Data center projects
On a data center job a few pieces of equipment, such as switchgear, generators, transformers and cooling units, decide the date long before anyone pours a slab. This page shows how to keep each of them tied to the schedule through three records you already have: an activity, a submittal and the RFIs that can hold it up.
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The submittal log says a generator was approved in March, while the schedule still shows the install starting on the original date. Nobody holds both lists at once, so the gap between approval and delivery is noticed when the truck does not arrive.
When the review of a transformer’s shop drawings takes three weeks instead of two, the manufacturer starts later and the delivery moves by the same amount. Without a review due date next to the on-site date, the cause is invisible.
A single unanswered RFI about a pad dimension can hold up a whole piece of equipment. If the question lives only in the RFI register, the scheduler sees a plan that looks fine and a crew that cannot start.
Most activities have float, which means a week’s delay changes nothing. A switchgear lineup or a generator has weeks or months between approval and delivery, and the work that depends on it cannot start earlier. That is why long lead items belong on the critical path discussion from the first schedule, not after the first late delivery. A reliable tracker answers three questions for each item: has the submittal been approved, when must the item be on site, and does anything open stand between the approval and the install.
Scheduling
A submittal carries the number, the spec section, the responsible contractor and two dates: Required on site and Review due. A returned submittal can only be resubmitted, and each resubmittal raises its revision by one, so the log shows how many rounds an item needed. An activity can link to documents, RFIs, issues, estimate items and change orders. The submittal and the activity are therefore two records that you read side by side, which is why the submittal number belongs in the activity name.
Step 1
In the schedule, add an activity for the item with a responsible person and a company, and a milestone for the day it must be on site. Link the install activity to that milestone with a finish-to-start dependency and a lag in working days for anything that must wait.
Step 2
In the submittal register, add the spec section, a title, a type such as Product data or Shop drawings, the responsible contractor and the reviewer. Set Required on site and Review due, and use the ball in court filter to see whose turn it is.
Step 3
Open the activity’s Linked records panel, link the RFI or issue that concerns the item and tick it as blocking. The activity shows Blocked, with a marker on the chart that names the RFI and its deadline, until the RFI is answered or closed.
Step 4
Use Save baseline once the dates are agreed. The chart then shows the variance in days on every end date, and the critical path highlights the activities with no float, so you can see which long lead items actually decide the finish.
Open the schedule with the critical path switched on and look at the long lead activities first. An item whose install sits on the critical path has no float, so a late approval moves the finish date. An item with float can absorb a delay up to the float. Compare the baseline with the current dates to see how far each one has moved; a plan from another tool can be read in as a Microsoft Project XML file, as an Excel or CSV file or as a Fidrel file, and the schedule can be exported to Excel, CSV, PNG or SVG for the owner’s meeting.
This workflow keeps no purchase orders, supplier lead-time data, freight or stock for an item; the lead time is a duration or a lag that you enter in the schedule. A submittal cannot be linked to a schedule activity, so its required-on-site date and the activity’s dates are compared by you, for instance by putting the submittal number in the activity name. Fidrel records the dates and documents you enter and checks them against no data center design requirement, rating or standard.
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Anything else on your mind? We are happy to help.
Talk to usGive each item an activity and a milestone for its on-site date, link the install to the milestone, and keep a submittal with Required on site and Review due dates. The schedule then shows the date and the register shows the approval.
Yes. Link the RFI to the activity and tick it as blocking. The activity shows Blocked and a marker on the chart names the RFI and its deadline, until the RFI is answered or closed.
Not directly. An activity links to documents, RFIs, issues, estimate items and change orders, so the submittal and the activity are compared by you, for example through the submittal number in the activity name.
Switch on the critical path, which highlights the activities with no float, and save a baseline so each end date shows its variance in days against the agreed plan.
Project and organization administrators can change it. Everyone else in the project can read it, so the owner’s team can follow the long lead dates without changing them.
Not in this workflow. The schedule holds the dates and the submittal register holds the approval. Lead time is a duration or lag you enter, and there is no supplier or freight data behind it.
