The Data Center is the Computer: Step 5 of 9

Step 5 of my 9 step process:
Step 1: Measure
Step 2: Develop an action plan
Step 3: Prioritize Opportunities
Step 4: Create "Program of Improvement" with ROI and timeline
Step 5: Obtain approval for your initial project (from the Program of Improvement plan)
Step 6: Implementation Strategy
Step 7: Implementation Partners
Step 8: Communication
Step 9: On-going Operational Improvement based on a "Total Improvement Plan"

Obtaining Approval:
If you've done most of what's required in steps 1 - 4, the approval process should be a snap. The Executive Summary of your work to-date should include the following information

• Need & Vision: What were the driving factors behind this project and what's the short and long term vision post project completion.
• Benefit: What will the benefit of a successful project be for the business? It's very important to spell the benefits out in business terms; how will this reduce the bottom line costs of IT, enable high availability and improved Disaster Avoidance and Recovery Plans (DARP), provide for rapid system deployment and allow for IT to report on the availability of "Data Center" capacity as opposed to individual application infrastructure capacity.
• Risks: Risks of project failure and the risks if the project isn't approved. Be realistic here, most execs will applaud your honesty.
• Timeline and Resources: Be very clear and detailed with what you think the timeline is (in bite sized chunks) and about the resources (People, money, etc) that you'll need.

Don't be afraid to show the proposal to more people. If it can't stand the light of day, then you're probably doing something wrong. Be prepared to backup and justify the project with your personal conviction. In the end, most execs want to know how you really feel about the project and whether you're passionate about it. Lastly, don't be surprised if you have to repeat yourself. It's quite common to have to present projects 3 or 4 times to the same people before they really begin to understand and buyoff on it (they actually start evangelizing it themselves as their idea).

until next week....

Step 4 of my 9 step process:
Step 1: Measure
Step 2: Develop an action plan
Step 3: Prioritize Opportunities
Step 4: Create "Program of Improvement" with ROI and timeline
Step 5: Obtain approval for your initial project (from the Program of Improvement plan)
Step 6: Implementation Strategy
Step 7: Implementation Partners
Step 8: Communication
Step 9: On-going Operational Improvement based on a "Total Improvement Plan"

Now that you've prioritized your opportunities you need to create a "Program of Improvement". This process can be something as simple as a high level project plan to something much more comprehensive. My recommendation is to build your plan based on a combination of factors;

Complexity -

Are there geographic issues, how many partners do you have to work with, are there corporate business related drivers that need to be accommodated (product release or end of quarter, etc.)

Cost vs. ROI -

How much do you have to spend in time and money to recover how much? Building out a solid proposal for action will also help ensure you have the before and after picture covered. The before and after is critical to getting the credit and recognition your team deserves.

Team size and skill sets -

If you have a small team and relatively simple systems architecture than you can probably get away with a simple plan that covers primary milestones and critical path issues. Don't forget that "investigation/planning" and "communication" are the most important parts of any good project plan. If you have a larger team and systems with multiple external dependencies then you really should put together a detailed plan that accommodates the majority of potential risks.

Recognition and rewards -

Plan for breaks in the action. It's very important to celebrate your successes before moving on to the next opportunity or challenge.

Communicate, Communicate, Communicate -

You can't over communicate your plans. The more people understand about what you're doing the more support and understanding you'll get in return.

Until next week >>>

Step 3: Prioritizing Opportunities

I'm on Step 3 of my 9 step process:
Step 1: Measure
Step 2: Develop an action plan
Step 3: Prioritize Opportunities
Step 4: Create "Program of Improvement" with ROI and timeline
Step 5: Obtain approval for your initial project (from the Program of Improvement plan)
Step 6: Implementation Strategy
Step 7: Implementation Partners
Step 8: Communication
Step 9: On-going Operational Improvement based on a "Total Improvement Plan"

Now that you've got an action plan and you're ready to start improving your infrastructure and saving money of the bottom line, how do you decide where to start. The first key is that regardless of what you decide to work on first, the end solution should fit into your larger solution framework. In other words, don't change out your server platform without determining what is appropriate for your entire enterprise once the entire project is complete.

Other considerations you should make before getting started:

• What's the initial investment cost vs time to implement and end result benefit?
• What's the complexity of the activity (will staff need training or will lots of consulting be needed) vs. the time span and ROI?
• What fix will help make subsequent fixes easier to tackle?
• Validate your technology strategy and know how all the parts will fit in your final architecture

Now it's time to start picking the low hanging fruit:

• Server consolidation will probably be the first and best option. You can make the changes will little to no impact to production environments and it's fairly low cost as far as investments go. Also, when you've made some headway in the consolidation of your servers, you might find that working on your other areas of opportunity just got easier.
• Example: If you have inefficient cooling it's very difficult to make serious changes to your cooling strategy while your Data Center is running at or near full capacity. If you've reduced your server count by 50% or more the work will become much easier.
• This process is fairly complex so don't be afraid to bring in someone with infrastructure virtualization experience. The benefits you're looking for from virtualization won't be realized if you don't have the appropriate network and storage infrastructure to support it.
• Depending on whether you're working in existing DC space or have the luxury of building into a new space your opportunities and ability to work on them will vary. The benefit of a new facility is that you can build the appropriate infrastructure from ground up without having to worry about customer impact.
• Additional potential opportunities:
• Dramatically reduced power consumption through airflow management of your DC space. This could be something as simple as plastic curtains that seperate hot and cold.
• Determine the efficiency of old electrical gear some transformers could be costing you 5%+ through inefficiency. This inefficiency directly translates into additional heat that you have to extract from the room. UPS units are another great place to look. If you have high power costs you might be able to justify UPS replacements on the power savings alone.
• Reduce your network footprint and the associated infrastructure of cable and cable management.
• The list goes on.

As mentioned in "Step 1" be sure to capture all the information you can about your current environment before embarking on the change. Having measurements of your space, power, cooling, people & hardware (networking, storage & servers) overhead before your project starts and after it's complete is crucial to getting the recognition your team will deserve. You might even be able to get Public Relations to commit some resource to helping document the transformation. Remember to include your local power company as well, they will probably be more than happy to provide your company a rebate for any power savings you can demonstrate as a result of your project.

Until next week. Happy computing.

Mark