The commissioning processes is one of the most important aspects of any project.
Without proper commissioning and testing how do you know your data centre has the resilience it was designed for ?
Commissioning should start as soon as the design stage is completed. The tests to be carried out during the commissioning process should be documented and agreed between the client and the contractor.
Commissioning is widely understood to be a 5 stage process;
- Factory acceptance tests
- Supplier/sub-contractor installation tests
- Witnessing of Supplier/sub-contractor installation tests
- Testing of interfaces between different systems i.e. UPS/generators/BMS etc.
- IST, Integrated System Test
Stages 1-3 are similar in any construction project but stages 4 and 5 are particularly important in a data centre project. We must establish that the redundancy we have built into the system works in every configuration and will support the full design load during normal running and maintenance or failure modes.
We must test every configuration of a redundant system before accepting the installation
This means that a detailed and thorough commissioning plan must be documented early in the project and time must be allowed in the project plan to complete this process before handover.
Another crucial aspect of the handover process is ensuring that the “as-built” installation matches the original client requirements specification and that the documentation provided by the contractor is complete and reflects the “as-built” installation.
During every project there are changes made during the construction process. These must be reflected in the “as-built” documentation
The Capitoline data centre commissioning process is designed to provide an holistic review to demonstrate that the data centre works as an integrated system that matches the client requirements. We also audit the site to ensure that the handover documentation is complete and accurately represents the “as-built” installation. If you would like to know more please…
