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Without Clear Goals, Systems Integration Project May Miss Mark

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BAS , controls , systems integration , top management , cost control , monitoring .

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The appeal of system integration is easy to see. Integration enables facility staff to monitor or control disparate systems from a single workstation with a single graphical user interface. An integrated system may provide sophisticated controls to manage energy. Even if control capabilities are limited, simply having the ability to monitor energy-using equipment can bring savings. And at higher levels integration may offer information-sharing and control options that improve maintenance, enable facilities to tap utility incentives or feed facility performance data to top executives.
 
But not every organization needs, or will use, all of those capabilities. And adding bells and whistles will increase the cost of integration, possibly beyond the willingness of the organization to pay for it. That’s why it’s essential to begin integration planning with a hard look at what is really needed.