Level 1 to Level 5, thousands of assets, one energisation date
Data center commissioning software for hyperscale campuses where Level 5 IST has to prove the whole facility, not just the parts.
A hyperscale new build runs several general contractors, dozens of equipment vendors and a commissioning agent through five defined levels before a single rack takes load. Deskely holds every system, subsystem and component in one register with the commissioning-level gates enforced by the data, so the black-building test and the integrated systems test are executed against evidence rather than assembled from binders the week before.
- Scope
- Electrical, mechanical, controls
- Parties
- CxA, GC, MEP, vendors
- Levels
- L1 factory to L5 IST
- Gate
- IST before IT load
Choose your project type
The problem
Five commissioning levels, dozens of vendors, and no single view of which one you're actually on.
Factory witness testing happens at a UPS vendor's works, component verification happens on site months later, and the integrated systems test tries to prove the whole electrical and mechanical chain works together under simulated failure — often with the owner's project requirements (OPR) sitting in a document nobody has re-read since design.
When each level is tracked in a different spreadsheet, nobody can say with confidence whether a switchgear lineup that passed Level 3 functional testing still has open Level 2 pre-functional checklist items behind it.
Deskely models the facility as systems and subsystems with the commissioning level built into the record set, so readiness for IST is derived from signed Level 1–4 records instead of assembled from vendor reports the week before.
Setting up the register
Electrical distribution, mechanical plant and controls are subsystems with their own commissioning path.
Utility switchgear, generators, UPS, STS, PDUs, busway, chillers, CRAH/CRAC units, cooling towers and the BMS/EPMS each reach Level 4 functional performance on their own schedule — and every one of them is a prerequisite for the Level 5 integrated systems test.
Single-line diagrams, mechanical schedules, control narratives and points lists are parsed into a reviewed register, so every breaker, valve and I/O point carries its drawing reference and its OPR clause.
That structure is what lets a completed electrical room proceed to energisation while mechanical plant is still mid-Level 3, without losing track of what's actually done.
Levels 1–4
Factory witness test, component verification and functional performance are the evidence IST depends on.
Level 1 factory witness tests at the UPS, generator and switchgear works produce findings that have to close before the same equipment can start Level 2 installation and pre-functional checklists on site.
Level 3 functional performance testing exercises each system against its sequence of operations — generator start and transfer, UPS bypass, chiller staging — with results and punch held against the equipment tag rather than a paper checklist that leaves the site.
Deskely blocks a subsystem's Level 4 sign-off while Level 1–3 findings remain open, which is what makes the IST readiness review a formality instead of a discovery exercise.
Level 5 — integrated systems test
The black-building test proves redundancy under a simulated utility failure, with IT load still absent.
IST exercises N+1 or 2N electrical topology and mechanical redundancy end to end: utility loss, generator start and paralleling, UPS ride-through, cooling failover, all against load banks that simulate the design IT load and heat rejection.
Deskely runs the IST test script as a structured record with pass/fail criteria per step, timestamps and evidence, and raises a commissioning issue immediately rather than letting it wait for a debrief the following week.
The commissioning issues log stays distinct from construction punch throughout, because a failed failover step is a design or installation problem to be re-tested, not a cosmetic defect to be closed before handover.
Hold point before IT load
The facility is handed over with a dossier the operations team can actually use.
Nothing energises white space or accepts IT load until Level 5 IST is signed, redundancy failure modes are demonstrated, and BMS/EPMS points-to-graphics verification confirms every alarm and setpoint on the wall matches the field device.
Because the dossier builds continuously across all five levels, the handover pack — OPR compliance, test results, punch history, preservation records — is an export rather than a project of its own.
Every signature keeps a name, role and timestamp, which is what an owner's commissioning agent needs to sign off the final Level 5 certificate.
The commissioning authority's signature
The CxA doesn't attend the IST, they own the pass/fail call, and Deskely is where that authority is exercised.
On a hyperscale programme the commissioning authority is contractually independent of the GC and the MEP trades, which means every IST script, every load bank reading and every ATS transfer time has to be defensible to someone who wasn't in the room when the switchgear was installed.
Deskely gives the CxA a review layer over the same register the GC and vendors populate: they can see which Level 3 functional tests a subsystem is standing on before they sign the Level 4 certificate that unlocks it for IST, and they can withhold that signature against a specific missing record rather than a general concern.
Uptime Institute Tier certification, where the owner is pursuing it, reads from the same evidence — the M&O assessment and the Tier III/IV commissioning documentation are exports of records the CxA already reviewed, not a parallel paperwork exercise assembled for the certifying engineer's visit.
Evidence
The Level 5 dossier
A hyperscale facility does not go live on inspection; it goes live on a signed integrated systems test script proving the whole electrical and mechanical chain under simulated failure. The records below are what the operator's acceptance board reviews.
Level 4 functional performance test script
Each system (UPS, generator, chiller plant, BMS) performs its full sequence of operations in isolation
After individual equipment start-up, before integrated testing
Level 5 integrated systems test (IST) script
All electrical and mechanical systems respond correctly together under simulated utility loss and equipment failure
Immediately before energisation for IT load
Black-building pull-the-plug test record
The facility transfers from utility to generator to UPS and back without a load drop
Final IST scenario, witnessed by the operator
Load bank step-load test report
Generators and UPS accept and shed load in defined steps without frequency or voltage excursion beyond limits
During Level 5 testing, before live load
Thermal ride-through data log
Data hall temperature stays within the allowable envelope for the specified ride-through duration on cooling loss
Captured during the cooling-failure IST scenario
SLA acceptance and witness pack
All commissioning evidence required by the operator's acceptance criteria is complete and signed
Compiled at the close of Level 5, before handover
How it runs
From an empty white space to IT load acceptance.
Hyperscale projects reward structure set up before the first switchgear lineup lands, because the IST is where every gap in Level 1–3 evidence becomes visible at once.
- 01
Break the facility into systems
Electrical distribution, mechanical plant, controls and white space, each with its own commissioning-level path.
- 02
Parse the equipment set
Single-line diagrams, mechanical schedules and points lists drafted into a reviewed asset register against the OPR.
- 03
Template by commissioning level
Factory witness, pre-functional, functional and integrated test records defined once per equipment type.
- 04
Give vendors and the CxA scoped access
Each vendor completes its own Level 1–3 records; the commissioning agent reviews and gates Level 4–5.
- 05
Gate IST on Level 4 evidence
A subsystem cannot enter the integrated systems test until its own functional performance testing is signed.
- 06
Certify and export
Level 5 certificate issued from the IST script, redundancy failure modes documented, dossier exported before IT load.
FAQ
Questions about Hyperscale new build scopes.
Keep reading
Data centre commissioning
The full sector view: commissioning levels, integrated systems testing, punch and the certification ladder to IT load.
Read moreCertificates
Mechanical completion, Level 4 functional performance and Level 5 IST certificates issued from signed records.
Read moreAI drawing parser
Single-line diagrams, mechanical schedules and I/O lists turned into a reviewed asset register.
Read moreOther data centre project types: Colocation facility commissioning and SLA acceptance, Edge and modular data centre commissioning, Retrofit and capacity upgrade commissioning, UPS and power train commissioning, Cooling, CRAH/CRAC and liquid cooling systems, Standby generators, fuel and switchgear, White space rack, power and busway fit-out, Integrated systems testing and Level 5 commissioning, Campus substation and utility interconnection.
