European Metrology Network for Mathematics and Statistics

Quality Assurance Tools FAQ

Thank you for your interest in the Mathmet QAT. These questions were collected at the QAT training course in March 2023 where the use of QAT tools within the framework of a quality management system was presented to a larger audience. If you have any questions or feedback, please contact us at Mathmet@euramet.org.

General

How does the QAT help meeting the requirements of ISO 17025 and ISO 17043?

The QAT can indeed help to meet the requirements of ISO 17025 and ISO 17043. A detailed mapping of how this can be achieved can be found here.

Software

Does the QAT recommend any particular naming convention for variables?

No, the user of the QAT can use their own naming conventions. We recommend being consistent with the conventions used within the software itself.

Can the QAT be used for projects with the highest SWIL level, given that the QAT pdfs were not rated themselves at the highest SWIL level?

The QAT is not a piece of safety critical software itself. It is a tool to help to assure the quality of data and software in any project independent of its SWIL level. So the QAT pdfs can still be used for quality assurance of data and software with high SWIL levels.

Are the forms filled in as pdf and then saved as a "print to pdf" to generate a document that cannot be edited anymore?

This is correct. If you save a QAT form as pdf by pushing the save button of your pdf viewer it is still editable. If you push the button “print to pdf” you cannot edit the resulting pdf file anymore.

Data

Is there a way to standardise the names of the creators of the dataset?

You can use any type of standardisation, e.g. the one required by your organisation. Examples are: using the company email address of the creator, or using the employee ID. The QAT doesn't enforce a particular standardisation type.

Does the definition of the criticality only cosider direct risks for humans (reputational, monetary or life) or also risks for other entities, such as wildlife, biodiversity, geological stability, water quality, cultural heritage etc.?

Currently these risks are not explicitly mentioned as examples, but if these risks are relevant for your application, they can certainly be included. The essential idea behind the QAT is to encourage a way of ‘quality thinking’, rather than being complete in all its definitions and examples.

What are the FAIR principles?

FAIR means Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable. The principles emphasise machine-actionability (i.e., the capacity of computational systems to find, access, interoperate, and reuse data with none or minimal human intervention) because humans increasingly rely on computational support to deal with data as a result of the increase in volume, complexity, and creation speed. More information can be found here and in this article.

How do you define measurements in question Q34?

As a starting point you can think of ‘measurement’ according to this definition. However, the idea behind the QAT can be used outside the strict metrological context. The essence of the QAT is to give tools to clarify your thinking, and as such, it can be applied to various types of ‘measurements’.