Automation projects, by their very nature, have risks. Everyone has a war story or two about a project that went off the rails, blew the budget, blew the schedule, or didn’t do what it was intended to do. The startup and commissioning part of the project, doubly so. Because automation startup and commissioning is risky business.

Defining a successful project is not difficult:
- Did it deliver the intended results like safety improvements and product quality improvements?
- Did it help bring new products to market, improve performance such as throughput, reliability or quality, and produce the savings or return on investment (ROI) as intended?
- Was it executed well with no injuries, accidents or environmental issues?
- Was it implemented on time and on budget?