Is it commissioning or completion of design?

For much of the commercial real estate world the commissioning of systems is a new idea, but for those of us involved in the design and construction of data centers, commissioning has been with us for many years.

Known as factory witness tests, functional tests, and integrated systems tests, the fundamental concept behind commissioning is to assure that the performance of the installed systems and equipment meets the project criteria and objectives. The commissioning agent comes armed with testing equipment, load banks and detailed testing scripts that are used to assure that the installed systems meet the design intent. The value of a good commissioning effort is immeasurable in helping to identify construction or installation errors.

In the world of commercial real estate where much of the design has eroded to performance rather than detailed specifications, the commissioning agent has become the de facto entity to complete the design. This unacceptable practice has found further strength in the LEED commissioning requirement that requires the commissioning agent to be involved in the design process. This seemingly good idea has further advanced the notion within some engineering firms that providing a detailed engineering solution is obsolete.

We find this industry trend to be entirely unacceptable. As owners and operators of data centers, you should expect your engineering firm to provide a design that is complete, thorough and accompanied with enough detail to be constructed without the contractor team having to interpret or guess the requirements.

As you plan for your next data center upgrade and start considering a formalized commissioning process, the following items should be kept in mind:

The engineering team should be held accountable for a complete design that meets the operational objectives of the project. This should include detailed control P&ID drawings, fully coordinated 3-D constructible documents, and systems design that are fully defined. Completion of the design "in the field" or by the commissioning agent should be unacceptable.
The commissioning agent's responsibility is not to critique or change the design, but to verify that the systems operate as designed. This verification procedure should include all operating and failure modes. In renovations of online data centers, verification of these modes may be difficult or not possible without jeopardizing the data center operation. In these cases the design team should confer with the commissioning team to determine the best approach for verifying the proper operation of the systems.

Holding the engineering team responsible for a complete design and holding the commissioning agent responsible for verifying that the installation adheres to the design will result in a more successful project. Eliminating the overlap in services will also assure that you are not paying twice for the same services.