Q&A - Measurement Submissions

The Contact Us function at the top of every page on the tl9000.org website are the preferred means for asking questions and receiving answers from the subject matter experts of the TIA QuEST Forum. Over the last few years many questions have been answered through this means. The number of each question is the ticket number in the Contact Us tracking system.

These questions generally relate to TL 9000 data submissions.

Question 9117 — We have questions about measurements under the following. Are we correct in assuming that the following are applicable as measurements? 7.4 Repair, 7.7.5.1 Logistical Services, 7.9 General Support Service: NPR4 FRT4 OFR4 OTI OTS SQ

Answer — As defined in Product Category Table A-2 R4.1, the measurements reported in these product categories are:

7.4 Repair – NPR4, FRT4, OFR4, OTS, and SQ

7.7.5.1 Logistical Services – NPR4, FRT4, OFR4, and OTI (no SQ measure is defined for this product category)

7.9 General Support – NPR4, FRT4, OFR4, OTS, and SQ

Question 9383 — 1. If we create data for SFQ and eSPR can we send these to UTD as we do for NPR4, FRT4, OFR4 and OTI?
2. Do we get also the annual feedback of the benchmarking data regarding SFQ and eSPR?
3. Is the data communication with UTD for SFQ and eSPR included in the RMS annual fee?
4. Is the three-month data pre-sending before certification also valid?
5. Is there an add-on in terms of audit man-days? (certification audit)?

Answer — 1. Yes
2. Yes, if you at the "S" specialty option to your certification
3. Yes
4. Yes
5. For details about the number of audit days see the Audit Time Chart referenced on page Audit Time. This chart does not depend on the type of registration such as H, HS, HSV so there should be no increase in the number of audit days.

Question 9852 — We are certified to product category of 3.2.2.1.2.1 Optical Transport Systems. Does data of Element Management System (EMS) have to be reported in this category or should it be reported/separated in another category (which one)?

Answer — From the way you have phrased your question, we assume the EMS is a separately purchased product external to the optical transport network element. Such management systems typically allow control of a network of transport nodes from a single EMS node. These systems are reported in product category 4.2.1 On-line Critical Network Management Systems.

If your management functionality is built into your optical transport product and is not a separate system, the data concerning EMS problems and administrative outages would be included in the 3.2.2.1.2.1 data.

Question 9880 — From the View Submission History page, I opened a prior month's Submission Details page. On that page there is a section for 'Submit data for a new product/location'. What is the purpose of this section? How does it work?

Answer — The TL 9000 system allows registrations to make multiple data submissions in the same month and category. The product/location field in the data template is used to distinguish the different data submissions in the same category. Some companies use this to report TL 9000 by product line where they have several product lines in the same category. Other companies accumulate their TL 9000 data by site or factory, so they use this field to report their data by location. Most companies make only one data submission per month per category, so they enter ‘All’ in this field. The field is a ‘text’ field, so the data submitter is free to enter any identifying information as needed. The field is available for both new and resubmissions.

Question 10059 — For a recent submittal I received an error for SFQ which I question: >>> The value '333' reported for Sub Measurement 'Fc' should be within the range [0.0, 250.0] Why would there be a maximum number of fixes allowed? The handbook states "... Total number of software fixes that became available..." While we do not normally release this many as part of a maintenance release, we should get credit for them.

Answer — There are maximum values assigned to every submitted data element for every category. This is done to prevent inadvertent or erroneous data entry. These are adjustable and can be raised if required. Using the Contact Us function, please provide the category you wish to submit this data in, and the value can be raised to accommodate the maximum volume of fixes you have delivered.

Question 10132 — Why 3.1.1.3.2 Passive Optical Transmission Sub-systems NPRs value limit within 0-1500000?

Answer — There are maximum values assigned to every submitted data element for every category. This is done to prevent inadvertent or erroneous data entry. These are adjustable and can be raised if required.

The normalization units for NPRs in 3.1.1.3.2 Passive Optical Transmission Sub-systems is “units shipped”. As stated in Appendix A-2 Note 4, this is to be the count of the number of units shipped in the 12 months ending with the month being reported. If you have recorded shipments greater than that in the 12-month period, please let us know using the Contact Us function so that the limit may be raised.

Question 11169 — We are scheduled for our TL9000 certification in June. When can I begin uploading our monthly measurements to the TL 9000 website?

Answer — The requirement is that you have 3 consecutive months of data submitted by the audit. But you can have more and can start submitting your data whenever you are ready.

Question 11533 — A TL 9000 registration was put into suspension on 03/22 due to not having submitted the data for January. The data was submitted on 03/23 and DSRs are on the submission history. The company is still listed as being on suspension. Should they not have been lifted by now? Is it up to the CB to lift it, or is it supposed to be automatically lifted when the data is submitted?

Answer — The CB must remove suspensions. A probation is removed automatically on data submission.

Question 11697 — We have a single TL 9000 certification comprised of subordinate organizations that follow independent policies for certifying specific products. Some organizations intend to certify all products to which their certified categories apply. Other organizations have processes that have produced TL 9000 certified products in specific categories, and they use the same processes to produce products that they do not intend to immediately (within 6 months) certify to TL 9000. In some cases, they decide that such an otherwise unreported, uncertified product in a previously certified category requires certification when more than 6 months have elapsed after GA. How should that be done? Can they just start reporting valid data and claim the product is in TL 9000 scope, or do they require an extension audit? In the case of an established category, what are the conditions under which an extension audit is needed?

Answer — TL 9000 certification means the organization has been certified by an accredited TL 9000 Certification Body that the organization’s quality management system(s) have been approved for the scope identified on their registration certificates. Products may be advertised as being produced using a TL 9000 certified quality management system. Organizations may not state or imply that their products are registered or certified to TL 9000.

We believe that your question really has to do with the inclusion or exclusion of the data from a particular product in the data submitted to the TL 9000 database and not the “certification” status of a given product. The Measurement Handbook rules that apply here are 3.5.2 c) “submit data on measurements that are within its scope of registration” and 3.5.2 g) “provide measurement data for new products that are within the organization’s scope and fall within an existing reported category no later than six months after General Availability of the product.” So, for the subordinate organizations to exclude the reporting of data on a product, it must be in accordance with your TL 9000 scope statement. For the data to be included, then there would have to be a scope statement change. Any change to a TL 9000 scope would require approval by your Certification Body. That would require an audit to at least validate that the product is indeed produced by the existing certified processes and that the measurement data for it has been collected and validated.

Question 11699 — I have a question about the measurements. If I have more than 1 customer in the same category should I submit data for each customer separately?

Answer — If you have multiple customers or multiple products all in the same category then you can submit the data separately by product, separately by customer, or all in a single submission. It is your choice.

Question 11719 — If the A-Factor is entered as Exempt is it assumed to be 12? We're assuming a client from another registrar and their DSR indicates Exempt for the A-Factor for one of their measurements.

Answer — If the A-factor is entered as exempt it takes the measurement completely out of consideration. None of the elements of the measurement will be included in any PDRs.

Question 12111 — I would like the definition and counting rules for

7.1.1.1 - Physical Installation (for Internet service Provider)
NPR Number Of Problems Reported
FRT Fix Response Time
OFR Overdue Fix Responsiveness
OTD On Time Delivery
SQ Service Quality


7.1.2 - Provisioning
NPR
FRT
OFR
OTD
SQ

7.3.1 – Network Maintenance Service NPR
FRT
OFR
OTD
SQ

7.5.1 - Technical Assistance and Customer Support Centers
FRT
OFR
OTD
SQ

Answer — All of the available definitions and counting rules for the TL 9000 Measurements are contained in the TL 9000 Quality Management System Measurements Handbook. For the service categories, you will want to pay close attention to the definitions of “defective service transaction” and “defective customer support service transaction” in the glossary as well as the applicable information concerning SQ for each category in Table A-2 of the Category Tables Appendix. Be sure to consult the latest version of the Tables posted on the web site. Further information is available in the Examples posted to the web site and the available training.

Question 12205 — Is it mandatory to submit the TL 9000 measurement data on monthly basis. Can an organization decide to do it quarterly or every six months?

Answer — The TL 9000 Measurements Handbook section 3.5.2 e) says the data is to be submitted monthly within seven weeks of the end of the month. There is no option for any other submittal period.

Question 12410 — I received the notice of my client’s registration being put on probation due to late submissions for July measurements. The notice showed that there had been no other late submissions in the last 6 months. However, on 09/03 I received the notice that they had been put on probation for late submission of June measurements. Their history shows that they have not yet made those June submissions. Should the email on 09/19 not have shown that they already had a late submission in the last six months?

Answer — The probation notices were for missing submissions rather than late submissions. Late submissions are considered only during the suspension process. The notice you received on 09/03 was for missing submissions for June data while the one on 09/19 was for missing submissions for July data. If they miss submissions or make late submissions again for August data, then they will go into suspension because 3 or more months of data is missing or late.

Question 12516 — We are a Telecom Company and are interested in having our customers submit data in a standardized format (similar to what's available for mfg. submission) Has TIA QuEST Forum developed a standard format we can use as a guide.

Answer — If it is outage data that you want your customers to submit to you then, yes, there is a system.

See https://tl9000.org/sots/overview.html

If it is other data then the only standard system, we have are the TL 9000 data submission templates. These are available at

https://tl9000.org/alerts/data_submissions.html

Question 13068 — Can I see the actual data that my company submitted during certain months? We have had some role changes and I need to understand these metrics better and seeing what the past submitter did. I know I can get a report that says OK, but I need to actually see the data.

Answer — The security requirements imposed on the TL 9000 data repository by the TIA QuEST Forum prohibit the return of any data submissions, even to the submitting company. All online Data Submission Report (DSR) confirmations should be retained at the time of submittal.

Question 13122 — In an alert, there is a sentence as following: It is also important to note that the selection of Hardware (H), Software (S) and/or Service (V) certification specialty options by the organization is independent of the categories selected. My question is: If the certificate noted compliance with TL9000-HV, but the organization just submit the data of V, and the management system is compliance with the requirement of H and V. Is this OK?

Answer — The organization is required to submit all of the measurements applicable to its product category and specialty selections. If your selections are H and V, then all common, hardware, and service measures should be reported unless an exemption has been claimed, documented, and approved by your Certification Body for a particular measure.

Question 13329 — If work on a service is performed only at specific sites in a country and the service organization claims its TL 9000 scope is limited to that country, but the service's outputs are used at sites in other countries from which feedback is provided, can that service use the data originating outside its in-scope country or sites in its submissions to the MRS?

Answer — All data submitted to the MRS from a registration must be within the scope of the registration.