Which performance verification activity is crucial for successful existing building commissioning?

Successful existing building commissioning is fundamentally about ensuring that a building's systems operate as intended and achieve optimal performance. Among the various performance verification activities, system testing plays a critical role.

System testing involves the direct evaluation of the operational capabilities of a building's systems, such as HVAC, lighting, and other critical infrastructure. This process allows practitioners to assess if these systems function correctly under actual operating conditions, confirming that they meet the desired performance criteria. It also helps identify any discrepancies or inefficiencies in how systems interact, which can then be addressed to enhance overall building performance.

While energy auditing, software compatibility review, and design document analysis are all important activities in the commissioning process, they serve more as supporting roles. Energy auditing helps identify where energy use might be inefficient, software compatibility review ensures that the various software systems in use can communicate effectively, and design document analysis verifies whether the systems were designed according to the intended specifications. However, without actual system testing, it's challenging to validate whether these systems are delivering their intended performance in real-world scenarios. Thus, system testing is crucial and central to successful existing building commissioning.