Data Prep
• How do I import data into Arrow?
Please refer to the Arrow Data Preparation Guide or Uploading Data tutorial video for a detailed explanation of how to prepare and upload various data layers.
• Is there an upload file size limit?
You can upload data up to 500 MB using the provided upload templates. Note, you can upload zipped CSV files or KMZ format for larger KML files.
If you need to upload larger files, please contact the Arrow Customer Success Team.
• My data is not uploading/never showed “COMPLETED” in the upload.
Ensure that the upload is a supported filetype (csv for location layers; shp/kml for conduit and fiber layers).
If the upload stopped at 99.95% and you know the expected number of rows, please contact the Arrow Customer Success Team to check the number of rows in the database to see if the upload has been completed.
If the file is larger than 500MB zipped or as KMZ, please get in touch with the Arrow Customer Success Team to upload it through the database.
• My data does not have the expected number of locations.
This is often due to a formatting issue within the uploaded data layer. Once you have run a plan with the layer, download the Plan Locations Report and check the total number of rows. Look around that row number in the original file you uploaded and see if there are any noticeable formatting issues (e.g., a dollar sign where it should be just a number).
• My data was uploaded but is not visualized within the UI.
Ensure you have uploaded your layer according to the relevant template, with all columns correctly named, and that you have turned on visualization for the uploaded data type (e.g., existing residential locations, existing fiber). If you are still unable to visualize it, please contact the Arrow Customer Success Team.
• I cannot see specific data layers/resource managers.
Data layers and resource managers must have permissions associated with your project. Go to the Rubik’s Cube icon in the top menu bar and assign permissions, adding the project as a resource viewer, modifier, or owner. Select “Upload Data Resources” or “Resource Managers” from the Rubik’s cube menu. Note that for data layers, once you select “Upload Data Resources,” you must select “Data Management.” Search for the layer or resource manager, and add permissions for your project.
• I cannot share data layers/resource managers.
You need to be an owner to share data layers/resource managers. Please contact the Arrow Customer Success Team to assign you or your project owner permissions
Running Plans
• How do I run a plan?
Please refer to the Quick Start Guide for step-by-step instructions for running various plan types.
• Can I create new Project templates for my work?
Yes. In Analysis Mode, click the down arrow under the Project ribbon and select “Create New Project.” Select “Arrow” or your current project template as Parent when prompted. Alternatively, navigate to Project Management under Settings and select “Create new.”
Once created, you can navigate to User Settings to confirm that the new project is now your default.
The Project Management panel can also be used to edit the permissions of your projects.
To learn more, please watch our Project Templates tutorial.
• What is Expert Mode in Location Selection?
Expert Mode allows users to perform complex target Service Area and individual location selections based on their attributes stored in the Arrow database. For example, you can cherry-pick a handful of wirecenters into an optimization from a layer that contains hundreds.
Expert Mode entries are always in the form of SQL queries. Please contact the Arrow Customer Success Team if you think you may want to use this feature in your work.
• What is the difference between INTER and INTRA pruning strategies?
The INTRA pruning strategy applies optimization constraints (Budget, Coverage, Plan IRR targets) individually to every service area selected (i.e., every service area aims to achieve the same budget or coverage targets).
The INTER pruning strategy applies optimization constraints to the whole plan. For example, the 80% coverage target input aims to achieve 80% coverage across all areas and locations selected for optimization, with coverage achieved in individual service areas varying based on where the best investment returns are possible.
Segment IRR-based optimizations evaluate the attractiveness of individual network nodes and are thereby not bound by service area-level constraints (i.e., the setting is irrelevant).
This setting is irrelevant for plans involving just a single service area, and both options imply the same logic for optimization.
• Do I have to keep the Arrow window open at all times when the plan is running? Can I do multiple runs at the same time? How do I run my plan “in the background?”
Once the plan has been started and optimization is running, keeping the browser window open is unnecessary. All the computing is done in the cloud, and the user can proceed to set up another plan and execute it immediately. It is advisable, however, to limit the number of simultaneous plans being run, as the compute resource is shared across all active plans, and exhausting it will result in significantly slower plan runtimes across the board.
Please also note that the plan needs to be saved before closing the browser window. Only saved plans are accessible via the “Open an Existing Plan” functionality later on, and all unsaved work will be lost.
• What is the best way to keep track of plans that I’m running?
• I am trying to use expert mode, but it is not executing correctly.
If you want to use the expert mode to select service areas, ensure that you have selected “Manual Plan Service Area Selection” rather than “Manual Plan Target Selection.” 
If issues with expert mode persist, please contact the Arrow Customer Success Team.
• The “Run” button is disabled (grayed out).
If you have addressed the above items and the run button is still disabled (grayed out), please contact the Arrow Customer Success Team.
Outputs
• What are some of the standard reports available in Arrow?
Arrow comes preloaded with a number of reports that provide plan outputs in a variety of formats and granularity levels. Here are the most commonly used ones:
Financial Model details (by service area)
Summary of Network and Equipment Capex (counts/mileage and cost by service area for each element)
Itemized list of Routed Locations, with corresponding lat-longs
Complete list of Network Equipment elements, with corresponding lat-longs
Additionally, kml/kmz/shp files, including the Planned Fiber network and its Equipment, are also available.
• Is there a report that shows drop cable length information?
The “Routed Locations List” report contains exact drop cable length information for every location connected in a plan.
• How do I visualize drop cables?
If you enter plan edit mode (pencil), click a service boundary, and select a terminal, the drop cables connected to that terminal will be visible as a green line connecting the terminal to the locations.
The Arrow Customer Success Team can also create a custom report that allows you to download the drop cables as KML or SHP.
• What does “Distribution – Overlap” represent in my plan summary output?
Overlap distance is the length of fiber that the planned distribution network shares with the planned feeder network (i.e., both feeder and distribution network are placed along the same conduit path).
Users can choose whether the tool treats the two fiber cables independently and effectively applies cable costs twice for the section where distribution overlaps the feeder (legacy functionality) or whether it identifies overlapping segments and uses estimated cable costs for the Feeder segment cost and a separate cost for the overlapping Distribution fiber ($0 per meter by default).
To enable fiber overlap accounting, select Fiber Planning → ”Pricebook Defined Overlap Cost” checkbox in Planning Constraints Manager. “Install Conduit – Planned Overlap” under Fiber Construction in the Price Book defines the cost of the overlapping distribution fiber (defaulted to $0).
• I need additional information/detail in my reports. What do I do?
Please contact the Arrow Customer Success Team to discuss your exact need and the feasibility of creating such a report.
• How is the average cost to pass calculated?
Arrow divides Total CapEx (upfront expense, without success-based expenditures) by total number of premises connected in the plan.
• Can Arrow export “Near-Net” TAM report for my plan?
There is no standard report for exporting Near-Net locations. Please contact the Arrow Customer Success Team to discuss your options.
• Why do I sometimes see planned fiber routes outside of my planned service area boundaries?
Sometimes, the shortest (or only) path to connect a location near the edge of a service area runs outside of it. In those situations, Arrow runs the fiber network outside of the target area to reenter and connect to the target eventually.
The exact distance (buffer) from which the network is allowed to exit the target service area is set in Planning Constraints Manager under the “Edge buffer distance (m)” setting. The setting is in meters.
• What is the difference between Penetration and Customer Penetration in Financial Output reports?
Customer Penetration is derived by dividing Customers by Premises, i.e. a view of penetration from the perspective of locations.
Penetration, on the other hand, is a revenue-based view. To calculate it, we divide Revenue by TAM (Total Addressable Market).
In most cases, Penetration and Customer Penetration are pretty much identical, but Arrow keeps track of them separately for situations where, for example, there is a large difference in the pace with which HHs and Businesses ramp up to their fair shares. If there is a correspondingly large gap in estimated revenues from each location type, we could see those two penetration measures diverge during the ramp-up period.
In practice, when looking at the PLANNED_NETWORK category, we want to look at Customer Penetration, but when you are in any other section of the ROIC report, you can use whichever definition of penetration you prefer.
• Locations are being rejected due to being unreachable, but they appear to be near a road.
This may be due to disconnected road segments, meaning a gap in the road layer that separates the road that a location snaps to from the path that is reachable from the central office or splice point.
If the road does appear to exist and you want to bridge the disconnect, create a layer in QGIS or Google Earth, export it as a KML, and upload it to Arrow as a conduit layer.
• Locations are being rejected due to exceeding the maximum drop cable distance, but I have “Always_Connect” turned on.
In some cases, Arrow categorizes a rejected location as exceeding the maximum drop cable distance when the reality is a bit more complicated: they may be very far from a road but are assigned a terminal within Arrow, which then can’t snap to a road, and then they are rejected. If you must connect these locations, you can address the issue by increasing the “Max distance – location to edge (Feet)” distance. However, note that this will not be an entirely accurate picture of fiber mileage. In reality, you would need to build more fiber to reach these very far homes rather than allowing for a very long drop distance, which is what changing the setting accomplishes.
• The Rejected Locations List (with Attributes) will not download.
This is likely an issue with the location layer upload. Ensure you do not have any duplicated column headers. Also, ensure you don’t have any column headers with the below. If you would like to use a previous Routed Locations List (with Attributes) as your upload, you will need to change the names of the column headers:
-
- service_area
- location_object_id
- equipment_id
- number_of_premises
- connected_to
- drop_cable_length_meters
- attributed_location_total_cos
- subsidy