Managing commissioning with spreadsheets and generating ITRs in Microsoft Word is a fairly common method of commissioning management. This method has a low barrier to entry but presents huge costs in terms of management/administration, mistakes, and general inefficiency. Spreadsheets containing data for 15,000-100,000 ITRs and Certificates get terribly complicated and unmanageable (quickly). The end result is only one or two people who know the spreadsheet well enough to manage the commissioning process, lots of mistakes, and poor organization.

Similarly, producing ITRs and Certificates with Microsoft Word is time consuming and leaves too much room for human error. Even if you have well established templates to manually produce the ITRs and Certs in Word, you are spending 15-30 minutes generating each ITR (that’s at least 3,750 hours of wasteful data management overhead per project).  Remarkably, many companies continue to use “patchwork systems.”

Letting another company coordinate, manage, and perform inspection and testing can be a good move. Outsourcing commissioning and completions can be expensive and will eat into your profits, but if you don’t have an experienced team and proven commissioning infrastructure, outsourcing may be a good idea.

When considering the deployment model, there are generally two options; Cloud and On-Premise. On premise is the traditional model. It’s expensive because you have to buy hardware, software, maintenance, and support plans. While it may seem enticing to have the control of an on-premises app, it generally requires capital expenditures which puts you at the mercy of a committee decision, and involves a lot of IT personnel which puts you at the mercy of IT.

The other option (Cloud) is generally more cost effective and subscription based, so commissioning managers can work the cost into the operating budget. Cloud applications are also managed by the software vendor, so you will have fewer IT headaches and strain. Cloud deployments also allow teams from anywhere in the world to log in and participate in the commissioning application which is great when a Hull is being built in Texas and the Topsides in Louisiana.

Finally, there are hybrid deployments that mix and match attributes of cloud and on-premises.

Cloud-based applications allow users to easily and securely login from anywhere/anytime. Other considerations include interface, number of clicks, and how long it takes to input data, generate ITRs/Certs, make assignments, and generate reports. Since these are the core functions, you want to make sure that the CMS allows you do execute these functions quickly. A quick demo can show you how fast the application allows you to work.

This is an easy criterion to determine, but very important. You want your vendor to know the ins and outs of your commissioning process. They should understand what you do now and how that would work in their application. You want your software vendor to be a partner, so they can help you solve problems and identify areas for improvement. Another reason you want a vertical-specific application is the implementation phase. With the sheer amount of choices, there is no reason to reinvent (or even alter) the wheel. Vertical applications fit.