Test software

You will need to review the requirements and the resultant design to identify any special equipment, tools, test software, and test or measuring equipment required. Once identified, plan for its design, manufacture, procurement, verification, and certification. One way of doing this is to produce a list that contains the following details ... 

The standard requires the supplier to establish and maintain documented procedures to control, calibrate, and maintain inspection, measuring, and test equipment including test software. 

Procedures are required for the control and maintenance of inspection, measuring, and test equipment and to cover test software, not only for calibration. This section of the standard is often referred to as the calibration requirement but it goes far beyond mere calibration. In assessing compliance with section 4.11, there are at least 30 requirements to check (see the questionnaire at the end of this chapter) and calibration is only one of them. Figure 11.2 shows the processes needed to control, calibrate, and maintain inspection, measuring, and test equipment. The shaded boxes indicate interfaces with other processes. 

Whether you have one procedure or twenty to address this requirement you need to cover all types of equipment as well as test software if you use it. Some of the requirements of this section may need to be addressed in procedures developed for other purposes, such as the requirement for determination of measurements. 

This requirement is similar to that stated in clause 4.11.2 of the standard and addressed later in this chapter. The checks and rechecks required to prove that the software is capable of verifying the acceptability of product are a means of calibrating test software. However, test software does not wear or drift with age or use and so cannot be calibrated against a standard traceable to national standards. To control test software you need to consider what it is that you need to control. As a minimum you should control its use, modification, location (in terms of where it is installed), replication, and disposal. Requirements for other controls are covered in clause 4.11.2 of the standard, where they can be applied to test software. 

Use is controlled by specifying the software by type designation and version in the development and production test procedures or a register which relates products to the test software which has to be used to verify its acceptability. You should also provide procedures for running the software on the host computer or automatic test equipment. They may of course be menu driven from a display screen and keyboard rather than paper procedures. 

Proving test hardware, comparative references, and test software (4.11.1.1)... 

Where test software or comparative references such as test hardware are used as suitable forms of inspection, the standard requires that they be checked to prove that thep are capable of verifying the acceptabilify of product prior to release for use during production, installation, and servicing and shall be rechecked at prescribed intervals. The standard also requires the supplier to establish the extent and frequency of such checks and to maintain records as evidence of control. 

What documented procedures have you established to control, validate, and maintain test software ... 

How do you safeguard test software from adjustments that would invalidate the calibration setting ... 

While the ISO 9001 requirement applies only to quality records, ISO/TS 16949 extends retention times for many other documents because you cannot demonstrate you have or had operations under control without specifications, plans, procedures, etc. You may also need to retain tools, jigs, fixtures, test software - in fact anything that is needed to repair or reproduce equipment in order to honor your long-term commitments. 

ExamView testing software, with all the test items from the printed Test Bank in electronic format, that enables you to create customized tests of up to 250 items in print or online. 

Data analysis routines may change with time, and it is desirable to be able to reanalyze old data with new analysis software. Our tensile test analysis software creates plots of engineering stress as a function of engineering strain, as illustrated in Figure 3. Our flexure test software plots maximum fiber stress as a function of maximum fiber strain, with the option of including Poisson s ratio in the calculations. Both routines generate printed reports which present the test results in tabular form, as illustrated in Figure 4. 

Development of improved laboratory control methods based on successfully tested software and devices. 

Conformity test software Reports if a dossier on CD/ROM conforms to the CADDY format specification. Current version Revision 18, April 20, 1998. Freely available... 

Test hardware (e.g., jigs, fixtures, templates, and patterns) or test software is checked to ensure capability of verifying the acceptability of the product, prior to release, for use during production or installation. Such hardware and software is controlled by periodic checks. Records are maintained. 

The inspection and test status of the product is identified by markings, authorized tags, labels, routing cards, inspection records, test software, and physical location, which indicate the conformance or nonconformance of the product with regard to inspection and tests performed. 

The inspection and test status of products is identified by using markings, authorized stamps, tags, labels, routing cards, inspection records, test software, physical location, or other suitable means to indicate the conformance or nonconformance of the product with regard to inspection and tests performed. The identification of inspection and test status is maintained, as necessary, throughout production and installation of the product to ensure that only product that has passed the required inspections and tests is dispatched, used, or installed. 

The measuring and test equipment and test software used for the verihcation of product quality are selected based on ... 

Classroom Testing Software is offered free upon request to adopters of this text. The software provides a database of questions for preparing exams. No programming experience is required. The software is available in IBM and Macintosh formats IBM DOS 3.5 (ISBN 14278), IBM DOS 5.25 (ISBN 14279), WINDOWS 3.5 (ISBN 14280), and MAC 3.5 (ISBN 14282). 

PQ is always required to test software in the production environment... 

Test hardware/peripherals Test software modules Test integrated software code... 

COTS software functionality disabled by configuration is not redimdant code in the truest sense, on the basis that the disabled software is intended to be enabled according to the need of a particular implementation. Examples of where functionality may be disabled without creating redundant code include hbrary software (e.g., printer driver routines or statistical functions), built-in testing software, and embedded diagnostic instructions. 

The PQ stages of the overall qualification of the system can be considered as the acceptance testing (this can also be called end-user testing), imdertaken by the users and based upon the way that the system is used in a particular laboratory. Therefore, a CDS cannot be considered validated simply because another laboratory has validated the same software the operations of two laboratories may differ markedly even within the same organization. The functions to be tested in the PQ must be based on the requirements defined in the URS and the numbering of individual requirements traced back to the system requirements. The main issue is how can users test software ... 

Interface tests and integration test scripts are within the OQ scope for an IPC to confirm the system is ready to be subject to Performance Qualification. All test data and test software required to run the OQ testing should be confirmed to have been removed. Careful sequencing of the tests can greatly improve the efficiency of testing. A report summarizes the finding of QQ testing. 

It is advisable to use a color-coded labeling system to keep track of the test stages. In our case, a yellow spot was added after successful heat cycling with test software loaded, and a green spot half covering the yellow spot was added once the validated software had been loaded and the board tested successfully no device could be shipped unless both spots are present. The manufacturer will be expected to supply a certificate of conformity for the devices produced and packed with each batch. 

Cho, C.-Q. Quality Programming Developing and Testing Software Using Statistical Quality Control Wiley New York, 1987. 

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