If you’re managing a national footprint and haven’t done a network site survey in the last year, you’re working with partial information. Site surveys are about more than just your network connectivity – they’re there because no one can remember the ceiling height in Winnipeg or how many open ports are left in the Montreal MDF.
Let’s say you’re planning a wireless upgrade across 50 locations. You’ve selected hardware, allocated a budget, and created a deployment plan. But you don’t know how tall the racking is in half your distribution centers, or if there’s power in the drop ceiling where the AP needs to go. You assume the patch panels are labelled correctly and that every IDF has enough space and available ports.
This is where site surveys pay for themselves. Not just by preventing rework, but by giving you verified data to plan, budget, and execute upgrades that don’t derail at install time.
What You’ll Learn
By the end of this blog, you’ll understand:
- What happens when you skip a site survey
- What a thorough IT site audit includes
- How documentation helps prevent project delays
- Why internal walkthroughs aren’t reliable
- How site surveys help you standardize across multiple sites
- Why a site survey is the right first step
What Happens When You Skip a Network Site Survey?
Project timelines rarely collapse under the weight of major systems. Instead, they erode through a series of small infrastructure details that weren’t verified.
A rack that’s two inches too shallow. A power drop that was listed but never installed. An access point that doesn’t meet coverage requirements because the ceiling height varies from site to site. Labels that have faded, mismatched, or disappeared altogether.
Any one of these issues may seem minor. But when they surface mid-rollout, they demand time, attention, and resources you hadn’t planned to spend. These challenges are rarely discussed in design reviews because they’re not visible until you’re already on-site.
And without consistent audits across locations, they’re more common than anyone wants to admit.
What Does an IT Site Audit from Activo Include?
When Activo completes a site survey, you don’t just get a checklist. You receive a fully verified, structured report that captures every critical detail about your environment, from infrastructure layout to equipment condition to physical constraints.
Activo technicians perform site surveys across Canada every day, often executing coordinated audits at multiple locations simultaneously to support national rollout timelines.
Every survey includes:
Full Network Closet Documentation
We capture the current state of each closet and its equipment in detail:
- Switch models, serial numbers, firmware, and available ports
- Rack layout, RU availability, and condition
- Power availability and receptacle types (orange, white, etc.)
- UPS model, dimensions, and compatibility for future loads
- Clear notes on labelling, cable routing, and access restrictions
This level of detail ensures you’re not relying on outdated spreadsheets when planning changes or ordering new gear.
Infrastructure Assessment Across All Layers
Technicians survey:
- Copper and fibre cabling by type, manufacturer, and fire rating
- Backbone runs from MDF to the demarcation point
- Optical mode and cable category for each segment
- Ceiling height, AP placement feasibility, and Wi-Fi dead zones
- Environmental factors such as heat, airflow, humidity, and ventilation
This provides a complete view of both physical readiness and environmental viability for planned upgrades.
High-Resolution Visual Documentation
Photos are taken of every MDF and IDF, rack, patch panel, UPS, cable bundle, receptacle, and entry point, captured section by section and named to match the reporting form.
You get visual proof of what’s there, not just a written record, with image files linked directly to your location report inside the AIMS portal.
Room-by-Room Floorplan Markups
Using physical blueprints or site-provided layouts, technicians identify:
- Closet and equipment locations
- Wireless access point placement
- Cable pathways
- Areas with limited access or poor coverage
- Potential mounting or ceiling clearance issues
Secure Reporting Through the AIMS Portal
All documentation – photos, equipment data, floor plans, cable specs, and technician notes – is uploaded into your secure Activo AIMS portal. From there you can sort, download, share, and export information by site, region, or location type. This becomes your verified historical record and your source of all verified information.
Recommendations and Project Planning
If requested, Activo provides:
- A recommendation report based on standards and field conditions
- A list of cleanup priorities and potential failure points
- A project plan for infrastructure upgrades or closet remediation
- Full deployment and installation execution for end-to-end support
How Does Documentation Help Prevent Project Delays?
Every technology upgrade depends on infrastructure being ready. And yet, most projects still start based on assumptions. A standardized site survey replaces that risk with verified facts so your deployment doesn’t hit unnecessary roadblocks.
Teams use this data to:
- Confirm whether closets are physically ready for new equipment
- Validate ceiling heights and wall clearances for AP or camera placement
- Review power availability and UPS compatibility before procurement
- Identify which sites need cleanup or remediation before rollout
- Flag any compliance or cable standards issues that could impact performance
- Coordinate installations with confidence across teams, vendors, and timelines
Documentation reduces guesswork. And guesswork is what causes delays, budget overages, and last-minute change orders.
Why Aren’t Internal Walkthroughs a Reliable Infrastructure Assessment?
It’s common for teams to believe they know their sites well enough to document them. In theory, they do, but in practice, that familiarity creates incomplete audits.
When someone’s worked at a site for years, certain details blur into the background: reused cable runs, slight airflow issues, a power strip on the floor that’s overloaded but hasn’t failed just yet. These get absorbed into the everyday rhythm of the job, not flagged as risks.
Activo technicians follow a structured process. They don’t rely on memory, legacy assumptions, or what “should be” in place. They document what’s actually there, with no shortcuts.
How Do Network Audit Services Help You Standardize Across Multiple Sites?
When you’re managing infrastructure across dozens (or hundreds) of sites, consistency can be both a critical advantage and an area of weakness. One store has clean closets; another has handwritten notes and no labels. One location has high ceilings and perfect airflow, while another has heat traps and limited AP coverage.
When the data varies this much, your team can’t plan repeatable upgrades. Without consistency in how each site is documented, your planning becomes reactive instead of strategic.
A standardized survey process gives you the ability to:
- Compare sites directly and identify which are ready
- Build repeatable infrastructure upgrade plans with fewer unknowns
- Ensure that internal teams and vendors are all working from the same facts
- Track historical changes over time as environments evolve
- Support RFPs, budget asks, and infrastructure refreshes with verified data
With this information in hand, there’s no more planning based on assumptions. You can count on clear, usable information across every location.
Why Is a Site Survey the Smart First Step?
Whether you’re planning wireless upgrades, infrastructure cleanups, equipment refreshes, or full-scale rollouts, having verified site data means fewer surprises. It reduces missed requirements, accelerates approvals, and improves vendor coordination.
Even if you’re not planning changes today, the documentation becomes a long-term reference you can rely on when the time comes.
Start with Better Data with Activo
You don’t need to survey every location this quarter. But if you’re planning technology changes, expanding into new sites, or just unsure what’s out there, it’s the ideal place to start.
We’ll give you the full picture. You decide what to do next.
Request a site audit call and make sure your infrastructure is ready for your next upgrade, rollout, or expansion.
