ISO 17043 Standard: Understand the Terms and Definitions Used During the Proficiency Testing Implementation

ISO/IEC 17043:2010 provides general requirements for proficiency testing scheme providers' competence, as well as the establishment and operation of proficiency testing schemes. These standards are meant to be general for all sorts of competence testing schemes and can serve as the foundation for specific technical requirements for specific sectors of application. Here are some of the most significant terminology and definitions that will help while implementing an ISO 17043 standard in the organization. 

Assigned value: A value allocated to a specific property of a proficiency test item.

Coordinator: one or more individuals in charge of organizing and coordinating all activities associated with the operation of a proficiency testing system

Customer: An organization or individual for whom a proficiency testing scheme is given under a contractual agreement.

Interlaboratory comparison: Predetermined circumstances are used to organize, run, and evaluate measurements or tests on the same or similar objects by two or more laboratories.

Outlier: An observation in a set of data that appears to be inconsistent with the rest of the set. An outlier can come from a distinct population or be the consequence of an improper recording or another major mistake.

Participant: A laboratory, company, or individual who receives proficiency test items and provides results for assessment by the proficiency testing provider. In some circumstances, the participant may be an inspection body.

Proficiency testing: Interlaboratory comparisons are used to assess participant performance against pre-established criteria. For this International Standard, the word "proficiency testing" is used in its broadest sense, which includes, but is not limited to:

1. quantitative scheme — where the goal is to quantify one or more proficiency test item measurements
2. qualitative scheme — where the objective is to recognize or explain one or more features of the proficiency test item
3. sequential scheme — where one or more proficiency test items are distributed sequentially for testing or measurement and returned to the proficiency testing provider at regular intervals
4. simultaneous scheme — when proficiency test items are distributed for concurrent testing or measurement within a specific time frame
5. single occasion exercise — where proficiency test elements are presented just once
6. continuous scheme — where proficiency test items are issued regularly;
7. sampling — where samples are collected for further evaluation;
8. data transformation and interpretation — when data sets or other information are provided and the data is processed to generate an interpretation (or another outcome). Some medical proficiency testing providers refer to their proficiency testing systems, broader programs, or both as "External Quality Assessment (EQA)."

Proficiency test item: A proficiency test sample, product, artifact, reference material, piece of equipment, measurement standard, data set, or other information.

Proficiency testing provider: an organization that is in charge of all aspects of the establishment and operation of a proficiency testing program.

Proficiency testing round: a single entire sequence of proficiency test item distribution, evaluation, and reporting of results to participants.

Proficiency testing scheme: For a specific area of testing, measurement, calibration, or inspection, proficiency testing is devised and implemented in one or more rounds. A proficiency testing system may cover a single type of test, calibration, or inspection, or it may cover numerous tests, calibrations, or inspections on proficiency test items.

Robust statistical method: A statistical method that is insensitive to minor deviations from underlying assumptions surrounding a probabilistic model.

The standard deviation for the proficiency assessment: Based on the information given, the measure of dispersion is used to evaluate the results of proficiency testing. Only ratio and differential scale results are subject to the standard deviation. Not all proficiency testing methodologies assess proficiency based on result dispersion.

Subcontractor: The proficiency testing provider engages an organization or individual to execute actions specified in this International Standard that affect the quality of a proficiency testing scheme. Many proficiency testing companies refer to their partners as "subcontractors."

Metrological traceability: The property of a measurement result allows it to be connected to a reference via ISO 17043 documents with an unbroken chain of calibrations, each of which contributes to measurement uncertainty.

Measurement uncertainty: Based on the information available, a non-negative parameter defining the dispersion of the quantity values attributed to a measurand. Measurement uncertainty encompasses both systematic effects, such as components related to corrections and given quantity values of measurement standards, and definitional uncertainty. Estimated systematic effects are sometimes not adjusted for, instead incorporating associated measurement uncertainty components.