Managed IT for Able Electrical LTD: On-Site Storage, Microsoft 365, and Secure Remote Access
Able Electrical LTD - Electrical Contractor, Surrey BC
Managed IT for Able Electrical LTD in Surrey and the Lower Mainland: what we found, what we put in place, and what they run on now.
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The Problem
Able Electrical LTD was taking on more job sites across Surrey and the Lower Mainland, and the crew's IT had not kept up. Business data was scattered across personal devices. There was no centralized file storage, no backup system, and field staff had no way to securely reach office files from a job site. This page is that IT work. The website rebuild is a separate case study.
Our Solution
Custom NAS Server with RAIDZ1 Storage
We designed and deployed a custom 1U rack server running TrueNAS Community Edition as Able Electrical LTD's on-premise network attached storage solution. The server is configured with three WD Red Pro 6TB drives in a RAIDZ1 array, providing about 12TB of usable storage with full single-drive failure redundancy. This gives Able Electrical LTD a self-hosted, enterprise-grade storage platform that they own and control completely, with no monthly cloud storage fees.
MinIO S3-Compatible Object Storage
On top of TrueNAS, we deployed MinIO, an S3-compatible object storage layer that allows Able Electrical LTD's applications to store and retrieve files using standard API calls. This means their project management data, documents, photos from job sites, and business files are all stored locally at their office, not on third-party cloud servers. MinIO gives them the performance and compatibility of cloud storage with the privacy and control of on-premise infrastructure.
SMB File Shares for the Office Team
We configured structured SMB network shares for the Able Electrical LTD office team, organized by project, department, and access level. Office staff can access shared drives from their Windows workstations with proper permissions controlling who can view, edit, or delete files. No more emailing files back and forth or relying on personal Dropbox accounts.
Tailscale Remote Access for Field Staff
Field technicians and project managers need access to business files and systems from job sites across the Lower Mainland. We deployed Tailscale as a zero-config VPN mesh network, allowing authorized staff to securely connect to the Able Electrical LTD office network from any device, anywhere, without exposing the server to the public internet. Setup takes minutes per device and works seamlessly on both iOS and Android.
Microsoft 365 and Device Management
We migrated Able Electrical LTD's team to Microsoft 365 Business Standard, setting up business email, Teams for internal communication, and SharePoint for document collaboration. All company devices were enrolled in Microsoft Intune for centralized device management, allowing remote wipe, policy enforcement, and software deployment from a single dashboard.
Virsa on Their Own Server
We set up and configured Virsa for the Able Electrical LTD team, using their new NAS and MinIO infrastructure as the storage backend. Project managers can now track active jobs, assign tasks to crew members, monitor budgets, and store all project documents including photos, contracts, permits, and change orders in one place. All Virsa data lives on Able Electrical LTD's own server at their office, not on a third-party platform. We trained the full team on how to use Virsa effectively so adoption was immediate and no one was left guessing.
Ongoing Managed IT Support
Astro Developments continues as Able Electrical LTD's managed IT partner. Ongoing support means a help desk the office and field crew can call when something breaks, updates and patching for the systems and devices we put in place, and monitoring of the network and on-site storage.
The Result
Able Electrical LTD's business data is centralized, backed up, and accessible to the right people. Office staff use structured SMB shares from their Windows workstations. Field technicians and project managers connect securely from job sites across the Lower Mainland through Tailscale, without the server exposed to the public internet. The team is on Microsoft 365 Business Standard, with business email, Teams, SharePoint, and company devices enrolled in Microsoft Intune. Field staff manage their jobs through Virsa, and every project record lives on hardware they own. Astro Developments continues to provide ongoing managed IT support as their technology partner.
"We went from spreadsheets and group texts to a real system that actually works for our business. Ripan built exactly what we needed and made sure our team actually knew how to use it."
- Able Electrical LTD
Services Used
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