Re: Question regarding NIST Certification

Just to clarify,  NIST typically develops test methods and conformance
tests (for conformance to a standard) and acredits test laboratories
to do the certification.

WRT usability,  there is not "certification" or test labs except in
the case that Bill describes.  NIST has worked with the Election
Assistance Commission (EAC) created  standards for voting systems and
test methods to determine conformance to the standards.   This
includes usability and accessibility standards for voting systems.
The EAC acredits labs to do the testing and the EAC then certifies the
systems as conforming to the standard.

This is the only example I know of for formal certification in the
usability arena. NIST has developed a standard for reporting usability
tests which is now an ISO standard (ISO/IEC 25062:2006 Common Industry
Format (CIF) for usability test reports) and is currently working with
ISO on a requirements report called CISU-R.  It is in ISO committee at
the moment but some info can be found at: http://www.nist.gov/iusr/ .

Perhaps Sumanth could provide more specifics on what he is asking
about.

Sharon

Quoting Bill Killam <[email protected]>:

> I don't work directly for NIST, but I have worked with them for many years.
>
> I know that NIST provides certification for the accuracy of  
> measurement equipment - like sound pressure level meters, scales,  
> pressure gauges, clocks, etc.  They provide three types: a  
> certificate of calibration, a certificate of compliance, and a  
> traceable certificate.  They also provide certification against the  
> Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) to cover things like  
> how data is encoded, encryption standards, and personal identity  
> verification standards.   But none of this is directed at the  
> product's usability.  My firm is developing a usability-related  
> certification for voting systems, but its the only usability related  
> standard at NIST that I know of.
>
> Are you sure you're not thinking of the CIF (Common Industry Format)  
> for reporting usability results?  This is a usability-related  
> standard developed by NIST, but not a type of certification.
>
> Here's a link to the NIST Center for Standards and Certification  
> Information if that helps any...
>
> http://ts.nist.gov/Standards/Information/index.cfm
>
> Bill
> ---------------------------------------------------
> Bill Killam, MA CHFP
> President, User-Centered Design, Inc.
> 20548 Deerwatch Place
> Ashburn, VA 20147
> 703-729-0998 (Office)
> 703-626-6318 (Mobile)
> http://www.user-centereddesign.com
>
>
>
>
> On May 13, 2009, at 12:33 PM, Muthyala, Sumanth wrote:
>
>> Hello All,
>>
>> As a part of the Usability group at my company we were tasked into
>> achieving NIST certification for our Products.
>> I would like to understand the following:
>> 1)	Has anyone else in the community looked into this certification?
>> 2)	If you have, what are the different types of certifications
>> a.	Definition of certification levels
>> 3)	Example of types of software at each level and their function
>> 4)	Cost pertaining to each level
>>
>> I would appreciate any help/advice on this.
>> Sincerely,
>>
>> Sumanth Muthyala
>> Compuware Usability
>> 313 227 4196
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