Emergency Operating Procedures
A data center’s EOPs address specific events and how
personnel should respond to such events. The EOPs
are typically the same across all BICSI classes. The
expectations of how personnel respond to emergency
events are independent of the level of redundancy
within the data center. The expectations should be
the same, whether the data center is a BICSI Class-0,
Class-1, Class-2, Class-3 or Class-4.
SUMMARY
The BICSI 009-2019 Data Center Operations
and Maintenance Best Practices standard is completed
and is being prepared for public release. However,
it is a living document. Data center operations is a vast
subject to cover. Even as the standard was approved by
the sub-committee members, new content was being
discussed to be included in the next edition. This is
no different than developing customized operation
procedures and policies for a specific data center. It is
a process of updating and revising based on changes
in technologies implemented, changes to the critical
infrastructure, or changes in management structure,
just to name a few.
Regardless of the stage in the development of the data
center operation procedures, there is always room for
improvements. Review the procedures and identify areas
where improvements can be made. Adding or updating
existing operations information can include:
• Procedures to match changes within the data center
• Procedures with greater detail
• Procedures where none previously existed
• Training and verification content
• Monitoring capability
• Key metrics and performance indicators
• Capacity planning capabilities
• Forecasting capabilities
The BICSI 009 standard can be a useful resource in
helping to identify the next step that should be taken
to improve operations. Keep the steps small to help
ensure successful outcomes. It does not matter if it is
10 steps or 100 steps, as long as each step results in
data center operation improvements.
38 I ICT TODAY
When conducting maintenance
tasks on a BICSI Class-0,
Class-1, or a non-redundant
component or system in a
Class-2 data center, a planned
outage is required.
BIOGRAPHY: Phil Isaak, PE, P.Eng., RCDD, DCDC,
SMIEEE, is the president of Isaak Technologies, an independent
consulting firm that focuses on helping organizations succeed in
efficiently delivering data center services with high availability
and risk mitigation. Isaak Technologies delivers clear solutions
to complex problems using best practices in data center IT
provisioning and forecasting, strategy and risk mitigation. Phil
serves as BICSI’s Data Center Operations Standards Committee
Chair and was integral to the development of BICSI 009.
He also serves on BICSI’s Data Center Design Standards
Committee as author, editor, and subject matter expert for the
ANSI/BICSI 002 Data Center Design and Implementation Best
Practices standard and has done so for the past 15 years. Phil
can be reached via https://www.linkedin.com/in/philisaak
REFERENCES:
1. ANSI Essential Requirements: Due Process Requirements
for American National Standards 2018. www.ansi.org
2. Daly, Kevin, MTBF, October 1995. https://www.archive.ece.
cmu.edu/~ganger/ece546.spring02/readings/mtbf.description
3. Brown, Aaron B., Coping with Human Error in IT Systems,
IBM Research, QUEUE, November 2004
/philisaak
/www.ansi.org
/www.archive.ece
/mtbf.de
