The roles of a consultant, Internal Auditor, And External Auditor in a data center

Hello everyone, welcome back to the Data Center Standard Blog. Our last post talks about "what is a data center and why it should comply with ANSI/TIA-942?"

Today we will walk you through the various roles in a data center. They are the

- Data Center Design Consultant
- Internal Auditor
- External Auditor

Data Center Design Consultant

In a data center project a consultant is known as the data center design consultant. The consultant is the expert who is asked for professional advice by companies that are looking to conform to the requirements of the ANSI/TIA-942 standard.

This consultant may be a technical designer, project manager, an advisor or even an implementer.  A certified data center design consultant normally holds the title of Certified TIA-942 Design Consultant (CTDC). In order to be a certified data center design consultant, data center professionals are required to go through a 3 day course. 

CTDC is worldwide accredited by EXIN. EXIN was created in 1984 to provide accreditation and independent examination.  EXIN has been contributing towards the improvement of quality of the ICT area of expertise and the development of the ICT Professional together with its partners and contacts for 30 years.

In order for a data center project to complete successfully, a number of experts have to come together. These are the consultants, the internal auditors and the external auditors. Let’s find out more about these experts below:

Internal Auditor

The role of an internal auditor is to ready an organization’s data center to confirm with the ANSI/TIA-942 standard. The internal auditor has to not only understand the complete audit cycle, but also to help the company to assess what are the major non conformities that it needs to fix. He will also ensure that all necessary documents and resources that are required for the external certification audit are prepared properly. A Certified Internal Auditor normally holds a Certified TIA-942 Internal Auditor (CTIA) certification.

External Auditor

The External auditor understands the complete technical requirements of the standard, the process of auditing and is also an expert in seeking evidence to check for conformity. He is external to the organization whose data center needs to be assessed for conformity to ANSI/TIA-942. In light of the information found during audit, the external auditor will write a non-conformity report as well as review the potential fixes to the non-conformities

Now that you know the different roles in a data center project, it’s important to validate whether they are certified professionals or not. Click HERE to validate now.

Search for Certified Data Center consultants and Auditors here.

What is a data center and why data center comply with ANSI/TIA-942 ?

Data Centers are spaces companies use to store and operate a majority of company information and communication technology Infrastructure that helps with the business. Depending on the scale of business, data center could be a simple rack, a room or a building with computer equipment that consumes a high level of power. The ability of the data center to operate at peak performance and at the highest possible efficiency levels without service interruption is crucial for business continuity. In order for the data center to operate at peak performance level, it must adhere to a quality standard. The quality standard for data centers today is ANSI/TIA-942.

What is ANSI/TIA-942?

Let us first look at what is ANSI, and TIA-942?

ANSI stands for American National Standards Institute. The Institute is responsible for everything from the formation to the announcement and further use of thousands of guidelines and norms. These norms directly affect several business sectors from construction to manufacture to dairy to energy distribution and others.

TIA stands for Telecommunications Industry Association.  The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) is the leading trade association that represents global information and communications technology (ICT) industry in the form of policy initiatives, market intelligence, business opportunities etc.

ANSI/TIA-942 is an established quality standard issued to data centers. This standard stands for a worldwide consensus from industry experts in the context of data center design and build.

Why is ANSI/TIA-942 chosen?

The ANSI/TIA-942 standard is chosen because of the following factors:

• The standard is available to the public and hence considered transparent
• This standard encompasses every element of the physical data center from its architecture, fire suppression, safety & security to its site location and telecommunication amongst others.
• This is a genuine standard that has been issued by a NGO
• This is an ANSI accredited standard

The ANSI/TIA-942 standard acts as a measure for data center professionals to refer when building a reliable data center.

Find out more here.