The commissioning challenges you face on projects are likely due to missed project management steps from earlier in your project. Don’t worry, this is common when implementing complex industrial plant processes, and I’ll show you how to fix this.  The disconnect between commissioning processes and project management processes has existed for decades and is an industry-norm, so I understand if your commissioning has not gone as planned on past projects.

The seeds that you sow early in projects determine the fruits you will get during commissioning. The strength of commissioning at the end of your project is only as good as the seeds you planted earlier. You’re not going to have a thriving project during commissioning if the seeds weren’t planted and nurtured at the beginning.

Completing capital projects requires very specific project management systems and processes established right from the beginning of projects. Without these, it is not possible to complete commissioning as expected, and the commissioning phase of your project is not set up for success. Without a project management approach to commissioning, it’s a scramble at the end of projects to pick up the pieces.

So how do you ensure you have project-specific project management processes to best manage your commissioning?

The Integrated Completions Methodology gives you the project management frameworks to follow through all stages of projects so you can have confidence that the right actions are taking place and your commissioning phase takes place as efficiently as possible. With these CSU frameworks, your project team is able to proactively address issues and mitigate risk as early as possible.

There are 5 aspects of Integrated Completions to incorporate into your project delivery:

CSU Frameworks in Contracts – technical and commercial completion requirements must be in engineering, construction, and equipment procurement contracts, specific to your project and industry. Miss any of these, and you’ll have expensive change orders and claims while completing your project.

CSU Frameworks in FEED – commissioning and operational input is required during preliminary and detailed design reviews, especially for control system and HMI user interfaces. When feedback is not provided, there are lots of delays when later groups see design packages for the first time.

CSU Frameworks in Off-Site Testing – since these are the first physical tests of equipment, testing in the factory must align with on-site testing, particularly for control and protection systems. When testing doesn’t align, you get expensive delays while issues are addressed.

Construction Completions – the last 10% of any task is always the hardest, and robust processes are required to ensure systems are 100% complete and that nothing gets missed. Do a half-assed job with this, and commissioning suffers from expensive delays.

CSU Completions Workflows – commissioning is fast-paced, and you need robust methods to manage all the details and keep pace with testing. Your customized spreadsheets are not getting it done efficiently.

All 5 components of Integrated Completions are required – leave one or more of them out of your project management processes and your project will experience delays.

When CSU processes are tailored to eliminate waste, your project teams are able to complete commissioning as efficiently as possible to achieve your project in-service date. Productivity increases to optimize your project delivery. Digitalization of CSU support tools gives you the CSU-linked KPIs to monitor and control your commissioning activities for fast and effective decisions.

But when CSU frameworks are not embedded into your capital project delivery strategies:

• Project teams quickly get lost in the complexity of completing capital projects
• Proactive project management decisions are missed, and the fast pace of projects makes these decisions for you (rightly or wrongly)
• And your projects have no methodical finish at the end during commissioning – it’s a scramble to complete the work while quality suffers

Project Managers can ensure their commissioning team is successful with a proactive approach to completing projects. Start with the end in mind and integrate CSU Frameworks into everything you do on projects.