Preloader spinner

The five-day Certified Data Centre Expert (CDCE) course is designed for experienced IT, facilities and data centre professionals involved in the design, build, renovation or relocation of mission-critical data centres. You will explore the complete data centre lifecycle, from initial business requirements, site selection and conceptual sizing through design planning, equipment selection, construction, commissioning and final handover.

The course develops advanced skills in analysing business and technical requirements, reviewing data centre designs, evaluating equipment specifications and identifying common design issues. You will also learn how to develop testing and commissioning plans, manage facility handover and prepare for the retirement or decommissioning of ageing data centre environments. The course concludes with the Certified Data Centre Expert (CDCE) examinations, with successful candidates receiving the internationally accredited EXIN certification.

Data centre expert reviewing the design, construction and commissioning of mission-critical infrastructure

Course Schedule

14
Sep 2026
Duration:

5 days

An icon of a clock

8:00am - 4:00pm

An icon representing a location

Online Live

Price:
Discounted Price:

£3,980 per delegate

Course Code: CDCE

Duration: 5 days

Audience

The primary audience for this course is any IT, facilities or data centre professional, who are involved in the design/build, renovation or relocation of a mission-critical data centre.

Prerequisites

Participants must hold a valid CDCS® certificate at the time of passing the CDCE® exams.

Course Objectives

After completion of the course the participant will be able to:

  • Choose an optimum site for mission-critical data centres based on current and future needs.
  • Describe all components important for high-availability in a data centre and how to effectively setup the data centre.
  • Understand the design lifecycle stages for data centre build projects and the phases involved in project execution.
  • Analyse a business case and develop a project brief that is aimed at fulfilling the business resilience, site selection and design requirements for a fit-for-purpose and suitably redundant mission-critical data centre.
  • Conduct technical level design reviews for a given set of preliminary design documents and perform a technical compliance audit of a set of final design development documents compliant to TIA standards.
  • Understand how to read electrical Single Line Diagrams (SLD) and other related design documents, and be able to detect the most common design mistakes.
  • Evaluate product datasheets and discriminate amongst technical specifications and functional requirements for suitability against a set of given design requirements for a given site and business case.
  • Correlate equipment specifications to site design constraints, such as room size and space, floor loading capacity, cooling capacity, power quality conditions and maintenance requirements while ensuring equipment selection does not compromise desired tier level compliance.
  • Develop Individual Equipment Test (IET) and Integrated Performance Validation Test (IPVT) plans for a mission-critical data centre.
  • Develop guidelines and checklists for handover of a mission-critical data centre facility, its architectural, mechanical, electrical, IT elements and documentation.
  • Develop retirement plans for decommissioning and handover of an aged mission-critical data centre facility.

Course Outline

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, floor plans, fire 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 – Certificate Of Fitness

Fit-Out

  • Fit-Out
  • Builders cleaning
  • As-Built Drawings

Test & Commissioning

  • IET – Individual Equipment Test
  • IPVT/IST – Integrated Performance Verification 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 Certificate
  • DLP – Defect Liability Period
  • Defect Management
  • ICT Systems Installation
  • ICT Systems Testing
  • Hand-Over/DLP Expiry
  • FCC – Final Completion Certificate

Retirement

  • Reasons and definitions of retirement
  • Building the business case and project plan
  • Sequencing
  • Transfer of site
  • Demolishing of site
  • Legal matters
  • FCC – Final Completion Certificate

Exam

Exam: Certified Data Centre Expert (CDCE®)

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 & Accreditation

CDCE® is world-wide accredited by EXIN.

Attendees who 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.

Public Schedule

RRP:  
Our price:  
£3,980 per delegate

Private Virtual Training (Teams / Zoom)

n/a

Private Onsite Training (at your offices)

n/a

Note

All prices exclude VAT at 20%.

VAT registration number: 450 4347 14

ENQUIRE or request a booking

You may also like...

Certified Data Centre Migration Specialist (CDMS)

Learn to plan and manage data centre migrations, covering strategy, risk, discovery, target design, migration waves, safety and security.

An icon of a clock
Duration:

2 days

Certified Data Centre Risk Professional (CDRP)

Learn to identify, assess and manage data centre risks, covering threats, vulnerabilities, risk treatment, compliance and business impact.

An icon of a clock
Duration:

2 days

Certified Data Centre Environmental Sustainability Specialist (CDESS)

Learn to improve data centre sustainability through energy efficiency, carbon reduction, water, waste and renewable energy management.

An icon of a clock
Duration:

2 days

Enquire or request a booking

Certified Data Centre Expert (CDCE)

If you would like to book a scheduled course, please let us know the number of delegates and your preferred date(s).
We will confirm availability and send you a booking form to complete.

Thank you!

Your enquiry has been received and we will come back to you shortly.

If you don’t hear from us within 2 working days, please check your junk or spam folder, just in case our response has ended up there.
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

Join our mailing list

Receive details on our new courses and special offers

Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.