Many data center or computer room moves are often part of a larger corporate relocation. In the early decision-making process, a judgment is made to determine the feasibility of the move and the cost. The computer room or data center expenses can often be an after-thought.
In the rush to get to a budget number, executive management is left without a realistic view of the costs in money, time, and internal resources. Setting an unrealistic expectation means the proper lead-time, coordination, and notification may be inadequate.
Just how do you calculate your moving expenses for a relocation?
Any suggestions you find with a Google search will be limited in the scope and depth of detail and are likely to leave you wanting more. Every relocation is different and those differences loom large in your relocation cost budget. Pressure to “get me some numbers” often results in missing important details.
Step 1 – Document your relocation assumptions.
Step 2 – Don’t grab someone else’s move template from the web, build your own because your relocation details are important.
Step 3 – Get an outside assessment of your move template to ensure you haven’t missed entire categories or important details.
Step 4 – Estimate or get quotes for your move categories. Separate the technical elements from the furniture and facilities and assign the technical elements to technical experts (not move coordinators). Don’t make the mistake of relying on Google searches for normalized costs such as per square foot numbers or average cost for a data center relocation.
Step 5 – Vary your assumptions and determine that effect on the costs you obtained in Step 4.
Step 6 – Add contingency to your range of costs you obtained in Step 5.
Step 7 – Now you are ready to present a realistic expense estimate for your relocation.
What Everybody Ought to Know Before Moving a Data Center
I wrote this book to strip the mystery from a data center move, and to:
- jump start project managers who want to understand the WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) category foundations
- inform Executives about their budget process and cost model
- warn Stakeholders to get Governance right
- slice the Gordian Knot of decision paralysis
- arm Human Resources to recognize key contributors versus the lazy, blanket recognition that demoralizes technical staff
Written in plain language, and organized to accelerate everyone’s understanding, the book is particularly useful for understanding the budget categories you will encounter with a data center move.
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