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There are so many phases involved in commissioning and startup processes for industrial plants. Not only does it include in-depth testing, but it also involves a thorough project management process to execute the commissioning. Using a project management approach for commissioning is important and should be implemented throughout every stage of your project. If you’re looking for ways to carry out commissioning using a project management approach, read this Pro Support Solutions article for all the key information you need.

What does project management involve?

Project management involves carefully making plans for an engineering team and sharing those plans with them. The plans can include schedule management, cost management, risk management, communication management, and quality management.

What is schedule management as part of commissioning?

Since an essential part of commissioning is project management, and schedule management underpins each of these, it’s important to recognize that schedule management can help with commissioning. Schedule management involves understanding how delays will impact the project. Part of schedule management involves knowing what the in-service date is, which is a significant milestone that commissioning teams must acknowledge when carrying out commissioning. Schedule management also involves recognizing that all phases of the project, like the design phase, construction, and installation, can all delay the commissioning process. For this reason, schedule management can make a commissioning schedule easier to follow.

At which stage should a commissioning team be involved in schedule management?

The commissioning team must be involved with the project right from the beginning – as part of the FEED stage (known as the front end engineering and design phase). They should work together with design teams to ensure that they carry out the commissioning phase in time for the in-service date. Commissioning teams must also frequently assess and take notice of the commissioning schedule, providing updates to the clients and stakeholders.

Why is cost management important for project management and commissioning?

Cost management is critical for a project as part of project management and commissioning. Even though commissioning doesn’t have significant costs, if commissioning is delayed, the costs can soar. Precise planning for commissioning is a requirement to ensure that delays don’t happen. Cost management affects different parts of the project’s execution, such as construction. In construction, plenty of activities take place, such as delivery of equipment. It’s likely that during the construction phase, you will spend a significant part of your budget, and construction delays can only increase these costs. This is why schedule monitoring and project management is important.

Why is communication and management of stakeholders important for commissioning?

As part of the project management approach for commissioning, communication is essential, as is managing stakeholders. Managing communication can help you acknowledge and uphold the expectations of the stakeholders. It can ensure that the right information is communicated to them. Managing communication, as a part of a project management approach, can ensure that risks are acknowledged, mitigated and kept to a minimum. Project management can facilitate the communication management, ensuring that commissioning progress is maintained, and ensure that stakeholders remain content.

What is risk management and why is it important for commissioning?

An essential part of the commissioning phase is risk management, which forms part of the project management approach. It goes beyond just putting together a checklist – it must be carried out every day and includes weighing up the decisions made for your plant engineering project. Now, even though a checklist or risk register might be put together when design is underway, and might be reviewed each month, it’s important that these checklists are prepared while considering how they will impact commissioning.  If you don’t consider how risks impact commissioning, such risks can accumulate, building up and being pushed towards the end of the project. Commissioning will then bear the weight of the risks, which can cause commissioning delays and lead to higher costs. For this reason, risk management – part of project management – is critical for commissioning.

Who carries out quality management and why is it important for commissioning?

Quality management plays a vital role for commissioning, even though you’ll typically have a quality management team that is responsible for quality management, and a team that is responsible for commissioning.  For example, you would have a design team that quality tests its work during the design phase and a commissioning team that carries out commissioning of the design team’s work to avoid a conflict of interest.

Why is using a project management approach important for commissioning: The key point

As you can see, using a project management approach for commissioning is important when completing an engineering project. The key point to remember is that if unplanned, and if project management doesn’t feature in your commissioning process, delays can happen and lead to significant costs. Exceptional commissioning teams, such as our partner DG-SKID, will ensure that your commissioning process is perfect. Take a look at Pro Support Solutions for more details.