Issue link: https://cp.revolio.com/i/522582
10 | THE DATA CENTER JOURNAL www.datacenterjournal.com but this also should not be considered an assumption of responsibility for means and methods. In the end, successful implementa- tion of means and methods is balanced. e contractor uses the expertise gained through field experience, leverages the planning and design ability of the design professional, and the owner's intimate knowledge of risk and operations to col- lectively, as a team, work through the best work plan available to perform sensitive work. Change management Specifically in the data center envi- ronment, means and methods includes participation in a change management process. A contractor versed specifically in critical environment change manage- ment will be a key success factor and makes for a great qualification criteria for contractor selection. It is usually during construction related activities that the stresses caused by changes in the physical environment (caused by the construction change) brings to light an organizations silo environment that is detrimental to proper change management. It is not the contractor's responsibility to overcome the barriers to effective change management that silos create. ese silos can occur in both small and large organizations. e contractor's responsibility does not include the development or adminis- tration of a change management program. Change management is an organizational responsibility; almost exclusively because change control and management requires an intimate understanding of organiza- tional risk tolerance and coordination of internal user impacts or potential impacts that a contractor will not be able to take full ownership and responsibility of. In this subordinate role, the contrac- tor is merely a facilitator in the change management process. e contractor should be responsible for an assessment of the readiness to perform the required work (readiness assessment), development of a step-by-step construction sequence (script), identification of the potential risks caused by each change of physical state, duration of impact or potential impact, and a communication plan. e acceptance of risk by the required stakeholders during the change process should specifically be an owner- ship responsibility since only the owner can fully understand and accept the risk presented by the construction activities. Stakeholders may choose to mitigate risk through allowing the contractor to work during specific work windows that mini- mizes risk or impact to operations. Oen, a poorly executed change management program leads to unintended schedule impacts due to lack of internal processes to effectively engage stakeholders in the communication of risk and mitigating activities or other reasons resulting in the inability for the stakeholders to accept the construction activity risk. e contractor should be responsible for the construction schedule. A good construction schedule utilizing a critical path method (CPM) will allow for the facilitation of good change management. e schedule should have sufficient granu- larity to be able to clearly identify broad work activities that can be tracked and utilized for milestone performance. e construction schedule should allow reasonable time for required review. In the fast-paced data center construc- tion market, oen review times need to be expedited to meet the aggressive speed-to- market targets of the data center consumer market. It is here where the contractor cannot impose a unilateral decision on review schedules. Rather proper engage- ment with all reviewing parities to accept accelerated review timelines will be an important responsibility of the contractor. Professional serviCes Architecture or engineering services are not typically a responsibility of the contractor and are not usually included within the scope of work for a contractor since these are professional services are not a contracting service. It is the design professional's responsibility, not the con- tractor's, to ensure a design is completed in compliance with applicable code. Some standard contracts may include verbiage that the "contractor is not required to ascertain that the contract documents are in accordance with applicable code". is is not to be interpreted as an escape clause for code compliance. Clauses like this simply state that it is not the contractor's responsibility to check the drawings to make sure the architect and engineer did their jobs in designing a code compliant solution. However, the responsibility for constructing a code compliant installa- tion still remains the responsibility of the contractor. As a result, the contractor has a responsibility to exercise diligence in reporting field measurements or condi- tions that may impact or result in non- conformities of the contract documents to the requirements of the local authorities having jurisdiction. In a design-build contracting ar- rangement, the roles change slightly in that when the design-build contractor is the prime contractor, they may hire a de- sign professional to perform the required professional services. Owners engaging in design build arrangements should exercise caution in using this contracting structure due to an inherent conflict in the primary goals of the design professional and the contractor. The contractor should be responsible for the construction schedule. A good construction schedule utilizing a critical path method (CPM) will allow for the facilitation of good change management. The schedule should have sufficient granularity to be able to clearly identify broad work activities that can be tracked and utilized for milestone performance.