The new international standard, ISO/IEC 17025 General Requirements for the Competence of Testing and Calibration Laboratories, references proficiency testing in the context of monitoring activities associated with testing and calibration. But what is proficiency testing and what are its relevant properties?

• Why perform monitoring activities if test/measurement equipment is routinely calibrated and maintained?
• What guidelines are used to govern monitoring activities?
• On what, specifically, are these monitoring activities being performed?
• What performance statistics are employed during data monitoring?
• What processes and activities are involved in the planning and review of monitoring activities?

These are a few of the questions that will be addressed in this paper within the perspective of proficiency testing. Download for more.