FM And IT Need To Work Together
September 25, 2012
Today's tip is to involve both facility management and IT in designing a new data center. With input from both groups, design decisions can benefit both sides.
When FM and IT don't work together, the most common problem is over-built mechanical and electrical infrastructure. Too much UPS, too many generators and excessive precision cooling is installed on Day 1. In addition, the oversized equipment operates very inefficiently and reliability expectations may not be achieved.
The IT group may have critical applications that require a higher level of reliability than facility management plans to build. Oftentimes, one of the biggest issues is the need for concurrent operation of the data center and maintenance, or as the industry calls it, concurrent maintenance.
FM and IT need to agree on a set of performance objectives and success measures. Learn to communicate free of jargon, using easy-to-understand terms and descriptions. Describe the challenges each side faces, and interdependencies between both disciplines.
Facility management and IT also need to jointly educate themselves about risk analysis, assessment and mitigation, in order to explain to each other what can happen under various scenarios. Necessary steps include going beyond the Uptime Institute Tier and other rating systems; exploring failure rates and their effects; and considering different ways to address risks, such as operations and maintenance improvements.
All of these considerations should be communicated to the on-site facility management and all shifts of the IT staff. If a problem occurs, both IT and facility management need to know. Finally, the team should conduct a post-event evaluation to determine the cause and prevent it from happening again.
Ten years ago, reliability was the top priority for data center design and operation. Now, cost to build and cost to operate are equally important. Solutions have to be scalable to allow for critical power and cooling to be installed in increments to match the growth in IT build-out. This cannot happen without close coordination between facility management and IT.
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