Free tool
Long lead items tracker for data center equipment
For energization on 2 April 2029, a 25 to 50 MVA substation transformer needed its PO by 21 September 2026 (planning on 110 weeks), and a transformer above 50 MVA by 15 December 2025. Enter your energization date and items to get the order-by, release and ship dates for each, set against the vendor’s promised date, with a flag on every item that misses or has under 8 weeks of float. The tracker opens on that 60 MW campus. Download it as Excel with live date formulas, or as a PDF; for an empty template, click Start blank and download the Excel file.
Updated November 8, 2026
Morsa makes this free tool.
How the dates are worked out
Everything runs back from one anchor, the energization date: permanent utility power on.
Required on site = energization minus the on-site buffer, the weeks to set, terminate and test the gear.
Latest ship = required on site minus transit.
Latest release to manufacture (RTM) = latest ship minus the lead time. RTM is the day the factory starts building, after your submittals are approved.
Latest PO = latest RTM minus the submittal weeks.
Expected on site = the vendor’s promised delivery; with no promise yet, the PO date plus submittals, lead time and transit; not yet ordered, today plus the same.
Float = required on site minus expected on site. Below zero, the item misses its need date by that much.
Worked example: the 25 to 50 MVA transformer
The 60 MW campus energizes on Monday 2 April 2029. The substation transformer plans on 110 weeks (the top of 85 to 110), 8 weeks of submittals, 2 of transit and a 12-week on-site buffer. It is needed on site by 8 January 2029, must ship by 25 December 2028 and be released to the factory by 16 November 2026, so the latest PO date was 21 September 2026. As of 9 November 2026, ordered that day, it lands on 26 February 2029: 7 weeks after it is needed, which moves energization to 21 May 2029 unless a held factory slot or a smaller first unit recovers it. The tool works from today’s date, so on a later day these last figures grow.
Lead times the example plans on
| Equipment | 2026 lead time, weeks | On-site buffer, weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Transformer above 50 MVA | 100 to 150+ (plan 150) | 12 |
| Substation transformer, 25 to 50 MVA | 85 to 110 | 12 |
| Switchgear, 15 or 27 kV metal-clad | 60 to 80 | 10 |
| Diesel generator, 2,500 to 3,500 kW | 62 to 82 | 6 |
Terrapin (2026), as compiled with sources on the data center equipment lead times guide, which has the full table. The tool’s lead-time table carries all 16 rows, from busway to transfer switches.
Reading the flags
| Flag | What to do |
|---|---|
| Misses its need date | Ask the vendor for recovery options this week: an earlier slot, a partial first shipment, faster freight or a stocked alternate |
| PO date passed | Not ordered and already late: ask two makers for a dated slot letter on a standard design |
| Under 8 weeks of float | A single slip of a few weeks makes it late; confirm dates weekly and name an alternate |
| Order by a date | Not ordered yet; the date is a ceiling, so place it earlier where you can |
| On track | Confirm the dates in writing each month |
How to use it
Click Start blank and set the energization date, and the as-of date if you are replaying an earlier week.
Add your items from the lead-time table, or paste them from your procurement log with the columns in the tool’s order: item, quantity, vendor, PO number, then lead time, submittals, transit and on-site buffer in weeks.
Check the submittal weeks. The lead time is counted from release to manufacture, after submittals. If your vendor’s quote already includes submittals, set submittals to 0 for that item.
Fill in what you know per item: PO date, the vendor’s promised delivery and the last time you heard from them.
Work the flags, worst float first. The tool writes a chase email for each item, worded for its stage: a dated quote request before the PO, a request for dates after it, a recovery request when the vendor’s date misses, and a weekly date check otherwise.
Download the Excel file for the team. Change B4 and every date moves; the landscape PDF is for the weekly meeting.
Frequently asked questions
What are long lead items, or long lead equipment, in construction?
Equipment that takes so long to arrive that it must be ordered before the design or the contract is finished, or it sets the finish date. On a data center that is the electrical and cooling gear: transformers, switchgear, generators, UPS, chillers, transfer switches and busway. Each goes through submittals, a factory slot, a factory test and freight, so each has dates to track after the PO.
Does a quoted lead time run from the PO or from release to manufacture?
It depends on the vendor, so ask in writing. A lead time from release to manufacture (RTM) starts only once your submittal drawings are approved, which is why the tracker adds the submittal weeks in front of it. If the quote already includes submittals, set that item’s submittals to 0.
Why flag items under 8 weeks of float?
8 is a default: in one case Archdesk published, a switchgear ship date moved 8 weeks, from week 58 to week 66. An item with less float than one slip like that can miss energization. Set your own in the tool.
Does the Excel file work in Google Sheets?
Yes. Every date is a formula from the energization date in cell B4, so it recalculates in Excel, Google Sheets and LibreOffice. Type =TODAY() in B5 to keep the float current.
Related tools
Where Morsa fits
Morsa asks each long-lead vendor for its dates every week and keeps this tracker current.
You approve each kind of message once; after that it goes out under that rule, and a moved date comes back marked with the milestone it hits.
