There is a situation I have seen too many times during the final stages of a project:
Construction wants to finish.
Commissioning wants to start.
And if the project is not properly organized, that moment can quickly become a battle over systems, priorities, responsibilities, and dates.
Construction says:
“It’s complete.”
Commissioning says:
“It’s not ready.”
But maybe the real question is not who is right.
The real question should be:
What does this system need to move safely into the next stage?
Construction and Commissioning have different responsibilities, but we should never have opposing objectives.
Construction needs to deliver facilities built according to engineering, inspected, tested, and sufficiently complete to move forward.
Commissioning needs to receive those systems, verify functionality, integrate them, test them, and ultimately demonstrate that they can operate safely and reliably.
The problems begin when we try to use Commissioning to finish work that still belongs to Construction.
An incomplete system does not become complete because someone changes its status in the software.
A motor turning does not necessarily mean the equipment is commissioned.
And a date on the schedule does not automatically make a system Ready for Commissioning.
This is why I strongly believe in working by systems and subsystems, establishing clear boundaries, defining Mechanical Completion criteria, and agreeing from the beginning on exactly what is required for turnover.
And there is another part of this that I consider equally important:
Construction should involve Commissioning before Construction is finished.
Commissioning should involve Operations before Commissioning is finished.
When those transitions are managed properly, many of the traditional battles between departments simply disappear.
At the end of the day, there is no:
“Construction’s system”
or
“Commissioning’s system.”
There is only an asset that Operations will eventually have to receive, operate, maintain, and make productive for many years.
For me, success is not simply when Construction hands over the system.
And it is not simply when Commissioning starts it.
Success is when Operations receives a safe, tested, reliable system that can do what it was designed to do.
That should always be the common goal.
Done right. First time.
