MECHANICAL & ELECTRICAL UPGRADES PHASE I – Kansas City, Missouri

Due to the increasing demand and planned growth of the IT infrastructure, we were hired to evaluate the H&R Block’s power and cooling systems requirements, and future needs for their IT facility. H&R Block needs a facility that will grow with the company, reduce response time, and provide reliability.

Forward-Thinking

We developed a comprehensive plan to increase capacity of the power and cooling systems as well as the addition of a raised floor area to accommodate future growth. Also, we developed new maintenance procedures along with a comprehensive maintenance program which schedules all maintenance and testing activities a year in advance.

We increased power infrastructure by adding a new 100 kVA UPS module and power distribution unit (PDU). In addition, we increased cooling capacity by adding two additional 30-ton air-cooled air-conditioning systems.

We implemented new data center management programs, which included a complete survey and circuit test of every circuit serving the raised floor. Using this data, Sys-Tek implemented a circuit management program that allowed H&R Block to configure critical applications using dual cord equipment fed from two separate UPS sources.

Continuous Innovation

We installed a new control monitoring system using a web-based host front end, which allows access to monitor critical MEP equipment such as UPS, generators, air conditioning systems, transfer switches, and electrical switchgear.

Decreased Response-Time

All alarm events are monitored and emailed to the Sys-Tek server and key personnel telephones at Sys-Tek and H&R Block. This results in a reduced response time from two hours to five minutes. We set up a grid for the raised floor to track rack locations, network wiring, and power. We developed and implemented new operation guidelines to manage vendor access, power, and network requests. In addition, we provided facility management for all maintenance and system testing for the facility MEP infrastructure.