First and foremost, many energy programs give you points for enhanced commissioning including the turnover of a commissioning systems manual as a requirement. More points typically translates to a more efficient building and more accolades. Aside from that, as building systems become more and more automated, a commissioning systems manual is becoming a necessary tool for understanding how to operate and maintain a building.

The O&M material and as-built drawings/diagrams provide information on the what and where of an individual piece of equipment. The as-built sequence of operations tells you how that piece of individual equipment is supposed to operate. No information included as part of a typical turnover package includes directions on how your team is supposed to operate the overall building. That’s where the manual comes in handy.

The main goal of the commissioning systems manual is to guide you how to operate the Building Automated System (BAS) to control each piece of equipment as part of the overall building. As the commissioning provider, we’ve had the opportunity to follow the building equipment and systems from initial concept through operating conditions. This knowledge puts us in the unique position to combine the basis of design, key design drawings, as-built control documents, specific system operating instructions, future maintenance schedules and future re-commissioning forms into one tidy package.

Being able to reference the manual for clarifications on how to change a schedule, how to collect trend logs, what a certain alarm means can save you from unnecessary maintenance and service costs. Using the re-commissioning forms every 6-months can help discover small maintenance items before they become large. Having this information available allows for the building operations team to take real ownership of the building after turnover and minimize the frustration caused by operating a new BAS. Ask us for a sample if you need more information! We take pride in our ability to turn our experience into a guide for your building operations team.