Glossary and Definitions

Acceptable The maximum percentage of non-

Quality Level conforming units in a lot or batch that, for
(AQL) the purpose of acceptance sampling, can
be considered satisfactory as a process
Acceptance average.
The maximum number of defective units
Number or defects in a sample that will permit
acceptance of the inspected lot.
Apprasial A form of the quality system audit,
normally conducted to examine the total
quality program effectiveness and
implementation. An apprasial is usually
conducted by a third party and reported to
Assessment the highest level
An estimate of management.
or determination of the
significance, importance or value of
something.
Attribute A characteristic or property that is
appraised in terms of whether it does or
does not exist with respect to a given
Attribute requirement.
Inspection whereby either the product or
Inspection product characteristics are classified as
defective or non-defective, or the number
of defects in a unit of product counted.
Audit A planned, independent and documented
assessment to determine whether
agreed-upon requirements are met.
Audit Program The organizational structure, commitment
and documented methods used to plan
and perform audits.
Audit Standard The organizational structure, commitment
and documented methods used to plan
and perform audits.
Audit Team The group of individuals conducting an
audit under the direction of a team leader.
Auditee An organization or person to be audited.
Auditing A unit or function that carries out audits
Organization through its employees. This organization
may be a department of the auditee
(when the auditee is a company), a client
or an independent third party.
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 Glossary and Definitions
Auditor The individual who carries out the audit.
Average The expected quality of outgoing product
Outgoing following the use of an acceptance
Quality (AOQ) sampling plan for a given value of
Average incoming product.
For a given acceptance sampling plan,
Outgoing the maximum AOQ for all possible levels
Quality
Batch Limit of incoming
A definite quality.of product or material
quantity
(AOQL) produced under conditions that are
Calibration considered
A comparison uniform.
of an instrument or
measuring device to a 'standard' of
known accuracy traceable to a national or
international standard in order to detect,
report or eliminate by adjustment any
Certification discrepancy
The procedure in accuracy of by
and action, theameasuring
duly
device.
authorized body, of determining, verifying
and attesting in writing to the
qualifications of personnel, processes,
procedures or items in accordance with
Characteristic A property requirements.
applicable that helps to identify or to
differentiate between entities and that can
be described or measured to determine
conformance to requirements.
Client The person or organization requesting the
audit. Depending upon the
circumstances, the client may be the
auditing organization, the aduitee or a
Compliance An
thirdaffirmative
party. indication of judgement
that the supplier of a product or service
has met the requirements of the relevant
specification(s), contract and/or
regulation. Also, the state of meeting that
(those) requirement(s).
Confirmation The agreement of data or information
obtained from two or more different
Conformance sources.
An affirmative indication or judgement
that a product or service meets the
requirements of relevant specifications,
contract or regulation. Also the state of
meeting requirements.

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 Glossary and Definitions
Contractor Any organization or person under
contract to furnish items and/or services:
a vendor, supplier, sub-contractor,
fabricator, and sub-tier levels of these
where appropriate.
Convention A customary practice, rule or method.
Corrective Action taken to eliminate the Root
Action Cause(s) and symptom(s) of an existing
undesirable deviation or non-conformity
to prevent recurrence.
Corrective A formal document noting audit or other
Action Request nonconformance finding(s) and
requesting a resolution.
Defect A departure of a quality characteristic
from its intended level that occurs with a
severity sufficient to cause a product or
service not to satisfy intended normal
requirements.
Defective A unit of product or service containing at
least one defect, or having several
defects, that alone, or in combination,
cause the unit not to satisfy intended
Deviation requirements.
A non-conformance or departure of one
or more characteristic(s) from specified
product, process or systems
requirements.
Evaluation The act of examining a process or item to
some standard and forming certain
Examination conclusions
A measurement as aof
result.
goods or services to
determine conformance to some specified
Exit Meeting requirement.
The meeting at the end of an audit
between the auditors and the
representative auditees at which time a
rough draft of audit findings and
Finding observations
A conclusion ofareimportance
discussed based
and upon
presented.
observation(s).
Follow-up Audit An audit which verifies that some
corrective action has been accomplished
as scheduled and determines that the
action(s) are effective in preventing or
minimizing recurrence.
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 Glossary and Definitions
Guidelines Documented instructions that are
considered good practice but that are not
mandatory.
Independence Freedom from bias and external
Inspection influence.
Activities (e.g.: measuring, examining,
testing) that gague one or more
characteristics of a product or service and
the comparison of these with specified
requirements to determine conformity.
Inspection Level A feature of a sampling scheme relating
to the size of the sample to that of the lot.
Selection of an inspection level may be
bsed upon simplicity, unit inspection cost,
Inspection Lot inspection destructiveness
A specific qualtity of similaror lot offered
units
consistency.
for inspection and subject to an
Inspection acceptance
Recorded data decision.
concerning inspection
Record
Inspection, results.
See Inspection, Normal
Normal
Inspection, A feature of a sampling scheme
Reduced permitting smaller sample sizes than are
used in 'normal' inspection. Reduced
inspection is used when experience
Inspection, (history)
A featurewith
of athe level ofscheme
sampling submitted quality
using
Tightened is 'sufficiently
stricter good'.criteria than those
acceptance
used in 'normal' inspection. Tightened
inspection is used as a protective
measure to increase the probability of
rejecting lots when experience (history)
shows the level of submitted quality has
Lead Auditor The individual who supervises auditors
deterioriated.
during an audit and serves as team
Lot leader.
A defined quantity of a product or material
accumulated under conditions that are
considered uniform for sampling
Lot Size (N) purposes.
The number of units in a lot.
Measuring and Any device used to measure, gage, test,
Test Equipment inspect, diagnose or ottherwise examine
materials, supplies and equipment to
determine compliance with technical
requirements.

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 Glossary and Definitions
Nonconforming A unit of product or service containing at
Unit least one defect (at least 1
nonconformity). Also see Defective. Also
Nonconformity see Unit.
A departure of a quality characteristic
from its intended level or state that has a
severity sufficient to cause an associated
product or service not to meet a
specification requirement.
Normal Inspection under a sampling plan which is
Inspection used when there is no evidence that the
quality of the product being submitted is
better or poorer than the specified quality
level.
Objective Verifiable (reproducable) qualitative or
Evidence quantitative observations, information,
records or statements of fact pertaining to
the quality of an item or service or to the
existence and implementation of a quality
Observation system
An item element.
of objective evidence found
during an audit. Observations are not
Pre-Audit non-conformances.
The introductory meeting between
Meeting auditors and the representative auditees
at which time the overview of the planned
Pre-Award audit is presented.
An activity conducted prior to a contract
Survey award and used to evaluate the overall
capability of a prospective supplier or
contractor. May include one or more of
many elements, including quality aspects,
Precision facilities, equipment,
The closeness etc.
of agreement between
randomly selected individual
Procedure measurements
A document thatorspecifies
test results.
the method to
perform an activity.
Process The particular method of producing a
product or service, generally involving a
number of steps or operations.
Process The average percent of defective or
Average average number of defects per hundred
units of product submitted by the supplier
for original inspection.

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 Glossary and Definitions
Process Quality An analysis of elements of a process and
Audit apprasial of completeness, correctness of
conditions, and probable effeciveness.
Product A unit manufactured for a customer or a
service delivered to a customer.
Product Quality A quantitative assessment of
Audit conformance to required product
Qual;ity System characteristics.
The organizational structure,
responsibilities, procedures, processes
and resources for implementing quality
Qualification management.
The status given to an entity or person
when the fulfillment of specified
requirements has been demonstrated.
The process of obtaining that status.
Quality All those planned and systematic actions
Assurance necessary to provide adequate
confidence that a product or service will
satisfy given quality requirements.
Quality Audit A systematic and independent
examination and evaluation to determine
whether quality activities and results
comply with planned arrangements, and
whether these arrangements are
Quality Control implemented
The operationaleffectively
techniques andand
are activities
suitable
to achieve
that objectives.
are used to fulfill requirements for
Quality 'quality'.
The totality of functions involved in the
Management determination and achievement of quality.
Quality Manual A document (typically) stating the quality
policy (and other policies), quality system
and quality practices of an organization.
Sometimes called a Systems Manual or
Quality Plan Quality Systems
One or more Manual.setting out the
documents
specific quality practices, resources and
activities relevant to a particular product,
process, service, contract or project.
Quality Policy The overall intentions and direction of an
organization regarding quality as formally
expressed by top management.

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 Glossary and Definitions
Quality The continuing monitoring and verification
Surveillance of the status of procedures, methods,
conditions, products, processes and
services and the analysis of records in
relation to stated references to ensure
Quality System that requirements
A documented for quality
activity are being
performed to
Audit met.
verify, by examination and evaluation of
objective evidence, that applicable
elements of the quality system are
suitable and have been developed,
documented and effectively implemented
Quality System in accordance
A formal with specified
evaluation bt management of the
Review requirements.
status and adequacy of the quality
system in relation to quality policy and/or
new objectives resulting from changing
Random circumstances.
The selection of units for a sample size
Sampling (n) in such a manner that all combinations
of (n) units under consideration have an
Rejection equil chance ofnumber
The minimum being selected.
of variants or
Number varient units in the sample that will cause
the lot or batch to be designated as not
Reliability acceptable.
The probability that an item will perform
its intended function(s) for a specified
interval under stated conditions.
Root Cause A fundamental deficiency that results in a
non-conformance and must be corrected
to prevent recurrence of the same or
Sample similar
A smallnon-conformances.
group of units or observations
taken from a lot or batch of units or
observations that serves to provide an
information basis (typically statistically)
for making a decision (by a statistically
Sample Size (n) based prediction)
The number concerning
of units the lot or
or observations in a
batch.
sample.
Sampling Plan A statement of the sample size or sizes to
be used and the associated aceptance
and rejection criteria.
Specification The document that prescribes the
requirements with which the product or
service must conform.
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 Glossary and Definitions
Specification Limits that define the conformance
Limits boundaries for an individual
manufacturing unit, design or other
Standard requirement
The documented criteria or service
result operation.
of a particular
standardization effort by a recognized
Standardization authority.
The act of documenting, formalizing and
implementing efforts which result in an
improvement (by way of conformity
[standardization]) to similar or applicable
methodologies, properties, processes or
Survey An examination for some specific
systems.
purpose. To inspect or consider carefully.
To review in detail. Some authorities use
the words audit and survey
interchangably. Audit implies the
existence of agreed upon criteria against
which plans and execution can be
checked. Survey implies the inclusion of
Testing A meansnot
matters of covered
determining an item's
by agreed upon
capability
criteria. to meet specified requirements
by subjecting the item to a set of physical,
chemical, environmental or operating
Testing actions
A means and conditions. the capability of
of determining
an item to meet specified requirements by
subjecting the item to a set of physical,
chemical, environmental or operating
Traceability actions andtoconditions.
The ability trace the history, application
or location of an item or activity and like
items or activities by means of reorded
Unit identification.
Item. May be a physical item or a service.
Unit A quantity of product, material or service
forming a cohesive entity on which a
measurement or observation may be
Universe made.
A group of populations, often reflecting
different characteristics of the items or
material under consideration.
Variable Inspection wherein certain quality
Inspection characteristics of samples are evaluated
with respect to a measurement.

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 Glossary and Definitions
Variant An item or event that is classified
differently from others of its type.
Verification The act of reviewing, inspecting, testing,
checking, auditing or otherwise
establishing and documenting whether
items, processes, services and/or
documents conform to specified
requirements.

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