A Critical Challenge
	Strategic Partner Selection
	RSFT's Modular Approach
	Phase 1: Discovery
	Phase 2: Engineering
	Phase 3: Construction
	Five Key Success Factors

When the 365-bed University Medical Center (UMC) in Tucson, Arizona made a decision to relocate and upgrade its 2,300 square foot data center, their MIS Director, Ray Harwood, faced a challenge that would have an impact on everyone who came in contact with the hospital. Particularly important were the people who relied most heavily on UMC's electronic brain center -- the critical-care patients, medical researchers and academicians of UMC. These last two groups included the closely affiliated University of Arizona College of Medicine and the University Physician's group practice, which included faculty physicians from the UA College of Medicine.

Years before, the hospital had recognized the limitations of the existing 2,300 square foot data center housed in a series of modular buildings that were never intended for permanent use. To remedy the situation, the hospital reserved 4,500 square feet of space in the basement of the new, four-story North Wing that broke ground in 1993 and was completed in the following year. In anticipation of its future role, the basement in the North Wing was built with an 18-inch suppressed-slab foundation in order to accommodate the raised flooring that would eventually be installed in the planned data center.

As in the case of highly focused organizations everywhere, although UMC's in-house Facilities Maintenance staff was familiar with many aspects of creating a new data center, it did not have the highly specialized expertise and resources necessary for completing such a complex and infrequently executed project. Since UMC's computing environment was based on systems built by the Digital Equipment Corporation, Harwood naturally requested Digital's assistance and input. The experts at Digital immediately introduced UMC to Rancho Santa Fe Technology (RSFT), a company with a history of working with Digital as a strategic partner to define, design, and build complex data centers. Harwood requested a formal proposal from RSFT, and to provide balance, he also requested a proposal from one of the world's most widely recognized computer system vendors.

	Phase 1 -- Discovery. RSFT's in-house architect would conduct a series of interviews with the core members of UMC's information systems team to reveal how the hospital uses information and how it planned to do so in the future. As a result of this interactive process, RSFT would determine space, power, data flow, security, and user requirements including the inter dependencies and critical functions taking place in the facility. Deliverables for this phase would include bubble diagrams to depict the two-dimensional relationships of these functions, preliminary floor plans and sketches to help envision the new facility, and a final conceptual layout with three-dimensional views and an estimate of the square footage.
	Phase 2 -- Architectural Engineering. RSFT would integrate all of the specialist's professional contributions and develop the conceptual layout into CAD-generated construction documents including a floor plan layout, elevations, and cross sections. These show all the structural elements, the placement of computer equipment, mechanical and electrical systems, raised flooring, ceiling clearances, and safety systems. When the documents were 25% complete, RSFT would interview the jurisdictions having authority over the project for their early comments. The 60% complete documents would show final placement of all the elements and incorporate all comments, at which time RSFT would submit a preliminary budget and schedule. The 90% complete documents would be submitted to the jurisdictional authorities. When RSFT incorporated the final changes and held all of the required permits, the documents would be 100% complete and be turned over with the final project budget and schedule.
	Phase 3 -- Construction.  RSFT's on-site superintendent would manage all of the construction trades and coordinate their activities. From a fully equipped office linked to RSFT's engineering staff, RSFT would also keep UMC informed about the progress of the work, conduct regular meetings, and furnish the necessary training upon completion. After providing the as-built drawings and certifications, RSFT would provide final move-in support to ensure a successful transition from the old data center.

The other vendor responded to UMC's request with a proposal to build the facility for a fixed fee and included the design for the data center at no cost. On the surface, this consolidated proposal appeared to offer significant cost savings and greater simplicity for UMC, so Harwood placed the RSFT proposal on temporary hold. He then conducted a series of question-and-answer sessions with the all-in-one vendor, and he outlined UMC's requirements and perceptions regarding the data center.

After merging all of the stated requirements and performing independent calculations, the other vendor responded with a set of rough blueprints and specifications - along with a bottom-line proposal that would cost UMC less than $500,000. This seemed to be well within Harwood's budget until UMC began to probe individual items in key areas of the proposal. When Harwood inquired about the specific method of interfacing with UMC's existing power grid, it became clear that the vendor had not adequately interviewed UMC's Facilities Maintenance group. As a result, there was no provision for the power interface in the all-in-one package. After Harwood and his team identified a number of similar omissions, UMC realized the value of RSFT's three-phase approach, which began with a pro-active interview process that was structured to draw out all of the critical information from the parties affected by the project. At this point UMC awarded the project to RSFT.

To ensure a comprehensive assessment of UMC's data center requirements, RSFT's senior staff met frequently with UMC's Chief Information Officer as well as Ray Harwood and his technical team. RSFT developed a complete profile of all existing and planned computing resources, including detailed inter-functional matrices to identify all key dependency and adjacency requirements. In addition, RSFT met with UMC's Facilities Maintenance staff to include their specific requirements and to address any regulatory, fire, and safety code issues. For instance, one critical issue that surfaced early was the fire code requirement for a dedicated exit hallway cutting across part of the data center space. By identifying and incorporating this requirement during Phase 1, RSFT obtained a significant cost and time saving by preventing subsequent redesign and reworking later.

According to Ray Harwood, "Developing a data center is a critical, one-time event that requires participation from a variety of functional areas. It's not something that can simply be defined from the exclusive perspective of the information systems staff, facilities management, or end users, and it cannot overlook the unique needs of any of these groups. We ultimately selected Rancho Santa Fe Technology to design our data center because they brought together the expertise, the perspective, and the experience needed to blend all of our requirements into a comprehensive design that could be implemented within our real world constraints."

Bill Barker's role included hands-on management of all construction-related issues such as sub-contractors, quality control, coordination with inspectors from regulatory agencies, schedule monitoring, cost-containment, change orders, and progress reporting to UMC. In addition to conducting formal weekly walk-throughs, Barker provided informal status checks to Ray Harwood and his UMC staff almost on a daily basis.

Since the initial move-in, UMC has completed more than five major new IS initiatives at the data center - each requiring the installation of between one and three new server systems. This planned growth was smoothly accommodated because of the built-in flexibility of the data center's design. Not only are the electrical and air conditioning systems designed for easy re-configuration, but the data center was built with a separate staging area adjacent to it for vendors to test their new equipment before moving it into the main computer room. For future growth considerations, RSFT designed the staging area using a de-mountable wall that can be removed or relocated if the main computer room requires expansion.

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