Data Center Project Management Model

Transcript

Slide 1
Welcome to the course on Data Center Project Management Model.

Slide 2: Welcome
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normal play of the course. Click the Notes tab to read a transcript of the narration.

Slide 3: Learning Objectives

At the completion of this course you will be able to:
• Identify a project management model for defining project activities, roles and relationships
• Describe a framework for structuring standardized data center design and build projects
• Recognize a common language for communicating data center design and build project concepts
and
• Understand how to adapt this model to the preferences and constraints of a particular project
owner

Slide 4: Introduction
In data center design/build projects, flaws in project management and coordination are a common, but
unnecessary, cause of delays, expense, and frustration. The ideal is for project management activities to be
structured and standardized like interlocking building blocks, so all parties can communicate with a common
language, avoid responsibility gaps and duplication of effort, and achieve an efficient process with a
predictable outcome. This course will not attempt to describe project management techniques. Rather, it
describes a framework for the structure of a standardized model and terminology for project management in
data center design/build projects.
Slide 5: Introduction
Project Management is just one aspect of a larger, integrated standardized data center design /build
process. A model for such a standardized process is described in the Data Center University course entitled

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Data Center Projects: Standardized Process. For a more in depth look at this subject, please take this
course.

Project management guides the project through its various phases and coordinates the work of all parties
involved in the project.

Interested parties such as end users, service providers, or the general contractor will play a role in the
management of project activities, although a consultant may be formally managing the process. The
responsibilities and interactions of these various parties must be coordinated and documented in order to
avoid dropped handoffs and poor communications. Such problems are not necessarily due to flaws in the
activity of the parties involved, but rather to the lack of an overarching, shared process guiding all parties as
a management team.

As data center build and upgrade projects move away from art and more toward science, project
management must be re-examined so as to standardize on key processes. Just as project steps or
activities should be structured and standardized to simplify and streamline the process, it is equally
important that project management activities be structured and standardized. The benefits of a well-
documented, standardized, and mutually understood project management model are similar to the benefits
obtained from a standardized process model.

Slide 6: Introduction
Key critical success factors include the following…
• Establishment of a common language. When all parties involved in managing the project are
operating from the same model, and agree on a common language, problems caused by
miscommunication and misunderstood viewpoints are minimized.
• Implementing transparent terminology. For example, management roles should have titles that
clearly represent what they do. This will eliminate another cause of miscommunication
• Clear delineation of responsibilities. A mutual understanding of who is doing what clarifies
relationships and avoids duplication and conflict.
• Complete coverage of necessary activities A carefully designed model ensures that all
management responsibilities are accounted for, and nothing “falls through the cracks.”

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Slide 7: Configuring Project Management Roles
If we consider the standardized model of the project process, we can see that project management is a
broad category of oversight activity that occurs throughout the course of the project to provide
communication, planning, coordination, and problem resolution.

As with any business project, data center project management provides dedicated oversight to address
project-critical activities such as:
• Scheduling,
• Resources,
• Scope of responsibilities,
• Continuity (or handoffs),
• Budget,
• System changes,
• Process defects, and
• Status reporting.

This course focuses on the particular project management roles needed for data center projects, and how
the management responsibilities of those who fill the roles can be divided up and accounted for in order to
meet the needs of a specific project. Determining which management roles are needed for the project, and
who will perform them, is part of configuring the process for the project at hand. The proper configuration of

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the process is as important to the success of the project as the configuration of the physical equipment of
the system. So when does the project management actually begin?

Slide 8: When does Project Management Start?

The configuration and delegation of project management activity is critical and must be determined up front,
well before the time comes to execute on the project. Assigned and dedicated project management may not
begin until after the initial fact-finding activities of the Prepare phase. The Prepare phase identifies and
clarifies the endeavor as a “project” as we can see in this chart. Note that the milestone defining the end of
this first phase is Commit to Project, which typically marks the beginning of whatever tracking and database
activities will be used to support the project, and in some cases may be the point at which formal “project
management” starts. Projects of greater scope or with more customized engineering may require that
project management activity begin earlier, during the Prepare phase. With smaller data center expansion
projects, project management may not need to start until later, after the purchase order is executed at the
end of the Design phase.

The size, complexity, and criticality of the project will determine when “project management” needs to
become a structured, dedicated role.

Regardless of how and when project management is configured, there will always be some project
management activity in the data center owner’s organization from the very beginning, if only to make the
configuration decisions and possibly negotiate contracts for outsourced management. We will discuss this
ongoing management role a bit later in the course when we look at “customer-side project management”.

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Slide 9: Roles Subordinate to Management
The general process map, which we looked at previously, shows project management as a single bar
across the top, implying that it is one job.

It can be one job, and in smaller projects it might be configured that way. More often it is configured as
more than one job, or an oversight job with subordinate jobs under it. For example, “installation
management” can be defined as a separate role spanning the Acquire and Implement phases, overseeing
on-site activity related to delivery and setup of the physical system as seen here. Management roles such
as this should be considered modular elements of overall management, remaining subordinate to the overall
end-to-end project management role.

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Theoretically, management responsibility could be subdivided further by assigning separate management to
each of the four phases, or even to combinations of steps within a phase. This is not generally
recommended, but it could be appropriate in special circumstances. More typically, management
responsibility is subdivided by any organization providing hardware and services such as any sub-
contractors, and not by steps in the process model.

At the most granular level, note that step management is already built into the process, with role players
assigned to each step.

Next let’s talk about a dedicated point-of-contact.

Slide 10: Dedicated Point-of-Contact

Regardless of how project management responsibilities are configured, the objective of each management
role is the same: seamless coverage within its scope of responsibility, integration with other management
roles, and a dedicated point-of-contact at all times. A dedicated point-of-contact is especially critical when
the ultimate responsibility lies with delegated sub-roles or third party providers. Such a dedicated point-of-
contact, whose job it is to field, direct, and coordinate communication, should be considered an essential
role in every project. For example, in a company’s implementation of the standardized project process, a
process used to conduct the sale and execution of a customer project, the “project commitment manager” is
the dedicated point-of-contact for that project. This management role monitors and facilitates fulfillment of
all commitments made to the customer such as delivery dates, appointments, and other promises during the
course of the project, with authority to do “whatever it takes” to clear roadblocks and solve coordination
problems.

Another essential element in this process is documentation and tracking.

Slide 11: Documentation and Tracking

Regardless of how project management roles are configured for the project, an essential project
management responsibility is documentation and tracking of project activity. Current project information
must be easily accessible at all times to authorized project team members and service partners. A common
and effective method is an online website. This interactive project record should not only provide up-to-date
information, but it should also accept feedback, comments, requests, problem statements, and route the

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information appropriately. The project database should be able to provide updates and reports, as well as
log ad hoc information such as contractors’ vacation schedules, alternate phone numbers, and
miscellaneous remarks.
This leads into the next issue which is coordination of multiple suppliers.

Slide 12: Configuration of Multiple Suppliers

Most data center projects will have more than one supplier of hardware or services contributing to the work
of the project. The customer may engage separate equipment vendors or service providers for power,
cooling, racks, security, fire suppression, electrical work, mechanical work, and perhaps a general
contractor if building construction is required. Each supplier of hardware or services will have potential
interactions or dependencies with the other suppliers to the project. For example, fire suppression
installation depends upon piping and wiring that must be installed first, both of which may be handled by a
different supplier.

While each of these suppliers will have his or her own “project manager” to conduct the work they contribute
to the project, there is an additional project role that spans all suppliers. That role is coordination.
Coordination provides an interface among suppliers with whom there are equipment or time dependencies.
It is a role that can be difficult to assign when there are many suppliers involved in a project.

If dependencies among suppliers are not coordinated, delays and expense can result from supplier site
visits that are scheduled too soon for the handoff, or from one supplier unnecessarily waiting for something
from another. Coordinating the work of all suppliers is a critical part of project management that can be
overlooked in planning, but it is essential to the efficient and reliable progress of the project.

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Minimizing the number of suppliers, perhaps by bundling some services and equipment under a single
vendor, can shift some of the coordination burden to the intermediate vendor and reduce the risk of faulty
communication between suppliers. While it may not be possible to have everything handled by a single
vendor, reducing the number of vendors can significantly decrease the coordination burden, especially when
all possible interdependencies are considered.

Next, let’s take a look at using services for project management.

Slide 13: Using Services for Project Management

Qualified service providers may be included in the project management configuration to supply some or all
project management activities. The question of whether to use this option, how much they will be
responsible for, and to whom the organization decides to delegate project management duties depends
upon the nature of the project and the preferences of the organization.

Slide 14: Using Services for Project Management

Project management can be performed internally, from start to finish without any outside participation. If
internal resources are limited outsourcing is an option.

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Partial outsourcing handles some project management duties internally and outsources some to one or
more providers. A typical example of this is outsourcing the “installation management” portion of the project
which we referenced when we discussed Subordinate Management Roles earlier in this course.

In a complete outsourcing scenario all management responsibilities are hired out to a service provider, with
internal oversight only. Even with complete outsourcing, there must always be someone within the user
organization who is monitoring those outside vendors who are doing the project management.

Resources, skills, budget, and preference will determine how much of the project’s management is handled
in-house and to what extent management is outsourced to a service provider.

Next let’s discuss statements of work.

Slide 15: Statements of Work

Regardless of the scope of involvement, any portion of project management that is outsourced to a service
provider must have a “statement of work” that clearly defines the work to be done. This statement of work
should include deliverables, assumptions, scope of responsibility, and work details. A robust statement of
work helps all stakeholders quickly understand benefits, outputs, cycle time, and pricing. The customer
should be able to assemble a project management configuration that meets the project requirements using
such modular statements of work that can be “plugged in” to an overall management plan.

Slide 16: Choosing Partners

The process of selecting project service providers is similar to the process of recruiting partners for IT
outsourcing. First resources must be optimized. The main consideration in outsourcing is the prospect of
freeing up scarce IT resources to focus on core competencies and strategic business activity. With a
competent service provider, project process activities are in the hands of someone for whom project process
is the core competency. The result, if the provider is qualified, will be lower cost, faster results, and fewer
defects.
The next consideration is to minimize vendor interfaces. A current partner, if qualified in the area of project
process, provides the advantage of an existing, and presumably trusted, relationship. This means little or no
incremental resources should be needed to establish or maintain an additional provider interface.

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In addition the process will be more reliable if the number of handoffs between providers is minimized.

Finally, you should demand statements of work. Detailed and accurate statements of work, in the context of
a clearly articulated overall process, will clarify in advance what the vendor will provide, will enable
understandable and predictable work results, and will minimize wasted time.

Let’s move on to talk about project management detail.

Slide 17: Project Management Detail
The project process described so far in this course is a generic framework for the structure of a
standardized project process. This is a process which has been developed and generalized from APC’s
experience with project process. When APC becomes involved in a customer’s data center or computer
room project, as a supplier of hardware and services, it follows a detailed process like this generic one.

This process enables APC to collaborate with the customers to ensure that nothing is omitted and
everything occurs at the right time. This section details the components of the “project management”
portion of the APC project process in order to illustrate how management roles are divided among project
stakeholders in a typical project. When we discussed the Coordination of Multiple Suppliers a bit earlier,
APC would be the vendor supplying a bundled package of project elements.

The project management portion of the standardized process was introduced in our earlier discussion on
Configuring Project Management. What we see here is as a single bar spanning all phases. In practice, the

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responsibilities that comprise “project management” can be delegated, combined, split, subordinated, or
outsourced in a variety of ways among the end user, the primary equipment supplier, APC in this case, or a
third-party service provider.

This chart shows the breakdown of project management activity in the process that APC uses when it is
engaged in a customer project as a supplier of hardware and services. While specific to the way APC
conducts the process, these roles are representative of the activity that takes place in any data center
project. We will move on to define each project management bar seen here.

(image on next page)

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Slide 18: Owner Project Management
Owner project management is what the customer, the end-user or “owner”, does to manage and track the
project. For a small project it may be hands-on control of the entire process. For large projects it may be
oversight of delegated or outsourced responsibilities. At a minimum, this role includes basic administrative
activities such as coordinating with vendors, negotiating contracts, and releasing payments. Whatever level
of involvement it assumes; this role is always present in the customer organization.

Slide 19: Project Commitment Management

Project commitment management is a management role that any vendor should have in place for handling
customer projects. Please note that the role of project commitment manager is only part of what a vendor
would typically call project management within its own organization. This role has “swat team” authority to
troubleshoot problems and take the necessary action to solve them.

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The responsibilities of this role focus on activities that ensure the project runs smoothly and efficiently.
Those responsibilities include: communicating with the owners regarding the status of all commitments
made, coordinating internal tasks to ensure that all commitments are fulfilled and time dependencies are
correctly managed, coordinating with other suppliers to ensure that time and equipment dependencies are
optimally managed, and initiating corrective action against any identified delays, shortages, ambiguities, or
other problems. They also serve as the customer’s single point of contact with this vendor.

Ideally, commitment and scheduling information is visible to all project stakeholders, including the customer,
using a convenient access method such as a Web-based tracking site, which the project commitment
manager updates and manages.

Slide 20: Engineered Project Management

Engineered project management is for any project that contains elements beyond what can be handled by
standardized system architecture or by the steps and management roles of the standard project process.

Engineered projects share the following characteristics:

• Custom engineering of the physical system,
• Custom processes such as managing the specification, acquisition, and installation of customized
switchgear or piping systems.

The details of this management service are determined on a custom basis, depending upon the project.

Slide 21: Planning Management

Planning management is a combination of oversight and work that occurs during the Preparation and
Design phases of the project. The purpose of the various steps involved in these phases is to establish the
viability of the idea, define the scope and constraints of the project, and launch the project. Planning
management spans the two-phase plan half of the process, up to the point where a purchase order is
executed. This marks the start of the second half of the process, the build process. For a more in depth
look at this planning activity please take our course entitled Data Center System Planning.

Slide 22: Installation Management

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Installation management covers the on-site activity that receives and installs the physical equipment, from
navigating doorways and elevators, to starting up the system and training the equipment operators. For a
small project, the customer may wish to handle this in-house. For larger projects, it may be desirable to
outsource this responsibility to a service provider, either the equipment supplier or a third-party source.
Having this service provided by the equipment supplier will, one, ensure that the equipment will be installed
according to the supplier’s specification, and two, provide the simplicity of a direct interface with the
equipment supplier’s project coordinator for scheduling and commitment tracking.

Slide 23: Tracking Responsibilities

As with all roles in a project, it is essential that all project management roles be not only well defined, but
explicitly assigned, with complete clarity at all times regarding who is doing what.

Every management block in the process diagram seen here must be explicitly assigned to a person or party
who will be responsible for executing it. Whether managed internally or outsourced to a service provider, it
is crucial that every element of project management be clearly accounted for by creating a responsibility list
such as shown in this table. An explicit and agreed-upon list of assignees for every role in project
management provides protection from surprises, delays, and the unwelcome remark “I thought someone
ELSE was doing that.”

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Slide 24: Summary
Let’s summarize what we have covered throughout this course. This course illustrates a framework of
essential characteristics that must be considered in any implementation of a standardized project process.
• The project management model described in this paper is a framework to show essential
characteristics that must be considered in any implementation of a standardized project process.
For the particular organization conducting the project, and for any particular project within that
organization, the configuration and delegation of project management roles will vary to meet the
requirements of the project.
• The project management model described in this course is the one developed by APC to meet the
requirements of effective project execution for their customers, who may choose to do some or all
project management themselves, or hire services to perform selected portions. A clear and
complete definition of management roles enables those roles to be captured as statements of work
and offered as service modules for customers who wish to delegate project management
responsibilities. Other organizations may have their own description of similar management roles,
with different terminology and responsibility grouping, but the goals are the same: clearly defined
roles, consistent terminology, and explicit responsibility.
• Well articulated management roles should be standard operating procedure for any user-directed
project, and demanded of any service provider. A standardized, documented, and understandable
methodology assures a lean, predictable process that speeds deployment, facilitates
communication, reduces cost, drives out defects, and eliminates waste.

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Slide 25: Thank You!
Thank you for participating in this Data Center University™ course.

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