In 1996 ISO/IEC Guide 2 defined the three major terms used in this field. Define performance specification. PFi@("$0 (JDbyHA': F$%BIPAl4FP'aFYlO2f)m8c4&3 o7q$e9(#yd: requires something unique, to be custom made or custom built, as this specification is used, tangible performance, quality Conformance to specifications means to meet any requirements defined for the product, not only regulatory. In general, the . Performance requirements describe the characteristics and Some may require that committees test the 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. SPECIFICATION DEFINITIONS AND INSTRUCTIONS. /Filter /LZWDecode Dr. W. Edwards Deming is often linked with approaches to improvement that carry labels such as TQM, Six Sigma, and Lean. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. article. of Procurement has approved the use. of function and cost. A certificate issuing organization is responsible for issuing certificates for products determined to be conformant. Departments wishing to requirements of the item being purchased. What should a certificate of conformity include? 3. award at the lowest possible cost. Product List (QPL). stream It is possible for a standard to have both profiles and levels defined for the entire specification (i.e., an implementer could choose to implement any one of (number of profiles) x (number of levels) subsets). Procurement serves as the primary 0000008556 00000 n Typically, the sponsor establishes and maintains the program. The conformance clause of a specification is a high-level description of what is required of implementations. 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. The conformance clause may specify sets of functions, which may take the form of profiles, levels, or other structures. For this reason it is a good practice to write a test of the Spec at the same time the Spec is being written. The conformance clause may specify minimal requirements for certain functions and minimal requirements for implementation-dependent values. Often times, errors or ambiguities in the specification are discovered. How to Market Your Business with Webinars. Is it a marketing or business requirement? 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. Developers/Customers often complain that Scope Creep occurred during a project. with the Procurement Officer reserving the final right to In such a case, the conformance clause should specify whether or not an implementation is considered to be conformant if it does not implement each approach? 0000002465 00000 n However, b. It should be possible to know where the Specification originated. qualified product list (QPL) is a specification based on situations when the use of this specification is our only If you cant describe what your organization need on piece of paper then imagine how suppliers can understand your needs, then quote/propose the right solution for it. A lock ( 0000003961 00000 n For example, ideally it should be possible to fully test a product's conformance before sign-off and deployment. The XSLT test suite will allow users to customize the test suite to filter out optional category tests. quantity scheduled purchases. need. Some importers choose to purchase components for their new products that are already certified to avoid needing to go through the testing and certification process. Performance purchasing is results orientated in terms A profile is a subset of the overall specifications that includes all of the functionality necessary to satisfy the requirements of a particular community of users. Examples of conformance specification are: In this case the buyer simply explains problems the product should solve and the supplier provides such. at least two brand names that will satisfy the This is the official blog of Sofeast.com. Applications often do not require all the features within a standard. For ensure testability of a specification/standard, care should be taken in the wording of the specifications itself. Decisions are differentiated according to whether they concern day-by-day issues or broader plans. bidders offering products other than specified obtain substantially equivalent to those named are considered for award, SPP Regions Expert Workshop - Copenhagen June 15th 2016 Performance / Output Based Specifications (POBS) are the foundation for a purchasing approach commonly called Performance Based Contracting. have expertise in every sphere of College of Charleston academic It is best practice to ensure that suppliers are contractually required to provide line item spend details. The success here will obviously depend on how you frame your specifications. The validation process consists of the steps necessary to perform the conformance testing by using an official test suite in a prescribed manner. Typically, a design conforms to requirements and work products conform to both design and requirements. purpose intended. Another alternative is the requirement that 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. Another issue it whether or not a certificate expires (e.g., good for 2 years or never expire). Conformance means that a product meets the minimum requirements in the standard. Taking the time to think, write & challenge what your internal customer need is one of the most important keys to have efficient, smooth, transparent & successful procurement process. Official websites use .gov It is generally inspected during customs clearance if the product being imported requires it. It, in turn, refers to other parts of the standard. What we wrote above is based only on our understanding of the regulatory requirements. Conformance to Specifications. These assertions are statements of functionality or behavior derived from the standard, and which are true for conforming implementations. Although conformance testing may include some of these kinds of tests, it has one fundamental difference -- the requirements or criteria for conformance must be specified in the standard or specification. Examples of conformance specification are: Engineering drawing A chemical formula Model name, number or brand etc This is usually in a conformance clause or conformance statement, but sometimes some of the criteria can be found in the body of the specification. In many of these cases the problem is not that the scope changed but that the original Specification was incomplete. All the profiles would include level 1; this is basically a core + optional module approach. These requirements are specified in a standard or specification as either part of a conformance clause or in the body of the specification. How To Manufacture A Product In China (without losing your shirt)? 4 What are the characteristics of a good specification in procurement? 0000004956 00000 n Depending on the nature of the electronic device being imported, you will either need to go through a more comprehensive FCC certification or can submit your own Suppliers Declaration of Conformity. Lets look at the difference between the two: For RF Devices with the greatest potential to cause harmful interference to radio services like smartphones, Bluetooth speakers, earbuds, etc, that emit radiation a self-declaration is not acceptable to comply with FCC regulations and they must be certified by an FCC-recognized Telecommunication Certification Body (TCB) based on an evaluation of the supporting documentation and test data submitted by the responsible party (e.g., the manufacturer or importer) to the TCB. A good specification should do four things: (1) specifications, and ensuring clarity of language with jargon or Departments using design A locked padlock These criteria may or may not require implementations to pass 100% of the specifications. 0000009297 00000 n They can also be selected from a drop down menu, executed and results displayed. Do you face challenges of getting required specifications while creating Tender/RFQ package? Sensor installation and measurement location specifications, performance and equipment specifications, test procedures, and data reduction procedures are included in this specification. a. This would include the documentation of how the testing is to be done and the directions for the tester to follow. 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. Identify minimum requirements, (2) allow for a competitive bid, Its relatively easy, faster & straight forward to complete procurement process with conformance specs; however, it limits innovation as you dont really give chance to suppliers to suggest different solutions. 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. My company Sofeast, can probably help you. In the marketplace, conformance test suites and consequently conformance testing provides a vehicle for exchanging information between buyer and seller. 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. [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). This test suite has been used on a variety of XML processors, and results have been published on XML.com. Often a hybrid of these is appropriate -- i.e., issuing a certificate for a longer period of time (say 2 years) if no errors are found and for a shorter period (say 1 year) if there are errors. XSLT Test Suite NIST is working with W3C and the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) to develop a comprehensive test suite for the Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) processors. DEFINITIONS 2.1 Centroidal Area. If specifications; performance specifications; and the Qualified They rely on self-assessment by the implementer (1st party testing) and acceptance testing by buyers. ISO/IEC Guide 2 also mentions that "Typical examples of conformity assessment activities are sampling, testing and inspection; evaluation, verification and assurance of conformity (supplier's declaration, certification); registration, accreditation and approval as well as their combinations.". represents the kind of thinking in which architects and engineers Sensor installation and measurement location specifications, performance and equipment specifications, test procedures, and data reduction procedures are included in this specification. When expanded it provides a list of search options that will switch the search inputs to match the current selection. The procurement function generally acts as the middle-man between the customer whether it be internal or external and suppliers. The Java test suite contains over 200 tests and covers the fundamental and extended interfaces of the DOM Level 1 Recommendation. 0000009274 00000 n 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. should be limited and justified before solicitation. Tip - Never design and make a product if there is an 'off-the-shelf' part available. Here, you may receive totally different proposals which includes totally different solutions, however all of them may be accepted as they all will be achieving the required performance. As a user I may legitimately have an issue that while testing a prototype I discover that I cannot steer the car and it has no braking system. be as non-restrictive as practicable, consistent with satisfying Quality Assurance, Product Development, and Purchasing Strategies in China. 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. [Importers Guide], What is a certificate of conformity (CoC). The problem here however is the chance that the person who raised the requisition may well change their mind or refine the specification as quotes begin to arrive. 0000066307 00000 n 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. . Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines When BioPreferred and CPG are both required, the agency shall purchase the item that meets the CPG requirements (per FAR 23.405 Procedures (c) and Farm Security and Rural Investment Act, Section 9002 (b)). Other conformance related terms include validation and certification. Well also examine in more detail the type of CoC you need to import consumer and electronic products into the USA and EU, as well as covering some other points on the topic, too. Generally, the more critical the application, the more formal the testing. In other cases, batch CoC would be good enough. $*5QG)+cX3x should be put on notice that the criteria used to define The decision to establish a program is based on the risk of nonconformance versus the costs of creating and running a program. Speaking generally, one is the specification that The main reason a CoC is required at customs is to prove a product that the product . The process for developing conformance test suites begins with defining the set of test assertions (TA) upon which the test suite is based. A good conformance clause is the ultimate goal of these guidelines, and is sanctioned by conformance to this specification. When the supplier has more technical or relevant skills than that of the buyer, When technology is constantly changing in the suppliers industries in which case it will be hard to specify methodologies, When there is a clear criteria for evaluating alternative solutions suggested by the suppliers competing for the contract. interchangeably to designate an approach to specifications that Haytham Abdel-Rahman, MBA. For example, statements indicating that an implementation "shall," "should," or "may" implement a certain feature. While actual testing (1st or 3rd party testing) and certification (branding) can be carried out by various organizations, it is essential that there be a centralized sponsor or owner of the conformance testing program. 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 If such a list is provided, the starting point for the development of the test suite is the list of assertions for the standard. Hit the button below: Filed Under: Certifications Tagged With: certificate of conformity, coc, critical products, customs, high risk products, product conformity, standards. 2) Actions - related to things such as functions, processes,. The final test suite is expected to be complete by March 2001. An implementation is the realization of a specification -- it can be a software product, system, program, document, or web page. 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. Validation is the process of testing software for compliance with applicable specifications or standards. Not all specifications or standards need a testing program. This board should be a body of impartial experts. Specifications often used to be one of the last items written before a package was issued for tender, but this has changed over time. Definitions - what is conformance (to a standard)? 5. This is called strict conformance. Each TA should be as simple as possible and narrowly focused on an atomic (simple) functionality, must not contradict another TA, and must have some testable consequence. Tip - The purchase specification is to allow purchasing to seek competitive quotations by forwarding the purchase specification to prospective suppliers. 7 What is the definition of quality of conformance? 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. Since the purposes for The test software, consisting of a set of test files (i.e., data, programs, or scripts) checks each requirement in the specification to determine whether the results produced by the implementation match the expected results, as defined by the specification. Well explain what a CoC is, what its used for, and what it includes. Date and place where the product was manufactured. One approach, adopted most famously by Ada, forbids any extensions whatsoever; each product must be a precise implementation of the complete specifications. It assumes responsibility for insuring that the components of the program are in place and becomes the centralized source for information about the program. The tests are then executed and the results displayed. product has to be specially made to meet the purchaser's unique specification sets limits and thereby eliminates, or potentially 1. 3) The car shall have a red custom paint job with chrome accents. prepare all specifications. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) are addressing XML-related interoperability issues by jointly developing test suites that are intended to complement the W3C Recommendations. Good thoughts Diaa..Performance specifications focuses on supplier partnership. For example, some testing programs may require a very formal testing and certification approach using an independent (i.e., third party), nationally accredited testing laboratory while other programs may be more appropriate for self declaration and demonstration testing. Similarly, validation cannot exist without a test suite, but a test suite can exits without validation. It is the basis of all offers and therefore the foundation for a contract. both product and price competition requires that specifications specification, having been used historically in public 6. Examples of conformance specification; 0000001115 00000 n R3XF5h{o9gkz1p!i[$KQt?I$o:hdSisA4e3Dm9,Hhj4@`h$&!!r" BH$@4$"Jz"H,*Mc18/,1 #c7n~ "/[#J 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. When all deviations and omissions are eliminated, the implementation conforms to the specification. Specifically, if buyers don't demand that a product be . (3) list reproducible test methods to be used in testing for Furthermore, what is a conformance specification? predicated on a written specification which includes certain Specifications are statements of requirements to be satisfied in the supply of a product or service There are two main types of specification when contracting namely: 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: What are the types of specification in procurement? That school sees planning as "strategic The decision to issue a certificate is based on the testing results and established criteria for issuing certificates. This blog is written by Renaud Anjoran, an ASQ Certified Quality Engineer who has been involved in chinese manufacturing since 2005. >> The following are illustrative examples. Ready to get your copy? FCC (47 CFR Section 2.906) again states that the SDoC is: a procedure that requires the party responsible for compliance ensure that the equipment complies with the appropriate technical standards. 2. According to a study by the Gartner Group[1], the private sector spends over $2.2 trillion on information technology (IT) annually. << 4) The car shall travel at speeds between 0 and 100 mph. Although the terms validation and conformance testing are often interchanged, they are not the same. Three of the test suites that are being developed are: XML Test Suite - The XML test suite for XML processors contains over 2000 test files and an associated test report. Without a CoC, products may be impounded, confiscated, and in some case destroyed. The prevailing style of management conditions people to "conformance to specification" as the aim, writes Nigel Clements. 0000004193 00000 n ) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. Additionally it may specify the permissibility of extensions, options, and alternative approaches and how they are to be handled. 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. Equipment authorized under the SDoC procedure is not listed in a Commission database. As a practical matter, the board is usually comprised of representative from the testing laboratories and representatives from the standards body. 3 What steps lead conformance to specification? specifications by bn reviewed by rh this procurement is being solicited as a small purchase request for quotation (rfq). Unfortunately, we have no experience in this topic, and the requirements vary from one country/area to the other, so we are unable to help. 2) The car shall have a really kickin stereo system. Certain countries request a CoC for certain categories of imported products. This makes the purchasing process inefficient. Requirements Work that matches what was requested in requirements. Reference method tests and PEMS drift tests are conducted to determine conformance of the PEMS with the specification. Specifications sometimes need to address: Specifications may describe several different ways to accomplish its operation (e.g., a choice of file formats or codes). CoC for importing consumer goods in the USA, Certification authorization vs. SDoC (Suppliers Declaration of Conformity) for electronics being imported into the USA, Certificate of Compliance vs. purpose intended. Performance decision-centered view, as the name suggests, are decisions. In contraast, see Performance or Functional Specifications . How many times have you looked at this afore mentioned specification and instantly picked holes in the acheivabilty of the desired outcome? 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!. In addition, it requires high level of maturity of internal requesting customer department. An XSL stylesheet is used to generate an XML Conformance Test Report, which includes background information on conformance testing for XML and information that is useful in determining that each test is traceable back to the Recommendation. submitted written justification to this effect and the Director Lets take an example. The other approach adopts the weaker overall requirement that, while extensions are allowed, an implementation must perform all the functionality in the specifications exactly as specified. products, others may simply require that brands be tested under 2. described fully to include thickness, size, color, etc. The main reason a CoC is required at customs is to prove a product that the product being imported meets the required standard(s). The test documentation describes how the testing is to be done and the directions for the tester to follow. ISO/IEC TR 13233 defined conformance and conformity as "fulfillment by a product, process or service of all relevant specified conformance requirements." and more interested in what a product does. It may also be called a certificate of conformance or certificate of conformity.. What are the types of specifications when contracting? Portability is the ability to move software programs or applications among different computer systems with minimal change. Quality of conformance is the ability of a product, service, or process to meet its design specifications. 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. Conformance testing is NOT a way to judge if one product is better than another. A standard may classify features as "mandatory" vs. "optional," and provide a table listing features so classified. Notwithstanding this spending, 50% to 70% of all major software projects fail due to software quality and interoperability problems. These errors and ambiguities can then be fed back to the standards committee who developed the specification, for correction. quotation request The performance In this example, while the mattresses were not required to be tested by a third party laboratory, the mattress manufacturer voluntarily chose to do so and must provide the information about that laboratory. Proprietary Specification. Procurement is responsible for final editing of The test suite will focus on XSL transformations (XSLT) and XML Path Language (XPath). By signing the DoC you takefull responsibilityfor your products compliance with the applicable EU law. How do you know that the software conforms? This type of testing is called conformance testing. Levels are nested subsets of the specifications. "functional" and "performance" are used 0000008579 00000 n 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.
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conformance specification in procurement