A condition of Product Registration is that a product has not only
been designed to be conformant to a Product Standard but also that
conformance has been tested in practice. This applies regardless
of whether or not a designated test suite
(Indicator of Compliance) is identified in the Product Standard. In all
cases the precise hardware/software environment in which conformance has been
established must be identified in the Conformance Statement, and it must be
Many Product Standards identify, in the Indicator of Compliance section, that a
specific test suite must be used during conformance testing. In these cases
a test report which shows that there were no unresolved issues or failures
(except for those covered by appropriate Interpretations, Test Suite
Designated test suites are given in generic terms (for example, a
"VSX4 test report"), rather than by identifying a specific version
of each suite and the detailed testing requirements, to avoid the need
to re-issue a Product Standard every time the situation changes.
In practice, specific versions of test suites are mandated at any
given point in time. The Conformance Administrator can advise,
New versions of test suites replace current versions with a 6-month overlap period, during which time either will be accepted as the valid Indicator of Compliance.
New test suites will normally become mandatory for Product Registration after a 9-month notice period, and thereafter a test suite report will be required at the first annual renewal of all relevant Product Registrations.
Conformance test suites typically test for the presence or absence
of functionality, and the behavior of functionality when present.
The Conformance Statement is the means by which an applicant declares
In performing test report audits on Product Registrations, The Open Group carries out extensive checks to determine the consistency of what is claimed for a product, comparing the information in the Conformance Statement against the test suite reports.
Some test suites are made available under license from The Open Group. In other cases, for instance in the programming language Product Standards where the specifications conform to formal standards, the Product Standard references the test suites that have been developed to support the existing formal certification programs for these languages. Full details of the test suites and related matters can be found on The Open Group web site at http://www.opengroup.org/testing.
In support of a Product Registration application, The Open Group requires,
among other things, a formal test report in respect of Product Standards for
There are two alternative sources of test report that may be used for Product
Registration:
Recognized laboratories are required either to have been assessed
directly by The Open Group for the conformance of their procedures to
ISO guide 25, or to have been accredited by a national or regional
accreditation body for the conformance of their procedures to ISO guide 25.
ISO guide 25 is concerned with the ability to repeat and reproduce formal test procedures, and therefore provides the Open Brand Program with a firm foundation of dependable test reports.
The alternative approach using other test facilities is dealt with by means of
quality control rather than quality assurance. Registration applications
through such test facilities are subject to a high percentage of technical
audits (between 80% and 100% depending on the particular technology
in question).
This approach contrasts with the case of recognized laboratories in
which a low percentage of test reports are subject to a technical audit
(typically 5%). Through careful design of test suites and the use of
detailed technical audit procedures to ISO 9000 it can be assured that
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