Data Centre Essentials

7Operational Issues

Handover

Once the data centre has been designed, constructed, and handed over, the project phase finishes and the facility starts operation. Handover is a critical milestone in the facility’s lifetime, where the knowledge from the project team is shared with the operations team. Most of the stakeholders from the project phase will no longer be involved with the facility unless they have been engaged in a soft landing¹ or other post‐project activities. As part of the handover process, the maintenance team which is now responsible for the operation of the facility should have been involved in the commissioning phase and undergone training to understand how the systems work in different scenarios. This is particularly important where the design is complex/unusual. This unique opportunity requires resourcing:

1. If the maintenance team is outsourced, they need to be engaged in advance of the handover.
2. Where the new facility is an extension of scope, the maintenance team still need to be able to do their day job, i.e. maintaining existing facilities. Some organisations use a Transition Manager to support the maintenance team during this phase of the project.

The handover process also involves a transfer of record documentation to the operations team, which includes operation and maintenance manuals (including commissioning results) and record drawings. Unfortunately, the quality of the information shared is often lacking. This may be due in part to time pressure ...