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Commissioning & Validation      

 

• Commissioning

 

FDA SUBMISSION PACKAGE

 • Descriptive Narrative
 • Basic Floor Plan
 • Waste/Personnel/Product Flow Diagrams
 • Air Pressurization Drawings
 • CMP/VMP

 

 

 

Definition:
ASHRAE Guideline 0, The Commissioning Process, defines commissioning as "a quality-oriented process for achieving, verifying, and documenting that the performance of facilities, systems, and assemblies meets defined objectives and criteria". Commissioning is therefore an "umbrella" process for all the planning, delivery, verification, and managing risks to critical functions performed in, or by, facilities. Commissioning uncovers deficiencies in design or installation using peer review and field verification. Commissioning also accomplishes higher energy efficiency, environmental health, and occupant safety and improves indoor air quality. Commissioning is a quality assurance-based process that delivers preventive and predictive maintenance plans, tailored operating manuals, and training procedures. Essentially, the commissioning process formalizes review and integration of all project expectations during planning, design, construction, and occupancy phases by inspection and functional performance testing, and oversight of operator training and record documentation.

 

Benefits:
Commissioning assists in the delivery of a project that provides a safe and healthful facility; improves energy performance; optimize energy use; reduces operating costs; ensures adequate O&M staff orientation and training; and improves installed building systems documentation.

Commissioning benefits owners' through improved energy efficiency, improved workplace performance due to higher quality environments, reduced risk from threats, and prevention of business losses. Organizations that have researched commissioning claim that owners can achieve savings in operations of $4 over the first five years of occupancy as a direct result of every $1 invested in commissioning—an excellent return on investment. Meanwhile, the cost of not commissioning is equal to the costs of correcting deficiencies plus the costs of inefficient operations. For mission-critical facilities, the cost of not commissioning can be measured by the cost of downtime, which reaches an average of $26 thousand per hour for the package shipping industry, $89.5 thousand per hour for airline reservation operations, and $6.45 million per hour for brokerage operations, according to the research firm Dataquest.

Commissioning Goals:
Commissioning is often misinterpreted to focus solely on testing during the end of the construction phase. But commissioning is actually a collaborative process for planning, delivering, and operating buildings that work as intended. ASHRAE (The American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers) defines commissioning as "…the process of ensuring that systems are designed, installed, functionally tested, and capable of being operated and maintained to perform in conformity with the design intent… Commissioning begins with planning and includes design, construction, start-up, acceptance and training, and can be applied throughout the life of the building." This definition accurately depicts commissioning as a holistic process that spans from pre-design planning to post-construction operation and can be thought of as a checks-and-balances system. Accordingly, the goals of commissioning are to:

1. Define and document requirements clearly at the outset of each phase and update through the process.


2. Verify and document compliance at each completion level.


3. Establish and document commissioning process tasks for subsequent phase delivery team members.


4. Deliver buildings and construction projects that meet the owner's needs, at the time of completion.


5. Verify that operation and maintenance personnel and occupants are properly trained.


6. Maintain facility performance across its life cycle.

Commissioning Principles:
Regardless of the extent of commissioning that is determined as appropriate for a project (Number or complexity of systems commissioned) and the approach utilized (Independent CA, A-E/CA, CM/CA or Owner/CA), there are three overarching principles in the Commissioning Process that begin at project inception and continue through Occupancy and Operations.

 

 

• Validation

 

VALIDATION MASTER PLAN (VMP)
The following is a proposed outline Validation Master Plan. The format, order, and content are typically modified to accommodate details specific to the project.


 • MASTER PLAN APPROVAL
 • OBJECTIVE
 • SCOPE
 • RESPONSIBILITIES
 • INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND DISCUSSION - (PROJECT OVERVIEW)
 • DESCRIPTIONS
     • Company Background
     • Site(s) Description
     • Facility Description
     • Personnel and Material Flows
     • AHU Zoning/Room Pressurizations
     • Process Equipment
     • Process Support Systems/Equipment
     • Laboratory Equipment
     • Facility Systems & Utilities
 • APPROACH AND DEFINITIONS
     • Direct Impact System:
     • Indirect Impact System:
     • No Impact System
     • Critical Components
     • Non-Critical Components
     • Commissioning
     • Good Engineering Practice (GEP)
     • Installation Qualification (IQ)
     • Operational Qualification (OQ)
     • Performance Qualification (PQ)
 • SYSTEMS WITHIN SCOPE OF MASTER PLAN
     • Critical Facility and Utility Systems (Validated Systems)
     • Process Equipment
     • Packaging Equipment
     • Control Systems
     • General Facility and Secondary Support Systems (Commissioned Systems)
 • CLEANING VALIDATION
     • Spray Ball Pattern Verification
     • Nozzle and Spray Arm Coverage
     • Detergent Residue
     • Cycle Programming/Sequencing
 • COMPUTER/AUTOMATED SYSTEM VALIDATION
 • ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA
     • General Installation Qualification (IQ) Acceptance Criteria
     • General Computer/Software/Control Qualification Acceptance Criteria
     • General Operational Qualification (OQ) Acceptance Criteria
     • General Performance Qualification (PQ) Acceptance Criteria
     • Cleaning Validations
 • PROCEDURES AND FORMAT
     • Documentation Requirements
     • Validation Protocol Format
     • Validation Report Format (includes master plan closeout report)
     • Validation Document Numbering and Filing System
     • Document Filing System
 • SUPPORT SYSTEMS
     • Environmental Monitoring
     • Preventive Maintenance
     • Change Control

 

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