to create a single standard for office relocation guidance that meets the needs of each company.
How to plan an office move?
But now we will show you how to plan a move to a new location and give valuable advice on managing your office relocation project.
In addition, we can help you plan any relocation, regardless of the size or complexity of your move, by showing you one simple planning tool.
This graph, known as the Gantt chart, is an ultra-efficient way to plan a business move, and free templates will be available in online search mode.
How to plan an office move? Carefully and as detailed as possible.
As with any other relocation, it is important to start the planning process as early as possible. Your first task will be to appoint someone to supervise and manage the entire movement of the office.
You should determine how you plan to move, in stages or on the same day. This will affect the action plan for moving your office to a new location, as key dates will need to be considered.
It is advisable that each stage of the move be clearly detailed at the beginning of the project. Compose it in writing, agree and sign with the responsible manager.
Your Gantt chart will be an action plan for moving the office and a benchmark for controlling the time of each phase of the move.
Spend as much time as possible at the planning stage, advising as many key people as possible.
Having created your office relocation plan, you may need to select employees who will be responsible for moving certain departments or moving stages.
Again, it would be wise for the designated responsible persons to sign the task list that is assigned to them.
It is helpful to have a floor plan for your current office and new premises. Have a staff meeting and determine what works and what doesn’t work in your current configuration, and plan to improve your workspace in your new office.
Good communication is vital when moving. Especially when moving jobs, then at least part of the workforce will be resistant to change. Hold group meetings to make sure everyone knows why the move is taking place and highlight all the positive aspects of this relocation. Keep everyone informed of how the movement is progressing and how each stage goes.
One of the most important tasks at the early stage of the planning process will be the selection of a reputable moving company. It is very important!
But first of all, let’s introduce you to Gantt charts and show how this will facilitate the entire process of moving the office.
What is a Gantt chart for office relocation?
Simply put, this is a list of all the tasks that you need to complete, the date by which you must complete this task, and who is responsible for its implementation. This ensures that nothing is missed during the move.
It is important to note which tasks have been completed and which stages of the move are behind or ahead of schedule.
You can make the chart as complex with the most detailed information as you want, but from our experience we recommend a simple option.
Matching the color code for completed, ongoing and late tasks is very important so that it is easy to understand where the tasks that need attention are located.
How to create a Gantt chart for a business move?
You will need to insert tasks that are specific to your particular movement, as well as insert the dates and names of those responsible for each step in the Gantt chart template that you downloaded from the Internet.
Depending on the size of your business move, you can create a Gantt chart for each department or stage of transportation. Thus, you could have a separate diagram for the office, production, warehouse, human resources and for planning, for example, a new office or building.
· The first column of your office relocation table will list everything you need to do.
Please note that the list should be in the order in which the tasks should be completed. In some cases, the next task cannot be started until the previous one is completed. Some tasks can be performed simultaneously and are independent of each other.
· Once you have a complete list of what needs to be done, in the next column, designate a responsible person.
· Now put the week or date numbers at the top of the following columns leading to the actual date of the move.
· Then assign a period of days to complete the task and colorize the cells corresponding to this length of time.