Certified Data Centre Expert (CDCE®)
Take the next step as a data centre specialist and enhance your knowledge in the design, construction, and operation of mission-critical data centres. This course empowers you to design robust, secure, and efficient facilities that meet the highest standards for availability and business continuity.
The Certified Data Centre Expert course provides you with in-depth insights into all aspects of modern data centre design, following the latest international standards and industry best practices. You learn to assess business requirements, select optimal sites, plan and develop designs, perform technical audits, and ensure that both equipment and infrastructure meet demands for redundancy, efficiency, and compliance. Throughout the course, you work hands-on with real-life scenarios involving specification, validation, and documentation of data centres, and you achieve certification recognised worldwide.
Benefits
Learn to select and evaluate the optimal site for a mission-critical data centre
Gain understanding of best practices in high-availability, redundancy, and flexible design
Learn to read and validate technical documents such as SLDs and design drawings
Acquire skills to analyse business cases and design according to specific requirements
Learn how to conduct technical reviews, audits, and compliance checks against leading industry standards like TIA
Obtain guidelines for test planning, validation, handover, and retirement of data centres
Understand the full lifecycle of a data centre, from conception to decommissioning
Participant profile
This course is aimed at professionals working in IT, data centre operations, IT architecture, project management, or facility management, who are responsible for the design, construction, renovation, or relocation of mission-critical data centres.
The course is relevant for consultants, IT managers, engineers, and project leaders seeking to deepen their expertise in advanced data centre design and operation.
Prerequisites
You must hold a valid CDCS® certification to participate. If you do not hold the CDCS® certification you can obtain it here Certified Data Centre Specialist (CDCS®).
Content
- Data Centre Life Cycle
- Data centre lifecycle stages and phases
- Exercise: Stage/Phase/Milestone/Document mapping
- Design Preparation
- Creation of a SON – Statement Of Need
- Technology review
- Conceptual sizing
- How to calculate for computer room space
- How to calculate facility space
- How to calculate incoming power
- Exercise: Conceptual sizing building and power
- Analysing capacity of existing facility
- Analysing investment options
- Site selection
- Permits and approvals
- Exercise: Site selection
- Conceptual design
- Budget and project timeline
- Business case preparation
- Project delivery structure
- Project management options
- Project manager and team
- Design Planning
- OSRA – Operational Systems Requirement Analysis
- TFRA – Technical Facilities Requirement Analysis
- Operations and maintenance review
- RFP – Request For Proposal process
- Vendor selection
- Design Development
- Project planning
- Design development
- PDR – Preliminary Design Review
- Equipment selection
- FDR/V – Final Design Review/Validation
- Exercise: Full design validation of power, cooling,
- oor plans, re suppression
- Design freeze and LLTI
- Creation of construction documents
- BOM/BOQ – Bill Of Material/Bill Of Quantity
- Exercise: Equipment selection
- Acquire
- Requirements of purchase orders
- Shipping terms
- FWT/FAT – Factory Witness Test/Factory Acceptance Test
- Sequencing
- Incoming goods inspection and handling
- Asset management
- Construct
- Temporary essential services
- Erection of the building
- Permanent essential services
- Building inspection
- Snag list
- COF – Certicate Of Fitness
- Fit-Out
- Fit-Out
- Builders cleaning
- As-Built Drawings
- Test & Commissioning
- IET – Individual Equipment Test
- IPVT/IST – Integrated Performance Verication Test/
- Integrated Systems Test
- Common mistakes with IET/IPVT
- Deep cleaning
- Exercise: IET/IPVT scripting
- Hand-Over
- Facility hand-over requirements and documents
- PCC – Practical Completion Certicate
- DLP – Defect Liability Period
- Defect Management
- ICT Systems Installation
- ICT Systems Testing
- Hand-Over/DLP Expiry
- FCC – Final Completion Certicate
- Retirement
- Reasons and denitions of retirement
- Building the business case and project plan
- Sequencing
- Transfer of site
- Demolishing of site
- Legal matters
- FCC – Final Completion Certicate
- EXAM: Certied Data Centre Expert
Format
The CDCE® course is lectured by an EPI Certified Instructor using a combination of lectures and question-and-answer sessions to discuss participants’ specific needs and issues experienced in their own environment. The CDCE® course is approximately 60% hands-on and 40% lecture. Participants are able to tap into the trainer’s extensive experience to enable them to solve practical problems in their current environment, thus adding tremendous value.
This course is delivered virtually with a live instructor, alongside participants from around the world via your own computer. The course is held in English and concludes with an international CDCE® examination. You have 12 months to take the online exam after course completion. You can read more about the examination format here.
Exam
The CDCE® exam is in two parts: Part A is a 90-minute closed book exam, with 60 multiple-choice questions. For Part A, the candidate requires a minimum of 45 correct answers to pass the exam. Part B is a 90-minute closed book exam, with 25 open questions. For Part B the candidate needs to obtain a minimum of 75% to pass.
Certification
CDCE® is world-wide accredited by EXIN.
Attendeeswho pass the exam will be awarded the internationally accredited and recognised 'Certified Data Centre Expert' certificate (CDCE®).
The CDCE® certificate is valid for 3 years, after which recertification is required. Please see the EPI Recertification Program for available options.
Do you have any questions please contact
- Malene Kjærsgaard
- Konsulent
- +45 72202523