How to Avoid Commissioning Issues and Automate Testing to Save Time and Money in Data Center Projects

Data center commissioning is the final exam for your facility. It’s the process of verifying that every system and component works as intended before the data center goes live. Skimping on this phase can spell disaster: when a data center experiences unplanned downtime, the costs are staggering – on the order of $11,500 per minute of outage, according to a 2023 Uptime Institute report (www.pingcx.com). Little wonder the saying goes that your infrastructure is only as reliable as your commissioning process (www.pingcx.com). In an industry where even a few minutes of downtime can cost millions and tarnish reputations, avoiding commissioning issues isn’t just a best practice – it’s a matter of survival for modern data centers.

But commissioning a data center is easier said than done. These projects involve thousands of interdependent components (power, cooling, IT equipment, controls, and more) that all need to function together under real-world conditions. Often, commissioning happens under intense schedule pressure, right at the tail end of construction. The result? Teams sometimes cut corners or work from out-of-date information, leading to mistakes that come back to haunt operations. In fact, 75% of data center outages are preventable with proper testing and maintenance (www.pingcx.com), yet many organizations still suffer avoidable incidents due to lapses in the commissioning phase. To help your team save time and money (and many headaches), let’s explore how to avoid common commissioning pitfalls and how automating testing and workflows can dramatically improve outcomes.

Why Commissioning Is Critical — and Challenging

Commissioning ensures reliability. Think of it as full-system testing for a mission-critical facility. The process isn’t just a formality or a box to check; it’s what guarantees that your design and construction efforts actually deliver the performance and uptime you need. A properly executed commissioning program will verify electrical and mechanical systems, cooling performance, backup power, security, fire suppression, and more under realistic loads. It provides confidence that the data center will fulfill its intended role (www.dcsmi.com) from day one. Beyond that, commissioning yields a treasure trove of documentation – as-built drawings, test reports, operating procedures – which is critical for the ongoing maintenance and understanding of the data center (blog.se.com). In short, if something isn’t commissioned, you can’t truly trust it in live operation.

Despite its importance, data center commissioning is rife with challenges. By the time construction is nearing completion, project teams are often facing tight deadlines and budget pressures. There’s temptation to rush through tests or skip steps to meet go-live dates. Multiple vendors and contractors might be involved, each focused on their piece, making it hard to coordinate a holistic test of the facility. Documentation may be scattered across spreadsheets, design models, and emails, so the commissioning team might not have the latest specs or changes. And without careful oversight, tests might only cover a fraction of scenarios – for example, doing spot-checks on a few cooling units or a single generator, rather than every redundancy path. This “sampling” approach can leave dangerous blind spots. According to a 2022 study by Uptime Institute, 79% of data center outages involved components or sequences that were never tested during commissioning (www.pingcx.com) (because the team assumed similar equipment that was tested would behave the same). In other words, if you don’t test it, it might fail when you need it most.

The stakes are especially high for cloud providers and hyperscalers. These operators run massive facilities where any downtime has a ripple effect on thousands of customers. As capacities scale up, so does complexity – and the margin for error shrinks. A single overlooked design flaw or a missed procedural step during commissioning can result in outages, costly fixes, or delayed openings for new capacity. Conversely, a smooth commissioning process sets the foundation for rock-solid reliability and efficient operations, giving you a data center that just works from day one. The good news: by understanding common pitfalls and leveraging modern automation tools, you can dramatically reduce the risk of commissioning issues.

The High Cost of Commissioning Mistakes

Failing to catch issues in commissioning can carry a hefty price tag. At best, mistakes lead to last-minute scrambles and project delays – every extra day of delay is lost revenue and added expense when dealing with multi-million-dollar data center builds. At worst, issues that slip through can cause service outages later on, which are far more expensive. (Remember that $11k per minute figure? It adds up fast.) Even aside from direct costs, a botched commissioning can force expensive rework: imagine discovering that a cooling system isn’t meeting specs after the data hall is built out. Retrofitting or upgrading at that stage is exponentially more costly than fixing the design in the planning phase. And the fallout isn’t just financial – it can damage client trust, throw off capacity planning roadmaps, and stress your operational teams who must firefight issues in a brand-new facility that should have been stable.

Several industry studies and white papers have highlighted how critical it is to avoid these mistakes. A Schneider Electric report on data center projects noted that cutting corners on commissioning to save cost or time often backfires, resulting in far greater costs down the line in downtime and equipment failures (blog.se.com) (blog.se.com). In our experience, every hour not spent in properly testing upfront can become days of effort later to diagnose and repair problems under duress. There’s also an opportunity cost: while your team is tied up fixing avoidable problems, they’re not moving on to the next project or optimizing operations as planned.

Perhaps the biggest cost is the unseen risk you carry forward. If some subsystems were not fully tested, you essentially start operations with unknown failure modes lurking. For example, if an emergency power-off procedure wasn’t demonstrated during commissioning, can you be sure it will work perfectly in a real emergency? One facility learned this the hard way when a backup power system failed at an integration point that was never tested, contributing to a major outage (www.pingcx.com). The lesson is clear: uncaught issues = potential future outages. By investing in thorough commissioning, you are buying an insurance policy against downtime – one that pays for itself many times over by avoiding even a single outage or major repair. In the next sections, we’ll look at which pitfalls most often trip up commissioning efforts, and how you can avoid them to protect your timeline and budget.

Common Commissioning Pitfalls (and How to Avoid Them)

Even seasoned data center teams can fall victim to commissioning pitfalls under pressure. Here are some of the most common mistakes – and strategies to avoid them:

• Starting Commissioning Too Late: Treating commissioning as a “bolt-on” at the end of the project is a recipe for trouble. If you wait until construction is nearly finished, you’ll be in scramble mode. The fix is to integrate commissioning planning from day one. Engage a commissioning agent or dedicate internal resources early in the design phase (blog.se.com). Early involvement ensures requirements are clear, tests are scheduled with adequate time, and any design issues can be caught when they’re cheaper to fix. In short, make commissioning an integral part of the project plan, not an afterthought.
• Cutting Corners Under Time/Budget Pressure: It’s a common scenario – the project is running late or over budget, and someone suggests trimming the testing scope. This is extremely risky. “Doing a commissioning rush job will introduce human error and inadequate documentation,” one report warns, noting that any dollars saved are outweighed by massive costs later in downtime and repairs (blog.se.com) (blog.se.com). Resist the urge to shorten or skip tests. Fight for the time and resources originally allocated for commissioning (www.dcsmi.com). A properly funded commissioning pays for itself by preventing costly failures (and frantic phone calls at 3 AM post-launch).
• Outdated or Incomplete Test Procedures: Using a generic or old test script that doesn’t reflect your actual design is a frequent pitfall. Different equipment requires different testing steps – if your procedures don’t match the latest technology and design in your data center, you’ll miss critical checks (www.dcsmi.com) (blog.se.com). Avoid this by developing custom commissioning scripts tailored to your facility. Update them whenever there’s a design or equipment change (and ensure version control so everyone uses the current one). Also, validate the test scripts themselves – peer review them to catch any steps or criteria that might be missing. The goal is to leave no “unknown” untested just because the script was incomplete or based on assumptions.
• Not Testing Under Realistic Conditions: A data center is an integrated system, and it needs testing as such. One common mistake is testing components in isolation or under ideal conditions only. This can give a false sense of security. Make sure to simulate real-world loads and failure scenarios during commissioning. For example, test the cooling system under peak IT load or use load banks to mimic server power draw across entire circuits, not just one device (www.dcsmi.com). Don’t just test at one temperature/humidity point – vary conditions to reflect seasonal changes, as recommended by ASHRAE guidelines for proper commissioning (www.pingcx.com). And critically, perform integrated systems tests (sometimes called IST): shut off a power feed and confirm backup generators kick in, fail a cooling unit and see that redundancy takes over, trip fire alarms and observe all interlocks. Skipping these holistic tests is dangerous – a whopping 46% of backup power failures occur at the integration points between systems that passed individual tests (www.pingcx.com). The antidote is to test the whole, not just the parts.
• Poor Coordination and Communication: Commissioning involves a lot of stakeholders – electrical and mechanical contractors, equipment vendors, control system integrators, facility operations teams, and the commissioning agents. If roles aren’t crystal clear, things fall through the cracks. Avoid chaos by assigning clear ownership for each test and task (www.cablinginstall.com). Hold coordination meetings well in advance to sequence the tests (for example, you can’t test the cooling failover until the power system is commissioned, etc.). A holistic approach that brings everyone together early in the design/build cycle is crucial so that a truly integrated series of tests can be performed (www.cablinginstall.com). Essentially, break down silos: all parties should be working off the same game plan, with open communication channels for issues discovered during tests. A related pitfall is relying only on the construction team to self-commission their work – internal teams may have blind spots or biases. It’s often wise to have an independent commissioning agent or at least someone not afraid to call out problems, to ensure an impartial evaluation (www.dcsmi.com).
• Documentation Gaps and Lack of Knowledge Transfer: The commissioning phase should produce a wealth of documentation – test results, updated drawings, configuration settings, emergency procedures, and more. A common mistake is failing to document changes and results thoroughly, leaving the operations team with patchy info. Always update the as-built documents and commissioning report as you go, capturing every test outcome and any deviation. Also, publish clear emergency procedures and ensure the operations staff reviews them (www.cablinginstall.com). Remember that down the road, new team members should be able to review the commissioning docs and understand what was checked (www.dcsmi.com). Invest time in a proper turnover package and training for the operations team. Skipping this might save a day or two now, but it will cost you many more days of confusion later when something goes wrong and nobody knows the original intent or data.
• Human Factors (Fatigue and Overreliance on Memory): Commissioning is hard work, and it often involves long hours under tight timelines. Pushing the team too hard can lead to mistakes – people get tired and take shortcuts or misread results (www.dcsmi.com). Be realistic in scheduling tests; if something requires 12 hours of straight monitoring, ensure you have shifts or backup personnel to avoid fatigue-related errors (www.cablinginstall.com). Also, don’t rely on any individual’s memory or personal notes. Use checklists (digital if possible) that must be filled out in real time, so nothing is missed or forgotten. The best approach is to build fail-safes against human error – double-checks, peer reviews of results, and tools that guide testers through the correct procedure step by step. This ties into our next topic: using automation and integrated systems to support the humans doing the work.

By steering clear of these pitfalls, you set the stage for a much smoother commissioning process. Of course, saying “just do all the things right” is one thing – actually executing it is another. This is where technology can be a game-changer. Modern data center teams are increasingly turning to automation and software tools to eliminate manual mistakes, keep everyone on the same page, and systematically validate that everything is working. Let’s look at how automating testing and using a unified data platform can help you avoid the traps we just discussed.

Automating Testing to Save Time (and Catch More Issues)

One of the most powerful ways to improve commissioning is through automation of testing procedures. Traditional commissioning often involves armies of engineers with clipboards (or spreadsheets) running down long checklists. It’s labor-intensive and prone to human error in recording results or noticing anomalies. Today, however, we have the means to automate large parts of this process – saving time and improving thoroughness.

Automated test execution and data collection can drastically reduce the time it takes to commission a facility. For example, instead of having an engineer manually verify each sensor reading and equipment status, you can integrate commissioning tests with the facility’s monitoring systems. Many data centers have sensors and controls hooked into DCIM or BMS (Building Management System) software. By scripting these systems, you can automatically run a test (say, cut power to a UPS) and have the software verify that backup systems engage and all relevant readings (generator output, transfer switch status, server uptime) are within expected parameters. The system can log all results with timestamps instantly, whereas doing this by hand with manual measurements would take substantially longer and could miss transient behaviors. In short, automation lets you test more, faster.

Comprehensive automation also enables broader test coverage. As noted earlier, a big risk in commissioning is the temptation to sample a few components instead of testing everything, due to time constraints. Automation flips this equation: running 100 test cases via software isn’t much harder than running 10, once the scripts are in place. Some leading operators now push for 100% testing of critical components and scenarios – they script every backup generator, every cooling unit, every failover sequence. This approach has yielded impressive results: case studies have reported a 65% reduction in time-to-commission new facilities and 42% fewer post-commissioning issues by adopting extensive automation and comprehensive test coverage (www.pingcx.com). When you can run tests quickly and repeatably, it also becomes feasible to test compound failure scenarios that would be daunting manually (for instance, simulating a simultaneous loss of utility power and a CRAC unit). Automation provides the bandwidth to find and fix edge-case failures before the data center goes live, rather than discovering them months or years later during an outage.

Automated documentation and validation is another big win. Instead of scribbling notes or updating Excel sheets by hand as tests are performed, an automated system can generate a real-time digital log. You can have scripts that automatically compare test results against design specifications. For example, if a cooling test shows an aisle temperature of 27°C where the design limit was 25°C, the software can flag it immediately. All these results can feed into an automatically generated commissioning report, complete with graphs of performance over time, which saves engineers days of work compiling results after the fact. This not only saves time (labor hours that translate to $$) but also improves accuracy and consistency – no illegible handwriting, no forgotten readings. The end result is a complete, trustworthy dataset that can be handed to the operations team for future reference, with far less effort than a manual approach would require. In essence, automation ensures no checklist item is skipped and no data point goes unrecorded, giving you confidence that the commissioning was truly thorough.

It’s worth noting that automation isn’t about replacing the expertise of your engineers – it’s about augmenting it. Your team defines what needs to be tested and what “pass” criteria are; the automation simply executes those instructions faster and more reliably. Humans still review the outcomes and make decisions (e.g. what to do about that 27°C reading), but they do so with complete information at their fingertips. By offloading repetitive test steps to machines, engineers are free to focus on solving problems and optimizing performance, rather than tediously checking if each battery module is within voltage range. In sum, automated commissioning tests let you work smarter: you compress the schedule (saving time), minimize re-testing and errors (saving money), and ultimately deliver a higher quality data center.

Single Source of Truth: Syncing Your Data and Documentation

While automation tackles the execution of tests, another key piece of the puzzle is managing the data and documentation behind the scenes. Data center projects typically involve a mosaic of tools – you might have spreadsheets for capacity planning, a DCIM platform for asset tracking, CAD drawings or BIM models (like a Revit model) for the design, separate databases for equipment specifications, and dozens of PDF documents for procedures and manuals. One of the biggest contributors to commissioning issues is when these sources of information get out of sync. If the drawing says one thing, the spreadsheet says another, and the on-site reality is a third, the commissioning process can be derailed by confusion and errors.

The solution is to establish a single source of truth for your project data. In practice, this means connecting your various systems and files so that there’s one authoritative set of data that everyone pulls from. When a change happens – say you swap a piece of equipment or update a rack layout – that change should propagate to every relevant place automatically, ensuring that all teams are working off the latest information. By eliminating data silos and manual transcription of information between tools, you drastically reduce the chance of mistakes like testing the wrong equipment, missing a requirement, or using an outdated procedure.

Modern software platforms like ArchiLabs are designed to enable this level of integration and data synchronization. ArchiLabs is building an AI operating system for data center design that connects your entire tech stack – Excel sheets, DCIM systems, CAD platforms (including Revit), analysis tools, databases, even custom software – into a single, always-in-sync source of truth. Imagine updating a device list in Excel and instantly that update reflects in your DCIM asset inventory, your power load calculations, and your CAD floor plan. By bridging all these systems together, ArchiLabs ensures there’s no discrepancy between what’s in the design document, what’s in the procurement list, and what’s being tested on-site. This unified data model acts like a digital twin of your data center project, constantly updated to mirror reality.

Where this really pays off during commissioning is in automated documentation and version control. All of your specs, drawings, and operational documents can be synced into one place for easy viewing, editing, and version control. If a last-minute design change occurs (say a different model of CRAC unit is installed), updating the spec in one place can automatically update all downstream documents and checklists. The commissioning team will always have the latest drawings and equipment specs on hand – no more wondering if that PDF test procedure is the final version. Moreover, any changes made during commissioning (like a setting adjustment or as-built modification) can be fed back into the system, so the as-built digital model remains accurate. This seamless synchronization of data means fewer errors, less time chasing documents, and confidence that what you’re testing is exactly what was designed and installed.

Another benefit of a single source of truth is improved collaboration. With a platform like ArchiLabs, different stakeholders (design engineers, project managers, facility operators, contractors, etc.) can all access the same cloud-based project model with appropriate permissions. You can say goodbye to email chains with outdated attachments; instead, everyone checks the centralized platform. This transparency and accessibility ensure that during commissioning, everybody sees issues in real time and stays on the same page. For example, if a load bank test reveals a shortfall in cooling capacity, the engineering team can pull up the model, see related data (maybe a discrepancy in expected vs actual chiller performance), and devise a fix quickly – all in a shared environment where the resolution (changing a parameter or swapping a unit) is logged and updated for all to see. In essence, a unified data platform acts as the backbone for both planning and operations, guaranteeing that data center teams aren’t wasting time reconciling information but are instead focused on solving problems and moving forward.

Cross-Stack Automation: From Design to Commissioning with AI

Implementing a single source of truth sets the stage for the next leap: cross-stack automation. When your data center project data is integrated, you can begin to automate entire workflows that span multiple tools and stages of the project. This goes beyond just testing. With the right platform, you can automate everything from initial design and capacity planning to final turnover and operations hand-off. This kind of automation is ArchiLabs’ specialty – it’s a cross-stack platform for automation and data synchronization that treats your data center tool ecosystem as one cohesive system.

Consider some of the repetitive planning tasks that eat up your team’s time: laying out racks and rows in a new hall, planning cable pathways and calculating lengths, placing equipment and ensuring clearances, updating drawings whenever something changes. ArchiLabs can automate these workflows on top of your unified data. For example, using rules you define (like hot aisle/cold aisle arrangement, power density limits, network topology requirements), the system can generate a rack layout or a cable routing plan at the push of a button. Because it’s pulling data from your source of truth, those layouts will comply with your design standards and reflect current constraints (space, power, cooling, port availability, etc.) without manual cross-checking. By automating planning tasks, you save enormous amounts of time and reduce human errors that later manifest as commissioning issues (for instance, discovering at commissioning that a rack was placed where it blocks an airflow path – an automated check could have caught that in design).

Crucially, ArchiLabs also tackles operational workflows like commissioning tests. We touched on automated testing earlier; ArchiLabs provides a framework to implement that in an integrated way. The platform can automatically generate commissioning test procedures based on the design data. If your single source of truth knows you have 20 CRAH units, 5 generators, 200 racks, etc., it can spit out tailored test scripts covering each item and every redundancy scenario (instead of someone writing those by hand). Then, using its integration capabilities, ArchiLabs can actually run and validate many of those checks. For example, it could interface with a Revit model or an IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) file of your facility to retrieve equipment locations and attributes, pull real-time data from a DCIM or BMS to verify readings during a test, and even push commands to certain systems (via APIs or scripts) to execute test actions. Throughout the process, it tracks results in its database. The outcome is that tests are not only faster, but also systematically recorded and verified. You get an alert if something doesn’t meet the expected criterion, and at the end a comprehensive report is generated automatically, complete with all data and any deviations noted.

What makes this approach so powerful is its flexibility through custom “agents” or automation scripts. With ArchiLabs, teams can teach the system to handle workflows end-to-end that are unique to their environment. For instance, you could create a custom agent to read data from your CAD model, convert it to an open BIM format like IFC, run an analysis on it (perhaps checking clearance or airflow in an external CFD tool), then pull the results back and update an Excel summary, and finally push an update to your facilities database – all as one coordinated routine. In a commissioning context, you might have an agent that automatically cross-references the as-assembled equipment list from procurement with what’s in the design model and flags any discrepancies before the testing starts. Or an agent that orchestrates a multi-step failover test: it could simulate a utility power loss by signaling the power management system, wait for generator data from the sensors, validate that all racks stayed powered via the UPS during the transfer, and then email the team a notification that “Generator Test #1 passed” with all supporting data attached. These examples barely scratch the surface. The key idea is you can automate complex, multi-tool processes that used to require manual effort across different software and teams. ArchiLabs acts like the conductor, making sure each system (Excel, DCIM, Revit, databases, etc.) performs its part in the right sequence and with data flowing seamlessly between them.

By adopting a cross-stack automation platform, you effectively supercharge your team’s productivity. You’re not just fixing one small pain point; you’re creating a continuous flow from design to commissioning to operations. Every piece of data only needs to be entered once and is then reused and updated everywhere. Every routine task that used to take days of coordination can be run in minutes. And because the platform is AI-powered and learns from the rules and patterns you provide, it can even start suggesting optimizations (for example, proposing an improved cable route or identifying an anomaly in test data that warrants attention). The result is a data center project delivered with far fewer hiccups, in less time, and with a higher degree of confidence in its quality. For neo-cloud providers and hyperscalers aiming to scale quickly, this approach is a game-changer: it ensures consistency and reliability across multiple projects, and it lets your human experts focus on innovation and problem-solving rather than grunt work and firefighting.

Conclusion: Smarter Commissioning for Future-Proof Data Centers

Commissioning a data center will always be a complex endeavor – but it doesn’t have to be chaotic, and it doesn’t have to drain your budget with delays and fixes. By understanding and avoiding the common pitfalls, teams can prevent most commissioning issues before they occur. Plan early, test thoroughly (under real conditions), document everything, and never underestimate the human factor. These best practices go a long way toward de-risking the commissioning phase.

However, best practices alone aren’t enough in an age where speed and scale are paramount. Embracing automation and integrated data management is the key to staying ahead. When you connect your entire tool stack into a unified, intelligent platform like ArchiLabs, you create a foundation where errors from miscommunication or outdated info simply don’t happen. Automating testing and other workflows then builds on that foundation to deliver projects faster and more reliably. The end result is a virtuous cycle: fewer commissioning issues mean faster go-live, which means quicker revenue and lower costs – and a happy team that isn’t burning out chasing last-minute problems.

In the ultra-competitive world of cloud and hyperscale data centers, the winners will be those who can deliver capacity quickly without compromising on quality. Avoiding commissioning issues and leveraging automation to save time and money isn’t just an operational improvement; it’s a strategic advantage. By turning your data center design and commissioning process into a well-oiled, software-augmented machine, you ensure that each new facility is deployable on time, on budget, and with confidence. In the end, smart commissioning is about more than just testing checkboxes – it’s about building a future-proof data center that will run smoothly from day one, setting you up for success in the long run. With the right approach and the right platform in place, that goal is entirely within reach. Here’s to zero-issue commissionings and on-time project handoffs, every time.