# The Data Center Operations Handbook: companion files, start here

## What the files are

The companion files of *The Data Center Operations Handbook* (Julian R. Sterling).

**Data_Center_Operations_Models.xlsx** rebuilds Varden Point, the fictional 36 MW colocation campus the book follows, month by month for 36 months from handover, and reproduces every figure the book prints about it by live formula. Amounts are US dollars. Blue numbers on a light blue background are inputs (all on the Inputs sheet); black numbers are formulas.

**Operating_Checklists.docx** holds the checklists and templates of Appendix B in an editable form: the first ninety days after handover, the method of procedure, the incident report, the monthly pack front page, opening a hall and the lender appendix.

## Which tab answers which chapter

| Tab | What it holds | Chapters |
|---|---|---|
| README | How to use the file | |
| Inputs | Every assumption: capacity, lease-up, prices, energy terms, PUE curve, costs, generators, loan, emissions, retrofit, incident | all |
| Monthly | 36 months: sold and drawn kW, PUE, rent, energy billed and bought, energy margin, churn, commissions, water | 5, 8, 10, 11 |
| Staffing | Seats, FTE per seat, the organization, in-house, hybrid and outsourced models | 2 |
| Power_SLA | The nines, test fuel, fuel autonomy, circuits, the month-7 incident and its credit | 3, 4, 7, 8 |
| Annual | The three-year budget, per-MW measures, PUE, water, emissions, the loan and DSCR, breakevens | 11, 13, 15 |
| Cooling | Halls conditioned as needed or all at once, warmer supply air, the hall breakeven | 5 |
| Maintenance | The preventive program in work orders and person-hours | 6 |
| Capacity | Oversubscription, the UPS block mapping of Building B, the month-30 snapshot | 10, 14, 15 |
| Pricing | The price floor, energy billing structures, the hyperscale ramp and backlog | 8, 9 |
| Retrofit | Suite B8, air-cooled or liquid-cooled, in two market cases | 14 |
| Checks | 86 figures printed in the book beside the live formulas; ends with ALL CHECKS OK | Appendix A |

## Two inputs to change first

Set "Condition all four retail halls from day one" to 1 to see what opening halls before they are needed costs (Chapter 5). Set the utility price shock to 20% to see why a business that passes energy through barely notices it (Chapter 11).

## Recalculation

The file recalculates when you open it. It has no macros, no data tables and no circular references, so it works the same in Excel, LibreOffice and Google Sheets. The Checks sheet reads ALL CHECKS OK at the default inputs; after you change an input, some lines read DIFF, which is expected. To return to the book's figures, download the file again.

Varden Point is fictional. Every input is an illustrative teaching assumption, not a market statistic. Nothing in these files is engineering, legal, tax or investment advice.