FIGURE 6: An occupant interacting with an IB. In the not too distant future,
smart buildings will create the scalable foundation for smart cities.
provides guidance on documents
to be used during that
commissioning process. NFPA 4
similarly speaks to the qualifications
of roles and responsibilities of
personnel involved through each
phase of the testing process. It
recommends testing methods
and frequency, as well as provides
guidance on documents to be used.
The development of other standards
and best practices related to trades
with systems being integrated
will impact requirements of the
ICT professionals for the life
of the building.
Looking at each integrated system
as part of the overall solution
is necessary when developing
owner system training. This training
should target the varying user roles,
but it should not be limited only
to the portion of the system for
which each user is responsible. The
training and knowledge of the
16 I ICT TODAY
facilities management team should
be appropriate for the complexity
of the systems integrated, given
the impact that system failure
would have on building occupants.
There should be cross-training
of IT and facilities staff to enable
teamwork during incidents
and fault diagnosis.
Give thought to requiring close
out documentation recommending
future maintenance and testing.
This helps the owner to have
continued satisfaction with the
connected building systems, early
warning of potential problems
and ongoing systems reliability. The
impact of what would otherwise be
a tolerable fault can intensify when
occurring in an integrated system.
End user training on the
operation of integrated systems may
need to be planned and executed by
the building ICT staff. Such training
could take the form of a short video
or a “getting started” guide. This is
often referred to as “occupant
commissioning,” or OCx. First line
problem-solving can be achieved
through user documentation
providing a higher level of detail.
Identify who will develop such
documentation. Recommend that
the owner develops and identifies
technology champions who are
comfortable with using the added
building features and who are open
to mentoring others on system use
to avoid help desk overload. If users
must put in a support ticket with
the help desk to get questions
answered, they may avoid using the
system. They must also be prepared
for building functions that may be
unexpected. Periodically confirm
that user documentation remains
relevant to system usage and that
it addresses most of the common
user questions.
After integration occurs and the
users are acclimated to the building
technology, feedback needs to be
collected to evaluate whether the
technology is being used and is
perceived as beneficial. This step
is important to prevent users from
overriding controls not to their
satisfaction or that they are not
comfortable using as designed.
Communicate to occupants that
they are in an intelligent building
and that it is only as intelligent
as they will allow it to be. They
should avoid “gaming” the systems.