Adding a Characteristic
A Characteristic is a value that can be measured together with a description of how its limits will be calculated.
Select the Variable tab.
Click Characteristics.
A list of the existing characteristics is displayed.
Click the add button (
).
The Characteristic creation window opens.
Describe characteristic
The details entered here govern how the statistics will be calculated.
Select a Type from the drop-down list. The following types are available.
Variable: Any value can be entered. The values must obey the Nelson Rules.
Boolean: Only two answers are possible.
Select a Unit of Measure from the drop-down list.
Adjust the Sigmas. This is the variation from the mean. Three is the standard.
Adjust the Precision. This is the number of decimal places that calculations are carried out in. The more decimal places you have the more precise the result will be.
Enter a description and code for the characteristic.
Associate causes
When a Characteristic goes outside of its limits the user is able to specify one or more causes.
Associate all the causes that could be attributed to each characteristic going outside its limits.
It is not mandatory for a Characteristic to have a Cause assigned to it. However, if it doesn't have a Cause assigned then no Violation screen will appear in VDC when a measurement is outside of the control limits.
Select the Causes tab.
Enable the causes to be associated to the characteristic.
Add a visual aid
A visual aid is an image that shows the operator how to take the recording.
Select the Visual Aid tab.
Click the add button ().
Either select the required image from the list or add a new one.
Click OK.
This image will be displayed to the user during the data collection process in VDC. It will appear when this characteristic is displayed.
Click OK.
The Characteristic is added to the list.
Importing Characteristics
Characteristics can be created in an Excel spreadsheet and then imported directly into the Inspect database.
The Import functionality can also be used to update existing characteristics. If a characteristic exists with the same code then the description and values of that characteristic will be updated. The import functionality cannot update the code of a characteristic.
Create the Characteristic Spreadsheet
Create a copy of the spreadsheet template. This can be found in the installation directory at the following location:
$\Inspect\Content\Import Templates\Cockpit-Variable-Characteristic-Import-Template.xlsx
Rename the file to a more descriptive name.
Open the file.
Enter a new characteristic on each line with the following information:
Description: Description of the characteristic.
Code: Unique identifier of the characteristic.
U/M Code: Unit of measure
Precision: Number of decimal places to which the characteristic will be calculated.
#Sigmas: Variation from the mean. Three is the standard.
Type: Variable or boolean answers.
Reference Document Code (optional): Associated reference document.
Save the spreadsheet.
Import the Characteristic Spreadsheet
Select the Variable tab.
Click Characteristics.
A list of the existing characteristics is displayed.
Click the Import button (
).
The Variable Characteristic Import window opens.
Either enter a file path or click the folder icon to locate and open the spreadsheet.
The spreadsheet information is checked to see if it is valid. Invalid data will be highlighted in red. Data that will be updated, due to a matching code, will be highlighted in yellow.
If required, select the Errors & Warnings tab to see which data is incorrect.
Errors must be fixed in the original spreadsheet. You can then click the Refresh button (
) in the wizard to re-import the spreadsheet.
Enable Show Comments to view extra information about how to fill in the spreadsheet.
Click the Save to Database button (
).
The characteristic is imported to the spreadsheet.