Data Centre Expert (CDCE)

Certified Data Centre Expert (CDCE)

CDCE is the premier certification for data centre professionals in the data centre design/build and related fields. This 5-day course is designed to prepare participants to analyse a given business case and perform technical evaluation for a project plan and a set of designs for the implementation of a mission critical data centre.

The course also engages participants in product evaluations and demonstrates how to select equipment and develop equipment test scripts (IET) and integrated performance and validation testing (IPVT). CDCE® builds upon knowledge gained in CDCP and CDCS courses. Participants who pass the exam will join the industry’s elite data centre project design experts.

CDCE® is the highest-level training in the EPI Design and Build training track under the EPI Data Centre Training Framework. Participants must hold a valid CDCS certificate in order to be able to register for the CDCE class.

Course Benefits

After completion of the course the participant will be able to:

• Choose an optimum site for mission-critical data centres based on current and future needs.
• Describe all components important for high-availability in a data centre and how to effectively setup the data centre.
• Understand the design lifecycle stages for data centre build projects and the phases involved in project execution.
• Analyse a business case and develop a project brief that is aimed at fulfilling the business resilience, site selection and design requirements for a fit-for-purpose and suitably redundant mission-critical data centre.
• Conduct technical level design reviews for a given set of preliminary design documents and perform a technical compliance audit of a set of final design development documents compliant to TIA standards.
• Understand how to read electrical Single Line Diagrams (SLD) and other related design documents, and be able to detect the most common design mistakes.
• Evaluate product datasheets and discriminate amongst technical specifications and functional requirements for suitability against a set of given design requirements for a given site and business case.
• Correlate equipment specifications to site design constraints, such as room size and space, floor loading capacity, cooling capacity, power quality conditions and maintenance requirements while ensuring equipment selection does not compromise desired tier level compliance.
• Develop Individual Equipment Test (IET) and Integrated Performance Validation Test (IPVT) plans for a mission-critical data centre.
• Develop guidelines and checklists for handover of a mission-critical data centre facility, its architectural, mechanical, electrical, IT elements and documentation.
• Develop retirement plans for decommissioning and handover of an aged mission-critical data centre facility.

Course Syllabus

Data Centre Life Cycle

• Data centre lifecycle stages and phases
• Exercise: Stage/Phase/Milestone/Document mapping

Design Preparation

• Creation of a SON – Statement Of Need
• Technology review
• Conceptual sizing
• How to calculate for computer room space
• How to calculate facility space
• How to calculate incoming power
• Exercise: Conceptual sizing building and power
• Analysing capacity of existing facility
• Analysing investment options
• Site selection
• Permits and approvals
• Exercise: Site selection
• Conceptual design
• Budget and project timeline
• Business case preparation
• Project delivery structure
• Project management options
• Project manager and team

Design Planning

• OSRA – Operational Systems Requirement Analysis
• TFRA – Technical Facilities Requirement Analysis
• Operations and maintenance review
• RFP – Request For Proposal process
• Vendor selection

Design Development

• Project planning
• Design development
• PDR – Preliminary Design Review
• Equipment selection
• FDR/V – Final Design Review/Validation
• Exercise: Full design validation of power, cooling, floor plans, fire suppression
• Design freeze and LLTI
• Creation of construction documents
• BOM/BOQ – Bill Of Material/Bill Of Quantity
• Exercise: Equipment selection

Acquire

• Requirements of purchase orders
• Shipping terms
• FWT/FAT – Factory Witness Test/Factory Acceptance Test
• Sequencing
• Incoming goods inspection and handling
• Asset management

Construct

• Temporary essential services
• Erection of the building
• Permanent essential services
• Building inspection
• Snag list
• COF – Certificate Of Fitness

Fit-Out

• Fit-Out
• Builders cleaning
• As-Built Drawings

Test & Commissioning

• IET – Individual Equipment Test
• IPVT/IST – Integrated Performance Verification Test/Integrated Systems Test
• Common mistakes with IET/IPVT
• Deep cleaning
• Exercise: IET/IPVT scripting

Hand-Over

• Facility hand-over requirements and documents
• PCC – Practical Completion Certificate
• DLP – Defect Liability Period
• Defect Management
• ICT Systems Installation
• ICT Systems Testing
• Hand-Over/DLP Expiry
• FCC – Final Completion Certificate

Retirement

• Reasons and definitions of retirement
• Building the business case and project plan
• Sequencing
• Transfer of site
• Demolishing of site
• Legal matters
• FCC – Final Completion Certificate

Examination

To obtain the CDCE certificate the candidate has to pass two exams. The first exam is a 90-minute closed book exam, with 60 multiple-choice questions. A minimum of 45 correct answers is required to pass this exam. The second exam is a 90-minute closed book exam, with 25 open questions. A minimum of 75% score is required to pass this exam.

Global Accreditation & Recognition

The CDCE® course is accredited by EXIN, which is a global, independent and not-for-profit accreditation and examination institute. EXIN’s mission is to improve the quality of the IT and data centre sectors, the proficiency of IT and data centre professionals and the IT users, by means of accreditation of course material as well as independent examination and certification. Every day, EXIN examinations are taken in more than 125 countries on 6 continents, and in more than 15 languages.

Recommended Next Course

To further extend your skills, we recommend the CDFOM® course. CDFOM® builds upon knowledge gained in CDCP/CDCS/CDCE®. It addresses the operational aspects of running a data centre. CDFOM® is an essential course for those who are expected to manage the daily operations of a mission critical data centre. For full course outlines of this and other courses, visit the CYBERFOX corporate website www.cyberfoxtrain.com.