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On-Site Survival Guide

An outline of what to expect when installing projects on site, and how to prepare and plan for them.

Authors: David Hecker, Andrew Griffiths

Created: 12 Oct 2024 Last updated: 21 Jun 2025

Travelling for work where the effort lies in the installing of software and physical exhibits requires a but more consideration and planning than a meeting-focused trip. There's a lot of extra gear to pack, and unless you know for sure that you can get everything you need on-site (which is never the case) it's advisable to plan for all eventualities. Even something little like carrying your own network cables can make a huge difference to the success of an install.

By far the most important part of ensuring success and surviving an on-site install is communication. Communicate early, communicate clearly, and communicate often.

Packing List

  • Essentials for everyone
    • Laptop
    • Power adapter for the country you're visiting
    • Fast USB memory stick
      • Preload USB stick with useful software (below)
    • Length of Cat5e/Cat6 cable (3m should usually be sufficient)
    • Phone with WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal installed
      • Phone charging cable
      • Portable USB charging brick - often phone can get drained when you’re using it a lot for calls/VNC/TeamViewer/flashlight/Internet search
        • Romoss is a very reliable brand
        • Recommend 20000mAH
        • Some countries limit the size of external batteries
    • Notepad and a couple of pens, clipboard optional
    • Bag/backpack for carrying all of this stuff between hotel and site
    • Optional
      • A small torch can be useful on some sites
      • Snack and drink containers
        • Site is often far from food, so these containers can be filled up at the hotel or from a shop
        • A few ziploc bags can be handy
      • Branded t-shirts for the team!
  • Essential for team to share
    • A couple of wireless keyboard and mice (or ideally keyboard with built-in trackpad)
    • USB hub(s)
    • Power bar
    • Network switch/hub
    • 4G Modem
    • NAS / master storage device (for master copy of apps)
    • A small HDMI monitor (very useful for rack room when PCs become unavailable on the network)
    • A pool of HDMI/Mini HDMI/DisplayPort/Mini DisplayPort/DVI adaptors
  • Comforts
    • Headphones
      • Noise cancelling highly recommended
    • Earplugs (site can be VERY noisy, also hotel rooms have hums)
      • No-Noise make very good plugs that still allow you to hear people talking
    • Pillow from home can be super nice. It’s possible to not even pack it - instead just carry it through the airport and on the plane with you, it doesn’t count as a bag and it’s useful on the plane too
    • Sunglasses
    • Body moisturiser for very dry countries, also plane and hotel air conditioning dries you right out (lip balm is good too)
    • High Priority: Swimwear for relaxing at hotel pool/sauna
  • From hotel
    • Take the free bottles of water with you to site, they usually get replaced daily
    • Take extra fruit / food at breakfast for snacking on later
    • Some sites have no toilet paper, so taking a roll from the hotel can be a life saver
  • PPE (some sites will require this)
    • Hard hat
    • Yellow high vis jacket
    • Steel toe capped shoes

Pre-site Comms Setup

  • Set up a few WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal group immediately
    • Technical on-site people only, might include support staff back home
    • General co-ordination (including comms around lunch, etc)
    • One with the client and client liaison for progress updates

Team On-site Setup

  • Identify and organise a work space ASAP
    • Desks
    • Chairs
    • Close to a power point
    • Close to a LAN connection
    • Close to computers or area you are likely to work on if possible - surprising how much repetitive walking you have to do sometimes
  • Set up
    • Ask for the site WiFi passwords immediately
    • Set up a LAN at the the work space
    • Set up the backup 4G access
    • Set up master shared file server so everyone has access to latest builds
  • Information
    • Everyone needs access to centralised information for
      • List of machine IPs
      • Login details for machines / Team Viewer / VNC
      • Track install progress via a central system (e.g. Google Sheets)

Other Tips

  • Carry your passport with you always
    • Prevent identity theft at hotel
    • Prevent arrest - some countries require this for foreigners especially in the Middle East
  • If you are prone to cold, bring additional layers (jumper, jacket, perhaps even a beanie) with you to site
    • Even (or especially) if it is a hot country, the aircon can be extreme!
  • Bring HDMI cable for plugging into TV in hotel room so you can watch your own legally owned media.
  • Bring your medication, but check first whether it is allowed, especially if it is in the Middle East. Even some basic medicines like codeine are banned even with a doctor's note/prescription, so check carefully.
  • When installing a lot of different apps, make the first one you install an easy one to get the ball rolling. But after that the complex ones should be started on to help identify any issues early on.
  • There can be a lot of distractions from the client (pointing out things when you are busy on something else), try to finish one task before moving onto something else, BUT if you get stuck on something and can’t progress don’t bang your head against the wall trying to fix it either, just move on and come back to it.
  • Don’t underestimate how shattered you will be after an install. It usually sets in at the airport/station on the return leg.

Process

  • On-site the process is normally very fluid because so many random issues are thrown up, but we aim for some rough structure / systematic-ness.
  • Allocate Apps
    • For multi-app projects this is important. Assign yourself to an app via the global tracking system so nobody else also tries to work on it
  • Setup PC
    • Log in to machine via TeamViewer / VNC or even by directly jacking into the PC where possible
    • Install and configure drivers / nVidia Surround etc
    • Global Setup
      • Set Windows volume to approved level by sound engineer
      • Disable screen saver / monitor power off
      • Do other global setup things (differs per project, but can be like turning the background to black, hiding desktop icons, disabling Windows updates, hiding the default Windows touch cursor, etc...) The important thing is to make all machines have these same settings.
      • Ideally there would be a master image of the Windows installation that would be copied over to all the machines
  • Install App
    • Create common folder for installation
    • Decompress latest app software into folder
    • Test app
    • Tweak any JSON / config files needed and retest
    • Create a task via Task Scheduler to start the app on bootup
      • Set task to have a 30 second delay to allow any drivers to be loaded
      • Enable General->’Run with highest privileges’ if required.
      • Set General->’Configure for:’ to the correct platform (usually needs changing to ‘Windows 10’)
      • The app MUST set “Start In” folder
      • Disable Settings->’Stop the task if it runs longer than:’
      • In the case of ASM we are using Task Manager to kill explorer after 30 seconds, and launch our app after a minute - there are some PC’s that need longer
      • Make sure user account has write permission to folder that the app is in so it can write logs
    • Reboot PC to test startup
  • Update O&M as you go (This is VERY important because it is easy to overlook steps taken on-site, so it is tons easier just to fill it out as you go than doing it back home)
    • Driver install and config steps
    • Software install steps
    • Any JSON / config file tweaks
  • Debrief
    • Update the global checklist and status document
    • Tell someone that the app is installed and can be tested (the client will go test it)

Useful Software

We should put all this software in a folder on the server.  The software should be installed on all on-site laptops, ideally as portable versions where possible.