Projects are only successful when it comes from the project owner.

All other project groups certainly play a role in the project’s success. But the buck stops with the project owner.

It is similar to owning a company – the company founder will always care the most about the success of the company since they have the most vested interest in the company’s success. But others working for the company don’t have the same skin in the game and aren’t motivated in the same way that the owner is.

The same applies to projects – the project owner has the most at stake – huge sums of money – future revenues on the line – and they have the most vested interest in the project’s success. But if the project owner is relying on other groups to make their project successful, they may be disappointed. 

Everyone wants projects to be successful (we hope), but all groups aren’t incentivized in the same way that the project owner is. However, the money usually motivates groups on projects to complete their part, regardless of the project delivery strategy:

• DBB – Design-Bid-Build – separate design and construction groups
• EPC – Engineer-Procure-Construct – design and construction part of the same group

But in both of these cases, commissioning is not part of the acronym. And there is a good reason for this – you can’t have the fox guard the henhouse – you can’t have design and construction groups verify their own work at the end of the project.

But because the acronyms are missing an additional “C”, commissioning can get forgotten about if the owner does not give this important verification stage of projects particular attention. 

Commissioning must always be a separate group, and it’s up to the owner to manage commissioning. The commissioning group can be a group within the owner’s structure, or a separate third party acting as the owner’s representative. The interface between the DBB groups or EPC group and the commissioning group can be particularly challenging if not planned for properly in advance, and the owner must define the very clear line between where construction ends and commissioning starts to ensure they get what they need. 

Instead, what usually happens, is the line between construction and commissioning is vaguely defined, and everyone’s definition of “done” means something different. The EPC’s definition of done favours their interest in demobilizing from site and moving on to the next job, but the commissioning team’s definition of “done” means something different to get the systems to actually work. And the contract doesn’t help because it’s lacking the details required for completion of the project (everyone was focused on starting the project when the contract was being written, not thinking too much about finishing the project).

For owners that want to get systems that meet their needs, they must be engaged in all stages of the project and especially during commissioning as decisions are being made in real time.

However, this is challenging – projects are complex, and how can project owners possibly know all the complex details – nobody can be an expert in all stages of projects? Unless project owners are repeating projects many times, it’s impossible to have all the answers in advance. It’s much more likely that project owners are undertaking projects several years apart from each other, or maybe only once every 30 years. This makes it very challenging for project owners, who must get this all right and be responsible for final commissioning. And when other groups work on projects all the time, they have an advantage over owners that only occasionally work on projects. 

So how do project owners keep their projects on the right track to ensure all project groups have their best interests in mind to complete the project on-time and on-budget? There are lots of things that can be done, but the two biggest items that will move the needle the most are:

• Get your contracts right – if it’s not in the contract, then it doesn’t matter. This is challenging to get the end-of-project details included in contracts, but very possible. There are two important aspects that must be included upfront in contracts to define how your project will finish.
• Get the best CSU Processes and CMS Software for your project, so you can keep track of everything needed to get to the end and give everyone working on your project the visibility on what they need to do to get to the end. Everyone working on projects, even during all early stages, must know how to complete the project and how their role contributes to the end-goal.

Without these two aspects, your project is flying blind – everyone working on your project will be feeling their way through the dark, not sure exactly what the end-goal is and not sure how to get there. And when you’re stumbling around in the dark, it always takes a lot longer to get to where you need to go.

Project owners that are actively involved in planning and executing commissioning will have the best outcomes on their projects, to ensure a successful finish to projects.

For more information or support to achieve successful commissioning, please visit www.commissioningandstartup.com