Template for a Data Centre Operations Manual

The CIO wants to know that this document exists, and additionally he might ask an independent third party to review this document for completeness, correctness and reasonableness.

In certain intervals he will ask for (written) confirmation that all activities described have been carried out in last period – or explanations and plans for those which have not been carried out.

He might ask for presentation of the records showing who executed which of the duties and the results (and tracking ID's for issues ), or delegate the review of the records to a independent third party, typically an auditor.

The Data Centre Manager is the owner of this document and he is responsible to manage the document, e.g. to ensure that it is updated and to initiate quarterly reviews.

If an Operations Manual for the data centre already exists, he can use this template to check the existing operations manual for completeness.

If the Operations Manual does not exist, then using this template will give him a jump start.

He might delegate the creation of certain chapters to members of his staff, but it its his duty to ensure that all areas are covered.

He also needs to communicate sections impacting other departments – see next heading - actively to those (best with an quarterly reminder mail).

Change Managers need to understand the headings of this document such that they can when assessing a change request identify potential impact on the data centre and check if those are addressed in the change request.