An owner's perspective on commissioning of critical facilities

This paper provides an overview of various commissioning issues associated with the design, construction, and testing of mission critical facilities typical of data center and telecom industries from the owner's perspective. It first discusses commissioning and the differences between traditional "startup and testing" and formal commissioning. It then discusses the various steps associated with commissioning typical office buildings. The paper extends this discussion to address integrated systems testing of critical infrastructures to provide uninterrupted services to support mission critical operations. This is followed by a brief discussion on the limitations and potential conflicts of commissioning and cost considerations from an owner's perspective.