Inspection process
Site acceptance test (SAT)
Also called: SAT, site acceptance testing
A site acceptance test verifies that equipment works correctly in its actual installed conditions — set in place, connected to real power, piping, and controls, and integrated with the systems around it. It repeats and extends the factory acceptance test, because passing on the plant floor doesn't prove the unit was installed, wired, and tied in correctly. The SAT is where installed reality gets checked against the specification.
Why it matters
Good equipment fails from bad installation — a miswired connection, a control point crossed, a service left off. The factory test can't catch any of that because none of it existed yet. The SAT is the first time the equipment is proven as it will actually run, which is why commissioning leans on it.
What proves it
The SAT runs the equipment through its sequences on the installed connections and records the results against the acceptance criteria, with exceptions tracked to closure. In RTI the test steps and their photo evidence attach to the equipment, so the SAT record joins the functional test and commissioning documentation in the turnover package.
Standards it's verified against
Checklists that put site acceptance test (sat) to work
Free, field-ready checklists, each with the photo every item needs before it can be submitted.
Related terms
- Factory acceptance test (FAT)A witnessed test of assembled equipment at the manufacturer's facility, proving it performs to spec before it is shipped to the site.
- Functional performance testA scripted test that drives a system through its operating modes to prove it responds the way the sequence of operations requires.
- Commissioning (Cx)The process of verifying that installed systems actually perform the way the design and the owner's requirements intended.
- Acceptance criteriaThe stated, measurable conditions installed work has to meet before it can pass — the yardstick an inspection judges against.
- Hold pointA stop in the inspection and test plan where work cannot continue until a required party inspects and signs off the release.
- Witness pointA step where a party is invited to observe the work, but the crew may proceed if that party doesn't attend within the agreed notice.
Knowing the term is step one. Proving it is the job.
RTI holds the submit button until every mandatory item is answered and the photos are attached, then chains the record so it can be proven untouched later.