CDCE: Certified Data Centre Expert

Course Information

Course Name

Exam code

CDCE

Duration

5 Days

Certification

Certified Data Centre Expert

Overview

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.

Audience Profile

The primary audience for this course is any IT, facilities or data centre professional, who are involved in the design/build, renovation or relocation of a mission-critical data centre.

Prerequisites

Participants must hold a valid CDCS® certificate in order to register for the CDCE® class.

At Course Completion

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.

Exam: Certified Data Centre Expert (CDCE®)

The CDCE® exam is in two parts: Part A is a 90-minute closed book exam, with 60 multiple-choice questions. For Part A, the candidate requires a minimum of 45 correct answers to pass the exam. Part B is a 90-minute closed book exam, with 25 open questions. For Part B the candidate needs to obtain a minimum of 75% to pass.

Attendees who pass the exam will be awarded the internationally accredited and recognised ‘Certified Data Centre Expert’ certificate (CDCE®). The CDCE® certificate is valid for 3 years, after which recertification is required.

Course Outline

Module 1: Data Centre Life Cycle

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

Module 2: 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

Module 3: Design Planning

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

Module 4: 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