The data technician has to be there while the panels are open, not afterward.

Base power entry has to be within six feet of the building supply

This is the constraint that quietly shapes the floor plan. For a base infeed, meaning a hardwired connection from a wall, column or floor, the panel chosen for power entry needs to sit within six feet of the building supply point. So an existing outlet or floor box effectively decides where a powered run can begin, and a layout drawn purely for how the desks should sit can turn out to be unpowerable. Establish where the building supply is before the layout is finalized, not after the panels arrive.

The electrical connection is a licensed job, and Steelcase says so

Steelcase’s own power panel directions state that all electrical installations should be done by a qualified electrician in accordance with the codes and regulations applicable at the site. Industry guidance is blunter still: connection of electrical components to the building supply must be made by a licensed electrician, and power should be disconnected before servicing the system, because failure to do so risks shock or injury. The furniture crew builds the panels and connects panel-to-panel distribution cables; the building connection belongs to somebody licensed.

Never make or break connections under load

A caution that appears directly in Steelcase’s assembly directions and is worth repeating on site. Panel-to-panel power distribution cables are designed to snap positively into place, and they are not to be connected or disconnected while the circuit is live. That includes later changes, which is when it is most likely to happen, because reconfiguring a run six months after installation feels like moving furniture rather than working on electrical equipment.

The panels come with data covers, not data

Worth being explicit about because it surprises clients. Cubicles arrive with the covers and the raceway space for low-voltage cabling, and no jacks and no wire. The client supplies the data technician, and that person’s work has to be sequenced with the build. Ideally they see the final layout before install is scheduled, so anything that needs prewiring is identified early, and they are on site while the panels are open so cable can be pulled through the raceways without disassembly.

Ceiling infeed has its own prerequisites

If power is coming from above rather than from a wall or floor, the requirements are specific: there must be accessible ceiling tiles immediately above the intended power entry point, and the building’s junction boxes need to be close to that supply point above the suspended ceiling. Both of those are things to verify by looking, not by assuming. Where neither a base nor a ceiling infeed works cleanly, a power pole brings power down to the panel system, which is a perfectly serviceable answer and generally the least attractive one visually.

Understand which panels are powered and how power passes through

Not every panel in a run needs to be powered, and the system accounts for that. A single size of distribution cable connects any two adjacent power panels, and where one or more unpowered panels sit between two powered ones, a pass-thru cable of the correct length carries power across the gap. Getting that right at the planning stage matters because it determines what you order, and a run that is short one pass-thru cable is a run that cannot be energized on the day.

Ask about dedicated circuits and task light daisy-chaining early

Two planning items that are easy and cheap before the fact. A dedicated circuit gives sensitive equipment its own line within the panel wiring, which is worth specifying up front rather than retrofitting. And daisy-chaining task lights to a single switch frees up receptacles, but whether it is permitted depends on local electrical code, so it is a question for your electrician rather than an assumption. Both decisions are made at design time and are awkward afterward.