VIRTUAL HEROES

Check out our Mission Critical Operator overview video on YouTube.

Wake Tech Community College’s Mission Critical Operator (MCO) training program, funded by the Department of Labor, trains students to fill mission-critical roles—individuals responsible for maintaining key data centers or HVAC complexes and guarding against operations failures. Working with Wake Tech, we designed and built 3D interactive virtual environments set in fictitious mission-critical facilities. Trainees focus on identifying key data-center and HVAC components, maintenance, and emergency processes. The training application is browser-based and SCORM-compliant, with LMS integration.

MCO confronts the trainee with alarms, power outages, and failures to equipment such as generators, chillers, UPS, and cooling units. Trainees must locate these failures using the Building Management System (BMS) software. They must move quickly to equipment rooms, solve problems, and troubleshoot efficiently under time pressure. Throughout the training, a mentor figure provides guidance and tips. MCO trainees practice critical thinking, mechanical skills, and electrical skills. When systems fail, equipment redundancies and power back-ups kick in; trainees must rapidly troubleshoot by drilling down to points of failure. MCO won a silver medal in the 2016 International Serious Play Competition.