Successful creation of data center project plan by experts
As enterprises begin to adopt cloud computing, mobile, Internet of Things and other technologies, projects related to data centers are increasing. These projects may include migration to the cloud, important upgrade of key business applications, server brand change or new infrastructure management tools.
Although these changes may improve the business, there are also huge risks. 17% of IT project budgets are 15 million dollars or more, which threatens the survival of enterprises, because they are indeed financially strapped, according to the survey results of McKinsey&Company in 2012. It is no exaggeration to say that the future success or failure of the company is closely related to the upgrade of the next master data center. Fortunately, managers can take some correct measures to ensure the success of the data center project plan.
Set the initial tone
The first and most difficult step is to set clear expectations. The enterprise needs to translate ideas about new business opportunities or potential internal improvements into written form, starting with project definition and management documents. These documents divide projects into different categories, such as large, medium and small based on project size, and system specifications and delivery outlines. These can often be achieved through commercial tools, such as Altassian's JIRA, Celoxis, or Microsoft Project. The clearer the document is, the greater the chance of success of the company's project.
IT may skip planning and go straight into the process. Such action is wrong. Changes that cost $1 in the development cycle may cause an impact of $10000 in the production environment system, according to the survey of Scott Ambler+Associates, a consultant company. Everyone involved in the new data center project plan must complete the plan from scratch.
The scope of any major reform is far beyond that of the IT department. If a new data center is to be built, IT must interact with the facility management unit. If the payroll application is undergoing a major rewrite, IT needs to work with the finance department.
Gone are the days when IT strictly controlled technology procurement. With cloud computing and other consumer level technologies, business unit managers can easily bypass data center employees. Data center managers need democracy rather than dictatorship, and work with business managers to improve data center infrastructure.
Control the details of data center project planning
Data center managers need to know how to respond to major changes, such as adding new servers or postponing the delivery schedule by one month. The project often cannot be delivered on time because the team receives a requirement that was not originally within the business requirements - that is, scope creep.
For example, the business unit requires changing the user interface. It is necessary to add a row in the database and increase the number of users from 25 to 28. A series of small changes will continue to accumulate, which will have a serious impact on the project. This problem is magnified in organizations that rely on DevOps - they are more focused on making rapid and small-scale changes, rather than releasing them together in the main version. To avoid scope creep, data center managers need to track minor changes and establish indicators for them to measure their cumulative effects.
Other warning signs may indicate that the data center project plan will face difficulties, such as small variance with the schedule or increased budget. Sometimes, the data center employees may think that the gap can be narrowed soon, but the new and unknown problems that appear soon make the gap even bigger. If the current project progress is poor, the data center staff needs to make adjustments as soon as possible. The longer IT ignores it, the greater the scale of the problem and the subsequent challenge of reducing eventual damage.
IT managers must ensure that project failures or mistakes do not cause everyone to lose their jobs. As the data center system becomes the dependency of core business, the data center manager must extend the requirement coverage to the entire organization.
