(b) Semiconductor devices and microcircuits not procured under a military specification shall be 4. a. In some cases, it has to be provided for EVERY part with its own serial number. These will be cheaper, more reliable and easier to source. EA performed this assessment at the UPF construction site from January 7 to 10, 2019. XML Test Suite is available from the NIST web site, http://xw2k.nist.gov/xml/index.html. model numbers, or other designations that identify the specific tests or other criteria for comparing, examining and approving In general, the . need. Is it a marketing or business requirement? A conformance test program needs to be supported by an advisory or control board, whose role is to resolve disputes and provide technical guidance. Procurement has final responsibility for the competitiveness and the methods for establishing and maintaining a QPL varies widely The conformance clause of a standard specification is a high-level description of what is required of implementers and application developers. If such a list is provided, the starting point for the development of the test suite is the list of assertions for the standard. 136 Conformance vs. arrived at by a systematic and formal process. 20899 USA, Email: lisa.carnahan [at] nist.gov Tel: (301) 975-3362 FAX: (301) 948-6213, Prepared by Robin Cover for the The SGML/XML Web Page archive. The objective is to produce tests for as many of the specification's requirements as feasible and use these tests to find errors in the implementation. DEVELOPING SPECIFICATIONS: Although This is costly because much work may have already been done which did not take into consideration and may exclude meeting the later requirements. 2) The car shall have a really kickin stereo system. Here's why. Performance purchasing is results orientated in terms It will be super helpful to build on that. Software that is tested to ensure that it meets the requirements detailed in the specification can improve the quality of the software and the likelihood of achieving interoperability. Thus, quality of conformance equates to conformance to specifications within an acceptable tolerance range. specifications by bn reviewed by rh this procurement is being solicited as a small purchase request for quotation (rfq). BioPreferred Program - Federal Purchasing. When validation is coupled with certification, successful completion of conformance testing results in the issuance of a certificate (or brand) indicating that the implementation conforms to the appropriate specification. These requirements are specified in a standard or specification as either part of a conformance clause or in the body of the specification. A certificate of conformity, or CoC, is issued by an authorized party (sometimes the manufacturer, sometimes an independent laboratory) and states that the product meets the required standards or specification. Certain countries request a CoC for certain categories of imported products. An official website of the United States government. Without knowing whats really needed costs can be far higher than required and the solution procured for the business not fit for purpose. qualified product list (QPL) is a specification based on Shipping of cartons will be in 20 container & max optimization of container. Generally, there are two main types of specification, conformance and performance Conformance specification; In this case the buyer details exactly what the product must have, as in what they want the product to be like!. Conformance is usually defined as testing to see if an implementation faithfully meets the requirements of a standard or specification. Inspections will be conducted on the products at delivery:6.1.1 Any defect on the products.6.1.2 Conformance to specifications and functionality.. Conformance to specifications requires formal data specifications, which may address any or all of data . The duty of Procurement to promote An example would be a recipe for a food . 5. Sample 1 Sample 2 They can also be selected from a drop down menu, executed and results displayed. sizable latitude in how to accomplish the end purpose. Portability is the ability to move software programs or applications among different computer systems with minimal change. The general definition for conformance has changed over time and been refined for specific standards. A defect can lead to a failure that might result in loss of life. How do you know that the software conforms? However, these methodologies all follow the same basic strategy - falsification testing; and the same basic process - analyze the specification for test assertions or test requirements, write a test purpose for each test, and create and document a test case which realizes each test purpose. A testing laboratory can be an organization or individual, and can either be accredited from a formal accreditation organization such as NIST's National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP) or recognized by the buyer, seller, and certificate issuer, as qualified to perform the testing. procurement program and to evaluate the implementation of quality assurance (QA) program requirements that ensure that the appropriate structural concrete meeting approved concrete specifications is used in the UPF construction activities. suitability of specifications, Procurement cannot initiate or We want to make it easy to do business with us while also helping you navigate the regulations involved in the aerospace and defense technology sector. Provide the date(s) and place when the product was tested for compliance with the consumer product safety rule(s) cited above: Provide the location(s) of the testing and the date(s) of the test(s) or test report(s) on which certification is being based. There are two main types of specification when contracting namely: #1 CONFORMANCE SPECIFICATION With this type of specification the buyer says what they want and how they want it and the supplier has to meet this Examples of conformance specification are: Engineering drawing A chemical formula Model name, number or brand etc --------------------------------------------------------------------------------, Lisa J. Carnahan National Institute of Standards and Technology Information Technology Gaithersburg, Md. 1.3 Upon request by the Owner, the Manufacturer at its expense shall provide, a definitions of non-standard terms. For example, stating that "The system shall be user-friendly" is a completley ambiguous requirement, since the meaning of "user-friendly" is left up to the interpreter. competition consistent with seeking overall economy for the Within these Sensor installation and measurement location specifications, performance and equipment specifications, test procedures, and data reduction procedures are included in this specification. A conformance testing program usually includes: A specification/standard that includes a conformance clause and a test tools are essential to defining and measuring conformance. 5(1). They often refer to particular documents, and/or particular information within them. Moreover, each test should be written so as to explicitly state the behavior of a conforming implementation. tested and are considered equal, state testing methods 0000003930 00000 n These criteria and Some standards have no official testing organizations. specifications customarily employ dimensional and other physical As a procurement professional . ? .. or you receive totally different proposals .. This type of testing is called conformance testing. submitted written justification to this effect and the Director To this end, b. Brand-name-or-equal specifications have a products, others may simply require that brands be tested under The suite may be a set of programs, a set of instructions for manual action, or another appropriate alternative. What makes a good specification in procurement? The CoC can either be requested by a buyer to ensure the product being manufactured has been tested and passes the set criteria within a specification and meets both technical and safety requirements,or it would be a mandatory requirement as stated by country regulations and law for certain products, such as Bluetooth devices being sold in the USA. The decision to issue a certificate is based on the testing results and established criteria for issuing certificates. Secure .gov websites use HTTPS (3) list reproducible test methods to be used in testing for Examples of conformance specification are: Engineering drawing A chemical formula Model name, number or brand etc Importers of some consumer electronic products that intentionally or non-intentionally emit radiation between 9kHz to 3,000 GHz radio frequency range including personal computers, fans, power stations for devices, LED lights, TV remotes, etc, into the USA must issue a Suppliers Declaration of Conformity (SDoC) which is supported by lab tests that may or may not be performed by an FCC-recognized and accredited lab as long as the testing is correct according to the standards (or may also choose to get the product certified as described above in some cases). Nevertheless, the larger and more varied the set of inputs is, the more confidence can be placed in an implementation whose testing generates no errors. Acceptance/rejection of such item needed will be according to the performance stated in the specification With performance specs, it will take more time for the procurement process as you may get totally different proposals and you need to discuss and validate them internally; however it opens the door for innovation as suppliers are free to suggest any workable solution which may improve functionality, cost & to be more sustainable option it's very suitable in case requesting department is not very well established so that you will be depending on suppliers' experience. The documentation should be detailed enough so that testing of a given implementation can be repeated with no change in test results. Operational teams view quality in terms of conformance to specifications. Nevertheless, the larger and more varied the set of inputs is, the more confidence can be placed in an implementation whose testing generates no errors. defined in the bid invitation. Factors that determine you to choose conformance specification. Equipment authorized under the SDoC procedure is not listed in a Commission database. 2. And, in some cases, specific documents are required for certification or to show the end user/customer, that the product is safe. The advantages afforded by testing (and certification) are fairly obvious: quality products, interoperability, and competitive markets with more choices. HR{HSa?wf^MiIZ\B!bEjs:\EJ3SQ%I*Zo;:{w0?|kD (.~]g+%kBBbk3d,bs|+7ED{Z*fsfhZm$C'5F)_bhz^q{0R+}#mzG"SSjod-I3?|4iLsmm:#M)wwDs9$hqm,L11]&]Nowi:&J5"PL%.'zBp\J_wdXjh#}>ZuP3YW6. 0000045027 00000 n this sense means that the specification concentrates on how the A QPL is Sometimes, its really challenging to collect/get what your organization need .. even after sending the Tender/RFQ package, suppliers sometimes come back to you and comment Its not really clear for us whats required ? These assertions are statements of functionality or behavior derived from the standard, and which are true for conforming implementations. looking at the above simple example that both requisitions are asking for something (A utensil to eat with) but they are defining vastly different attributes. The test suite should be platform independent, and should generate repeatable results. Usually testing programs are initiated for those specifications or standards for critical applications, for interoperability with other applications, and/or for security of the systems. 8 What does it mean to have a conformance clause? 0000007141 00000 n The rationale for this is to be able to acknowledge all the implementations tested, but "reward" those implementations that "get it 100% correct". Although conformance testing is not a guarantee for interoperability, it is an essential step towards achieving interoperability. The buyer uses the results of the testing to verify that a seller provides a product that conforms to the specification and meet procurement requirements. Conformance testing (also called conformity assessment) is a way of verifying implementations of a specification to determine whether or not deviations from the specification exist. Supplier Resources. Conformance testing (also called conformity assessment) is a way of verifying implementations of a specification to determine whether or not deviations from the specification exist. Conformance test suites increases the probability that software products that claim to conform to a specification are implemented correctly. A lock ( Do you face challenges of getting required specifications while creating Tender/RFQ package? stream quantity scheduled purchases. Furthermore, what is a conformance specification? A standard may classify features as "mandatory" vs. "optional," and provide a table listing features so classified. 9 0 obj Conformance Clause Every specification SHALL contain a conformance clause. The main reason a CoC is required at customs is to prove a product that the product . is characteristic of construction or personal services contracts. There are many assumed requirements that are real requirements from the users perspective. Conformance testing (also called conformity assessment) is a way of verifying implementations of a specification to determine whether or not deviations from the specification exist. Define conformance specification. Does it come from a particularly influential stake-holder? However, The conformance clause is a part or collection of parts of a specification that defines the requirements, criteria, or conditions that shall be satisfied by an implementation in order to claim conformance. Accompanying the actual test files is an XML test description file that contains pertinent information for each of the tests included in the distribution. Conformance to specifications means to meet any requirements defined for the product, not only regulatory. of Procurement has approved the use. It should be possible to know where the Specification originated. Early stage specifications can be seen as part of the review with the customer (internal or external) about what they are looking to achieve on the project. It, in turn, refers to other parts of the standard. programs and staff activities. Materials used must be A conformance clause is a section of a specification that states all the requirements or criteria that must be satisfied to claim conformance to the specification. This more common approach usually includes some additional, more specific, requirements in the conformance clause, along the lines of: One approach that has been used successfully is to have a register for extensions. For example, ideally it should be possible to fully test a product's conformance before sign-off and deployment. Similarly, validation cannot exist without a test suite, but a test suite can exits without validation. 0000004999 00000 n The steps that lead towards conformance to specifications include defining quality characteristics of service or product, deciding on how to measure every quality characteristic, setting quality standards for every quality characteristic, controlling quality against the set quality standards, finding and correcting . 0000066233 00000 n What is specification? For software specifications it is the software that has 'implemented' the specification. Conformance specs: Paper combination is: 3 layers carton (Layer1 is Kraft liner of 125GSM + Layer2 is Test/Recycled liner of 100GSM + Layer3 is Kraft liner of 125GSM) with mentioning Flute type . 0000007885 00000 n This approach, used in both the Public and Private sectors is best described The conformance clause is a part or collection of parts of a specification that defines the requirements, criteria, or conditions that shall be satisfied by an implementation in order to claim conformance. Product List (QPL). @hA hbF`h`. Sensor installation and measurement location specifications, performance and equipment specifications, test procedures, and data reduction procedures are included in this specification. 1.2 Upon request by the Owner, the Manufacturer at its expense shall provide proof of conformance with any or all requirements of this specification. Performance requirements describe the characteristics and The level and formality of the conformance testing is determined by the buyer, an organization acting on behalf of a community of buyers, or by regulation (e.g., safety, health, national security concerns). The conformance clause identifies what must conform and how conformance can be met. It's easy to subscribe to our newsletter where you'll receive weekly updates for professional importers and manufacturers on better understanding, controlling, and improving manufacturing & supply chain in China, India, Vietnam, and beyond. [1] Gartner Group, a Stamford, CT based consulting company, [2] ISO/IEC Guide 2:1996, Standardization and Related Activities General Vocabulary, Webmaster | Contact Us | Our Other Offices, Created September 8, 2010, Updated August 25, 2016, Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP). Conformance testing is NOT a way to judge if one product is better than another. Two sets of test suites were built, one for DOM with an ECMAScript binding and the other with a Java binding. Validation is the process of testing software for compliance with applicable specifications or standards. Development of the test suite may well be the costliest part of the conformance program. Project Managers, in the pursuit of successful project management and to provide a timely, cost effective, quality service to their clients, may acquire personnel, goods and services during project execution; or personnel and services may be acquired by others, both within or outside the organization, to provide service in their specialty areas. Falsification testing subjects an implementation to various combinations of legal and illegal inputs, and compares the resulting output to a set of corresponding "expected results." purchased under indefinite quantity term contracts and definite 2. In essence, specifications are about communication and the exchange of information between the Customer, the designer, the contractor and all stakeholders in the project. developing your specifications, however, Procurement does not Depending on the type of specification (e.g., application programming interface (API), protocol, programming language, metafile), there are various methodologies that can be used in developing conformance test suites. The ECMAScript suite allows the user to select a category of tests from a drop down menu. It is well recognized that conformance testing is a way to ensure that "standard-based" products are implemented. /Filter /LZWDecode Several of the W3C Working Groups have developed conformance test suites or tools e.g., SVG, CSS, and HTML. (IUT) is the object that is being tested for conformance. 0000001115 00000 n The conformance clause identifies what must conform and how conformance can be met. This early stage work also provides an understanding of the performance requirements of the project, so that when discussions develop on complexes, entities, space, locations, elements, systems and products, these form part of the build-up of a specification. Give examples of performance specification. Conformance quality is the production of products and delivery of services to specifications. Implementation dependent ranges, minimum or maximum allowed sizes, etc. Requisition 1 provides the buyer with much more scope and freedom (you didn't want chopsticks then?). quotation request This reflects the thinking of the "IOR School" (Insti- tute for Operational Research). Bidders offering an equal Conformance testing provides software developers and users assurance and confidence that the conforming product behaves as expected, performs functions in a known manner, or possesses a prescribed interface or format. 0000066307 00000 n Lets take an example. Conformance to Specifications. It is best practice to ensure that suppliers are contractually required to provide line item spend details. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. What refers to product conformance with standards and specifications? to a single product and is the most restrictive kind of should be put on notice that the criteria used to define In the marketplace, conformance test suites and consequently conformance testing provides a vehicle for exchanging information between buyer and seller. The testing program should strive to be as impartial and objective as possible, i.e., to remove subjectivity of both the procedures and the testing tools. The size of staff necessary to do Though there are so many things that make a good well rounded specification im going to narrow it down to 4 simple factors; There should be only one way to interpret the requirements of the customer. Determining whether a product faithfully implements a standard or specification is essential to creating robust, interoperable solutions. interchangeably to designate an approach to specifications that If the criteria or requirements for conformance are not specified, there can be no conformance testing. A good specification should do four things: (1) 4 What are the characteristics of a good specification in procurement? establish a QPL must list the products that have been If errors are found, one can correctly deduce that the implementation does not conform to the specification; however, the absence of errors does not necessarily imply the converse. An implementation is the realization of a specification -- it can be a software product, system, program, document, or web page. However, the responsible party or any other party marketing the equipment must provide a test report and other information demonstrating compliance with the rules upon request by the Commission. Falsification testing can only demonstrate non-conformance. described fully to include thickness, size, color, etc. The best position is to list Purchasing will assist and advise you in 0000003961 00000 n 2. https://www.nist.gov/itl/ssd/information-systems-group/conformance-testing, Martha Gray, Alan Goldfine, Lynne Rosenthal, Lisa Carnahan National Institute of Standards and Technology. at least two brand names that will satisfy the 0000005022 00000 n 0000009274 00000 n Marketing teams and customers view quality in terms of satisfying customer needs and meeting customer expectations. The term "optional" is used to indicate that if an implementation is going to provide the specified functionality, then the specification must be followed. The understanding is that an implementation that is determined to satisfy each assertion will be considered to be in conformance to the standard. legitimate needs. In general, the buyer is the impetus for sellers to undergo conformance testing. What is the definition of quality of conformance? Enter a Melbet promo code and get a generous bonus, An Insight into Coupons and a Secret Bonus, Organic Hacks to Tweak Audio Recording for Videos Production, Bring Back Life to Your Graphic Images- Used Best Graphic Design Software, New Google Update and Future of Interstitial Ads. What we wrote above is based only on our understanding of the regulatory requirements. `d 0@90@AA= .5@2:6: 12@7 KK;+MD 4p$? k9S:>P("hb YUE#5K>,46SCL- Lock Extensions shall not re-define semantics for existing functions, Extensions shall not cause standard-conforming functions (i.e., functions that do not use the extensions) to execute incorrectly, The mechanism for determining application conformance and the extensions shall be clearly described in the documentation, and the extensions shall be marked as such. The specification must: Be set out in the relevant Procurement Documents clearly describe what is required detail the characteristics required not refer to the following: brands or trade names Decisions are differentiated according to whether they concern day-by-day issues or broader plans. ISO/IEC TR 13233 defined conformance and conformity as "fulfillment by a product, process or service of all relevant specified conformance requirements." more interested in how it performs, how well it performs, and at I will be discussing topics covering all aspects of the Supply chain (particularly Procurement) fuctions, Change Managment ideas and theories and IT software solutions (General focus being ERPSystems such as INFOR M3)For business needs. When all deviations and omissions are eliminated, the implementation conforms to the specification. Generically, a conformance test suite is a collection of combinations of legal and illegal inputs to the implementation being tested, together with a corresponding collection of "expected results." For this reason it is a good practice to write a test of the Spec at the same time the Spec is being written. It assumes responsibility for insuring that the components of the program are in place and becomes the centralized source for information about the program. % That school sees planning as "strategic Here, suppliers need to get like briefing about working environment of such item needed then they will start thinking/designing a solution for you and maybe they will even propose different options in which a lot of collaborative and joint discussions/sessions will be needed between suppliers with requesting departments and procurement. Deviation in delivery period shall be considered if such deviation is reasonable.6.1. Conformance tests are meant to provide the users of conforming products some assurance or confidence that the product behaves as expected, performs functions in a known manner, or has an interface or format that is known. In fact, specification writing should begin very early on in a project lifecycle. With any standard or specification, eventually the discussion turns to "how will we know if an implementation or application conforms to our standard or specification?" (If the specifications don't describe the different approaches in the first place, then it's an implementer detail irrelevant to conformance.). Some may require that committees test the This is a waste of human intellect and simply not good enough. 4. They rely on self-assessment by the implementer (1st party testing) and acceptance testing by buyers. Not all specifications or standards need a testing program. DOM Test Suite - NIST has developed a comprehensive set of tests that will check for compliance with the Document Object Model (DOM) Level 1 Recommendation. What steps lead conformance to specification? In my opinion, as the data requirements on projects become more complex and we strive for more collaboration, it is crucial that everyone has the same basis of project requirements, and this makes specifications as essential now as they have ever been.