Developed by James D Jenkins, the President of Quametec and a recognized trainer of assessors and laboratories world-wide in the ISO/IEC17025 requirements of uncertainty analysis.
Uncertainty Toolbox™ is an addin program for use with Microsoft® Excel®. It provides the user with a Custom Interface System and professional templates that work within Microsoft® Excel® to facilitate the calculation of measurement uncertainty in accordance with the ISO GUM (Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement) as referenced by ISO/IEC17025. This software tool has become the favorite of USA accreditation assessors and accredited laboratories. After encountering users of our software in the field, numerous assessors from numerous accreditation bodies have made it a point to contact us and compliment us on our software and the apparent quality of our training, as it made their job much easier.
Rather than try to impress potential buyers with tons of confusing statistical terms, we rely on the increasing referrals from consultants, accredited labs, and accreditation bodies, as we believe satisfied clients carry more credibility than fancy advertisements and comparison charts. Before you select an uncertainty solution for your lab, check out some referrals first. Prior to purchasing Uncertainty Toolbox™, many of these labs had purchased competing software of which they were unhappy with, once they tried to use it. Client surveys have shown that our users are fully satisfied with the Uncertainty Toolbox™ software, and more importantly, so are their assessors.
* This statement is based on information from several accreditation assessors regarding the use of commercially sold software for computing uncertainties as encountered during actual assessments.
Designed to meet ISO 17025 accreditation requirements…
Uncertainty Toolbox™ is known for its efficiency and acceptability in meeting the ISO17025 measurement uncertainty analysis requirements. The software was developed by James D. Jenkins, President of Quametec. James has performed over 2000 analyses commercially for laboratories in support of their accreditation to ISO/IEC17025. The software is designed to be efficient in computing uncertainties and produce reports of uncertainty that meet the ISO17025, ISO GUM Method, and the additional requirements as put forth by recognized ILAC MRA accreditation bodies in the USA.
Why uncertainties should be calculated in Microsoft Excel …
Microsoft® Excel® is widely used by science and many financial institutions on Wall Street as the math engine of choice. Being widely used, it's imperfections are quickly identified. Numerous organizations perform independent validations of Excel. Microsoft® Excel® is likely the most validated math engine on earth. When using custom "black box" type analysis software, the risk of undiscovered mathematical imperfections increases due to it's limited use and lack of independent validation. It is for this reason that we believe that uncertainty estimates should be calcuated in Excel® in order to minimize validation issue concerns.
With Uncertainty Toolbox™ addin for Microsoft® Excel®, all calculations are in the worksheets where they can be easily evaluated and validated. In other words, you don't have to guess at how it calculates your measurement uncertainty.
Open math with application flexibility…
Uncertainty Toolbox™ is uniquely transparent in all calculations: While most programs are like a "black box", in that the user has no direct connection to the actual calculations taking place, Uncertainty Toolbox™ was developed to allow the user to see all the calculations programmed into the Templates for computing Measurement Uncertainty. This facilitates awareness of the mathematical processes utilized in uncertainty calculations. Plus the user can also see the code written into the worksheets, adding knowledge to their use of Microsoft® Excel®. The only part of the program that the user is locked out of, is the VBA programming that supports the Menu System and the various Wizards.
It was deemed risky, from a developers perspective to allow the user to see the formulas, but that would defeat the unique learning benefit of the software for the user. Plus, innovative users can interface the results with other applications, thus providing a means for flexibility of application.
Facilitates learning ISO GUM Method concepts…
Besides producing professional uncertainty analyses, Uncertainty Toolbox™ is useful in the provision of training in the ISO GUM Method concepts: Uncertainty Toolbox™ is an excellent tool for performing calculations of measurement uncertainty efficiently and also serves as a great way to learn the process of measurement uncertainty calculation. The provided templates are loaded with "Notes" to explain the required entries and the calculations taking place, plus the help system is loaded with guidance.
Widely used and referenced…
Uncertainty Toolbox™ is widely used and referenced by many accreditation assessors and accredited laboratories: We continue to receive only compliments by our clients assessors with respect to the software. In fact, many of our software sales are to assessors that have encountered it during an assessment. At present Uncertainty Toolbox™ is used by over 800 laboratories world-wide, including numerous national laboratories, and other government and science organizations.
1st Class Customer support…
Uncertainty Toolbox™ comes with unlimited software support and free upgrades to any new version that is released during your first full year of use. The software is typically improved upon once a year. Support is provided at the QIMTonline.com website 24/7 via the "Uncertainty Toolbox Users Group" and includes forums, downloadable samples, and direct contact with the developer. Support via telephone and email is also provided, as needed. This tool is already recognized as the best tool available and it just keeps getting better!
More Power than you will ever need …
With the mathematical power of Microsoft Excel combined with our custom designed forms and tools that provide automatic linking from one budget to up to 25 sub-budgets, each with up to 25 entries and the ability to link from each of those to 25 other sub-budgets, etc. ...well, you get the picture. The bottom line is that, we at QUAMETEC have been directly involved with some of the most complex measurement systems one can imagine. Uncertainty Toolbox™ has been designed to be able to compute the measurement uncertainty for any measurement process in existence. Should we find that this software is unable to compute a measurement process due to any limitation in the design of the software, we will initiate corrective action immediately.
As an example, some time back we increased the maximum number of major variables for which sensitivity coefficients can be computed per budget to 25, matching that of a single budget. This was done when we encountered a process where we needed sensitivity coefficients for 12 major variables in an analysis that listed over 40 sub-variables. The software can now handle up to 25 major variables consisting of up to 25 sub-variables per major variable equaling 625 sub-variables. This can be done in multiple levels of budgeting, expanding the power of 25 contributors per budget to (25 x 25 = 625) in a single analysis. Hopefully, this is more power than you or I will even need!
Uncertainty Toolbox™ software is NOT needed to review and/or print an analysis…
With "Black Box" type analysis software, you may encounter the unfortunately more frequently occurring problem of computer operating system updates locking you out of your custom software use and therefore making your analyses unobtainable. With Uncertainty Toolbox™, each of your analyses are fully functional Microsoft® Excel® workbooks, as all the math is performed in each of the worksheets. Uncertainty Toolbox™ does not need to be installed to review and print the analyses. You can simply email the analyses to your assessor for review rather than printing them out. Reviewers do not need a license for Uncertainty Toolbox, they just need to have Microsoft Excel.
Can Be Easily and Confidently Validated…
With "Black Box" type software, one can only put in numbers that produce known calculated results in an effort to "validate" the software calculations. Uncertainty Toolbox™ is unique for several reasons which affect the traditional approach to "validation". The software is open source mathematics utilizing Excel's math engine. Microsoft® Excel® is used by millions of businesses, as well as many universities worldwide and its math engine is considered suitably validated for use at National Laboratories and Government Institutions. This leaves only the correctness of the formulas used in the "Master Templates". The user is provided the "Master Password" for the Master Templates, therefore, even with Quametec validation, the user may wish to verify that the formulas are intact, and if tampered with, verify that the results are still correct. The user is encouraged to reverse engineer the calculations in the templates for two purposes, to ensure that they understand what the "tool" is doing for them and to validate the use of the templates in their organization. Several of our clients have compared results from our software with many of our competitors software, the results have always agreed to 5 significant digits or more.
Currently Uncertainty Toolbox is accepted for use in legal metrology in North America and is recognized by numerous Accrediting Bodies as being suitably validated and acceptable for use in meeting the requirements of ISO/IEC17025. Therefore no user validation of the calculations are needed, due to its' unique Open-Math design and it being widely used in the metrology industry.
© 2009 Quametec Corporation
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