A method for commissioning nodes in a data network, the method comprising: retrieving, by a data-processing system, configuration data from a database, wherein the configuration data represents (i) the placement of each device in a first set of devices placed within a first space within a building, wherein the first space is user defined in the database, and (ii) a first scenario assigned to the first space; providing, by an intermediary device, a non-empty set of unicast network addresses to a first set of unprovisioned devices in the data network, resulting in a first set of provisioned nodes, such that each node in the first set of provisioned nodes is configured to regard each respective unicast address as an address that uniquely identifies the node in the data network; receiving, by the data-processing system from the intermediary device, information that maps each node in a subset of the first set of provisioned nodes to each node in a second set of provisioned nodes, wherein the second set of provisioned nodes corresponds to at least some of the devices in the first set of placed devices whose placements are represented in the database; generating, by the data-processing system, a first group address that is based on (i) the first space and (ii) functions to be performed by the second set of provisioned nodes in performing the first scenario assigned to the first space; and providing, by the intermediary device, the first group address to the second set of provisioned nodes as identified by their respective unicast addresses, wherein the first group address is transmitted such that each subscribing node in the second set of provisioned nodes is configured to be responsive to one or more received messages containing the first group address in the destination address field of the one or more received messages. retrieving, by a data-processing system, configuration data from a database, wherein the configuration data represents (i) the placement of each device in a first set of devices placed within a first space within a building, wherein the first space is user defined in the database, and (ii) a first scenario assigned to the first space; providing, by an intermediary device, a non-empty set of unicast network addresses to a first set of unprovisioned devices in the data network, resulting in a first set of provisioned nodes, such that each node in the first set of provisioned nodes is configured to regard each respective unicast address as an address that uniquely identifies the node in the data network; receiving, by the data-processing system from the intermediary device, information that maps each node in a subset of the first set of provisioned nodes to each node in a second set of provisioned nodes, wherein the second set of provisioned nodes corresponds to at least some of the devices in the first set of placed devices whose placements are represented in the database; generating, by the data-processing system, a first group address that is based on (i) the first space and (ii) functions to be performed by the second set of provisioned nodes in performing the first scenario assigned to the first space; and providing, by the intermediary device, the first group address to the second set of provisioned nodes as identified by their respective unicast addresses, wherein the first group address is transmitted such that each subscribing node in the second set of provisioned nodes is configured to be responsive to one or more received messages containing the first group address in the destination address field of the one or more received messages.