Testing, Interoperability and Technical Quality

Servicesbreadcrumb separatorCentre for Testing & Interoperabilitybreadcrumb separatorETSI Approachbreadcrumb separatorValidation of standards

The ETSI Approach

Validation of standards

Validation is a means of ensuring that the requirements in a standard specify what they are supposed to specify.

Even the simplest of validation activities can improve the quality of a draft standard but a well-planned and systematic validation process will identify many technical and editorial inaccuracies, inconsistencies and ambiguities that might otherwise have remained in the published document.

Indeed a regular process is therefore important for maximizing the quality of the standard as well as providing valuable feedback into on-going standards-making activities. EG 201 015 details various validation techniques. These techniques are not all suited to the full range of subjects standardized by ETSI but there are few, if any, standards that cannot be validated at all.

Validation can be explicit, such as peer review or interoperability events, or implicit, such as the preparation of a requirements catalogue, the development of test specifications and the implementation of the standard in a product; in other words, any activity which requires close scrutiny of the requirements specified in the standard.

Interoperability events

The use of interoperability events (or Plugtests) is a well-proven and cost-effective approach to achieve interoperable standards – and subsequently interoperable products. During these events, companies are able to interconnect prototype or production implementations of standards in order to test interoperability and possibly also conformance.

The events offer validation of both the base standard and the implementations, thus benefitting both ETSI Technical Bodies and the implementers participating in the event.

See on how to plan and organise a Plugtest for your standard.