Richard Davis works with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Japan, where building commissioning is still a new concept. He needed to explain the quality-assurance process to customers and Japanese contractors, so he decided to pursue a Qualified Commissioning Process Provider Certificate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“The course provided me with excellent examples of pre-functional checklists and function performance tests that I have used to review and comment on commissioning plans submitted by commissioning authorities,” Davis says. “The course also enabled me to better define the scope of work for commissioning authorities that we solicit for our projects.”
The Qualified Commissioning Process Provider Certificate is geared toward engineers, architects, consultants, building owners, and facility managers, whether newcomers or veterans in the field. They learn the commissioning process based on guidelines from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers, allowing them to apply it to new and existing building projects. Participants take five days of classes in Madison, complete review sessions, then pass the Commissioning Certification examination.
‘Excellent instructors’
Davis liked the instructors’ approach in the Qualified Commissioning Process Provider Certificate.
“The course is very well organized, with excellent instructors who have a great deal of practical building commissioning experience,” he says. “The instructors demonstrated practical application of the principles and practices of proper building commissioning.”
Davis also benefited from interacting with his fellow students, some of whom had extensive experience in building commissioning around the world.
“Discussing the issues and solutions other students used in a variety of projects—academic, data servers, housing, retail, administrative—provided a wealth of knowledge I have been able to use in my own work,” he says. “Several of us continue to correspond to share information, best practices, and lessons learned.”
The Qualified Commissioning Process Provider Certificate helped Davis better understand Owner’s Project Requirements, the foundation for a building project’s design, construction, and operational decisions.
“Getting the Owner’s Project Requirements correct as early as possible is the key to successful building commissioning,” he says. “I have been able to use this knowledge to focus on clearly defining it for projects by the parametric design stage. This enables us to focus better on which systems the project owner feels are important and to integrate the commissioning authority into the project earlier and easier.”
For more information about the Qualified Commissioning Process Provider Certificate.