While managing capital projects can be challenging, particular attention needs to be placed on the last stages of projects during on-site commissioning and startup, since this is when all parts of the project come together. Projects always start with the best intentions, but project teams can quickly get lost in the complexity of completing projects if rigorous project management frameworks for commissioning are not established early in projects.

It’s similar to planning a road trip – If you don’t have a Google map showing the most efficient route to your destination, then it’s very difficult to get where you want to go. Sure, you’ll arrive eventually, but without guidance from Google, you’ll be guessing at every turn and probably make a few wrong turns that cost you time. The same applies to projects – without the project management frameworks to manage commissioning, project teams are just guessing on the most efficient methods to complete projects and end up making earlier mistakes that cost time during commissioning.

So what are Project Managers to do?

The process to manage commissioning is well understood, but not well established within the construction industry. However, when Project Managers establish the CSU project management frameworks early in projects, they are much more successful in delivering projects on-time and on-budget.

The Integrated Completions Methodology defines the CSU project management frameworks required to manage commissioning:

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 are seeing 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 the end of your project suffers with expensive delays.

CSU Completion 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.

When Project Managers do not include one or more of these project management frameworks in projects, it’s easy for projects to end up late and over-budget:

• Projects are not managed for success during the design and construction phases. Short-term decisions are made that impact the long-term outcome of commissioning.

• Construction and commissioning groups are not aligned, with disputes and delays that impact the project’s in-service date

• Commissioning gets squeezed into half the time, with poor-quality systems at the end

Project Managers must establish these CSU project management frameworks in all stages of projects if they want to be successful.