Easter Test for Good Operators

The quality of a facility manager and the installed control and monitoring system can be easily verified using the Easter Test, which consists of evaluating the answer to one simple question:

Easter Monday has several ideal characteristics for this test:

• It is a movable feast, so it typically cannot be easily pre-programmed into the control system as a recurring holiday.
• We ask for “last year” to determine if data is being archived for a sufficiently long period.
• For most technical equipment, a public holiday should result in a visible change in the character of the data (e.g., lower occupancy, reduced heating/ventilation).

• “I can't, we don't have data that old. We only keep trends for XY days.”
  • Solution: Use Mervis DB for long-term centralized storage.
• “Yes, but we would need to call in the I&C (BMS) programmer for such a task.”
  • Solution: Ensure your data is accessible via a user-friendly database like Mervis DB.
• “Probably, but I don't know how.”
  • Solution: Train the operators in using the SCADA application or migrate to the more intuitive Mervis SCADA.
• “Yes, but the data looks exactly like any other Monday.”
  • Solution: This indicates that the operator does not use (or know how to use) the scheduling functions, or the installed system does not allow for exception-based holiday scheduling. Use the scheduling tools in Mervis SCADA.