The mission critical commissioning environment requires first time quality. Whether due to accelerated schedules, moving deadlines or the sheer amount of equipment to be tested, when commissioning activities are not done correctly, it can be extremely impactful and sometimes impossible to go back and give it a second try. Poorly executed commissioning, including oversights, missed deficiencies or failing to completely test a system, can put an owner at risk well after the project has been turned over. An effective commissioning program requires first time quality; and to achieve this, commissioning requires looking past the project schedule or equipment list and identifying potential future impact and risks.

Keeping an eye on long-term impacts can be challenging, especially when considering the dynamic environments that define data center construction projects. However, it is achievable if the commissioning provider keeps a long-term win mindset. Having a long-term win mindset means constantly thinking ahead and identifying potential gaps and risks, staying present and engaged with the project team to ensure that all expectations and concerns are being communicated and most importantly, keeping current concerns and situations in perspective with long term impacts. While immediate problems (such as looming deadlines, labor/cost impacts, potential scheduling delays, etc.) can be difficult to see around, maintaining the long-term win mindset means thinking through these issues and keeping in mind that short-term gains can often be a long-term loss.

Factory inspection visits are vital; and they unfortunately have a habit of being overlooked. The factory inspection process during the Building Envelope Commissioning (BECx) is especially important when it relates to fenestration systems, when any prefabricated components are being installed or when complex architectural glazing is being utilized on a project.

As more and more systems are being fabricated off-site (to minimize not only rising costs of field labor, but also to improve general quality) the importance of reviewing these components in the factory is critical to ensuring that they ultimately will meet the project’s goals. While this process starts on paper with the review and commenting on Quality Control/Assurance plans and discussions with the contractor and their team, it is most important that these steps and processes are verified in the factory setting with project specific materials. Critical components that are commonly verified in factory settings are as follows: