September 9, 2024 in News
September is National Fire Protection Month
Each year in September, we acknowledge and celebrate the critical role that fire protection plays in keeping our communities safe. National Fire Pr...
Challenges, Issues and Goals
The ANZ Data Centres are very operationally mature sites, one site has operated for over 30 years. There was an already high level of operational reliability, and resilience, and the facility’s legacy multiple operational management regimes were long formed and deeply in-grained. Because of the critical nature of the data centre’s operation, there was great concern and care taken with changing these arrangements. Bringing these systems together under in overarching new Quality Management framework was challenging and only achieved through a high level of collaboration and significant effort aligned to a shared focus on a common goal.
Objective
The opportunity was identified for a new Quality Management Framework founded on the AS/NZS ISO 9001 Plan-Do-Check-Act continuous improvement cycle to significantly enhance the operation of the data centres; to facilitate the identification of improvement projects and provide a risk managed method for change to ensure ongoing facility resilience (reliability and 99.999% availability – uptime), lower the risk and cost of operations, and reduce environmental impact.
Approach and Methodology
The new Quality Management Framework was developed in the close partnership between ITM and the ANZ Data Centre engineers. The team involved fifteen individuals, from specialist technicians through experienced data centre Facility Managers to continuous improvement professionals. With deliverables agreed upfront, inputs were provided by a range of Subject Matter Experts in mechanical and electrical engineering, building technologies and controls, building system optimisation, energy efficiency and sustainability, project management, critical data centre operations and risk management.
Developed over a concentrated 6-month time frame the Framework was independently certified as complaint with the requirements of AS/NZS ISO 9001 in a 2-stage audit process by DLCS International Quality in September 2019.
The new ITM Quality Management Framework has enabled the teams to work in a more effective way. Including:
Role of Facilities Management
The role of the ITM Facility Manager was crucial in this project; leading the initiative and managing progress to a successful outcome. This included coordinating and acting as the intermediary between Subject Matter Experts in mechanical and electrical engineering, building technologies and controls, building system optimisation, energy efficiency and sustainability, project management, critical data centre operations and risk management, specialist providers, and the ANZ Data Centre engineering team.
The ITM Facility Manager worked to resolve complex issues and determine legacy system interdependencies to deliver a resilient and highly effective new Quality Management Framework.
Summary
The ANZ Data Centre team have stated that the vital role played by the new ITM Quality Management Framework in infrastructure facility management is viewed as indisputable.
Since implementation there has been greatly increased alignment and operational efficiencies between ITM and ANZ resulting in a step change; providing greater value, Data Centre systems reliability, efficiencies and reduced environmental impacts. This enabled ITM to deliver benchmark outcomes in the unprecedented COVID environment without the need for additional resources or expense.
Project Name: ANZ Bank Critical Data Centre
Location: Victoria
Client: ANZ
Facilities Management Quality Management Initiative
The new ITM Quality Management Framework has resulted in improved operational efficiency and system reliability, improved asset life and reduced risk. This has provided significant value to the ANZ with increased resilience of the data centres, reduced environmental impact and cost, and improved asset life. Benefits have been delivered by a combination of operational process enhancements and improvement projects supported by the new Quality Management Framework and its Plan-Do-Check-Act continuous improvement cycle:
Facility Management Association of Australia (FMA) - FM Industry Awards for Excellence: Excellence in Government/Special Purpose Facilities for Critical Data Centres Infrastructure Facility Management
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