Statit e-QC FAQs

Data SPC Capabilities Analysis Capabilities Error Handling E-Mail User Interface

Licensing Output Capabilities End-User System Requirements Alarms Security

Data

What data formats can be imported?

Statit e-QC takes an open approach to accessing data and can read data from almost any data source including any ODBC compliant data source, Excel spreadsheets, comma separated, ASCII, Binary, Industry files, etc.

See Data Access for more detailed information

Does Statit e-QC use a proprietary data base for maintaining quality data?

No. Statit e-QC takes an open approach to accessing data. Statit e-QC can access data from any popular database as well as data files. And Statit e-QC users can get data delivered to their desktops in a variety of formats for additional in-depth analysis or collaboration.

Can conditions in a query be "live" instead of static?

Yes. This is a fundamental database query feature that the user selects from a form in e-QC. SQL commands can be dynamically constructed in Statit e-QC reports to reference selected values and values that are computed or retrieved at run time, such as the current date, time facility, etc.

Can I access data from UNIX systems?

Yes. Statit e-QC can import data from an ODBC compliant data source. The proper ODBC drivers must be installed on the web server which is hosting Statit e-QC. The web server must also have a supported connection to the UNIX machine.

Can Statit e-QC be used for Data Entry?

Yes. Statit e-QC can present simple data entry forms. For more complex data entry forms, an HTML editor such as Microsoft FrontPage can be used to create the forms.

Example e-QC data entry form

Can Statit e-QC write to a database?

Yes. This feature is used for data entry, setting specification limits, adding annotation and assignable causes to graphs, etc. The built-in database security also applies to Statit e-QC access, so if the database is password protected, the appropriate password is required to write data back to the database.

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User Interface

Can the Statit e-QC home page be customized?

Yes. The home page URL is one of the Statit e-QC properties and can be setup to show the customer's home page as an example. Also, each category and dynamic report can have their own home page may include user help, documentation or examples.

Can the Statit e-QC navigation menu support more than one level of categories?

No. Statit e-QC currently only supports one category level. However, when a user logs in, the only categories displayed are the ones that the user has permission to access.

Can Statit e-QC perform a drill-down on textual reports, such as tabular output from a database query?

Yes. Cells or columns in a table can contain links that when clicked-on, allows users to drill-down to more in-depth reports, additional analysis or graphs or the raw data.

Example: user can click on cell in tabular report and drill-down for additional analysis

Can users access other web pages from Statit e-QC?

Yes. Statit e-QC supports links to several other web pages:

Can Statit e-QC display process diagrams and internal documentation?

Yes. Statit e-QC supports several ways of accessing and displaying outside information. Statit e-QC can display a variety of information, such as CAD diagrams, assembly instructions or process diagrams. You can make these diagrams an active part of Statit e-QC by adding hotspots to the images. When the user clicks on a hotspot, dynamic Statit e-QC reports can be run. For example:

Display a part diagram. When the user clicks on a measurement, a current SPC chart for that measurement is displayed.

Example of part diagram

Can I run other Web Applications from Statit e-QC?

Yes. Statit e-QC can link to simple web pages or to other URLs which can process parameters, such as Active Server Pages and CGI scripts.

Can Statit e-QC run in the frame for another page?

No. Statit e-QC must run in the top frame.

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SPC Capabilities

Supported SPC Charts
Variable Data	Attribute Data
X-Bar Chart R Chart s Chart Median Chart Individual Chart Moving Range Moving Average Cumulative Sum Process Capability Chart Process Capability Analysis	p Chart np Chart c Chart u Chart u-Type Cumulative Sum Pareto Paynter Cumulative Sum

See also SPC Capabilities for more details.

How does Statit e-QC handle specification limits?

Statit e-QC can retrieve specification limits from any supported data source and display them on the chart. As an example, many customers retrieve data from their manufacturing database, but keep specification limits in a spreadsheet on their desktop. Statit can retrieve data from both locations for reporting purposes.

Can users interactively add comments and assignable causes for subgroups?

Yes. Statit e-QC can display annotation, identify assignable causes and display phases or stratifications on charts. This information can be retrieved from a database and automatically displayed on the graph when it is requested. Statit e-QC reports allow users to click on data points and enter comments or identify an assignable cause for that data point. Once entered, the information can be written back to a database for archive and automatically displayed on the graph.

Example: user is allowed to interactively add comments, assignable cause and phases to the chart

Can I customize my own SPC rule sets?

Yes. Statit e-QC allows modification of existing rule sets such as Western Electric and AT&T, and creation of new rule sets.

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Alarms

See also Alarms.

Can Statit e-QC send email or update a dashboard when an alarm is detected?

Yes, Statit e-QC provides flexible methods for defining and responding to alarms. Statit e-QC allows alarms to be classified into four different levels.

Statit e-QC Alarm Levels

Alarm State		Value
Red		Exceeded alarm value or last point out-of-control
Yellow		SPC rule violation or between alarm and target value
Green		No rule violations or met target value
Normal		No rule violations or no target/alarm value set

Defining Alarms

Statit e-QC provides users with the freedom to define the Alarm State using SPC or Business Rules Testing or as the result of a specified expression or statistical calculation.

Using SPC Rules Testing

Statit e-QC comes standard with the AT&T/Western Electric, Ford, Nelson and JCAHO rule sets for SPC charts. Statit e-QC also allows modification of existing rules sets and creation of new rule sets.  

Alarm conditions can be raised in a variety of ways including:

• Last point out of control
• Any point out of control
• Specific rules violated
• Rules violated in last n samples

When Statit e-QC reports are scheduled, users can be automatically notified by e-mail when certain alarm conditions are met or exceeded.

Example: email message received with link providing direct access to the report.

Analysis Capabilities

What types of statistical procedures can Statit e-QC perform?

Statit e-QC supports a wide variety of statistical analysis capabilities including:

See Statistical Analysis.

Output Capabilities

Can I display a logo on all of my output?

Yes. The template page used for all output generated by Statit e-QC can be modified to reference a logo, image or include a file to customize all output. Images, links and other HTML formatting can also be added directly to Statit e-QC output.

Can colors and backgrounds be specified for Statit e-QC output?

Yes. Colors and styles for the output generated by Statit e-QC can be controlled in several ways:

Can I print output from Statit e-QC?

Yes, by using the printing capabilities built into the Web Browser. The browser can print the current output page, or all of the pages that make up a published report. To print all of the pages in a report without having to explicitly visit and print each page, print the frame that contains the Report Table of Contents and specify the option to print all linked pages.

Can Statit e-QC display more than one graph on a page?

Yes. Statit e-QC can display any combination of graphs and text information on a page. A variety of graph layouts are available, including top to bottom and side by side.

Example: X-bar - R - Process Capability - multiple graphs on one page.

What is the graph's output format?

All graphs generated by Statit e-QC are in Portable Network Graphics (PNG) format. This format is viewable by the supported browsers and can be imported into most desk top applications, including MS Office, Adobe and Lotus.

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E-Mail

What do those who receive Statit e-QC e-mail need to view the mail?

For mail sent using the E-Mail button on the toolbar, the receiver must view the output using an HTML capable e-mail program such as Outlook or Netscape. There are no special requirements for e-mail that is sent when reports are published.

Will users receiving e-mail be able to view the data tips on the graph?

Yes, as long as they have an HTML capable e-mail viewer such as Outlook or Netscape.

Example: message containing emailed report.

Can I e-mail graphs to a supplier or customer?

Yes, if the recipients are able to access the Web Server where the images and reports are saved. An administrator can configure the destination directory for e-mail output and reports.

Can I e-mail output to someone on a UNIX workstation?

Yes, if they have an HTML capable e-mail program to view the output.

Can I use my local address book to send mail from Statit e-QC?

No. When sending mail using the Statit e-QC e-Mail toolbar button, the e-mail is sent directly from a centralized mail server, not from the user's local machine. As a result, local address books are not used.

Can e-mail be sent to mail groups?

Yes. Any mail group recognized by the company's internal Mail Server can be used in the To: or CC: fields of an Statit e-QC mail message.

Can e-mail be sent only when an alarm occurs?

Yes. A list of users can be sent e-mail when a certain alarm level is reached or exceeded. These requirements can be defined for every scheduled report.

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Error Handling

Can an administrator automatically be notified if there is a problem with a report?

Yes. For scheduled reports, e-mail can automatically be sent to a list of recipients whenever an error occurs. This is useful for situations where there is some sort of problem with the data: either there is invalid data, insufficient data or the data could not be accessed.

Can error messages be customized?

Yes. Authors can specify an error message which is reported to end users if an error condition occurs. Low-level error information can also be reported, or such reports can be disabled for all normal users. For Statit e-QC Administrator accounts, detailed error information is always displayed.

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End-User System Requirements

What must be installed on the end user's machine to support Statit e-QC?

One of the following Web Browsers:

• Internet Explorer 5.x, 6.x
• Netscape 7.x
• Firefox 1.x
• Configuration
  • Cookies, Java, and JavaScript must be enable when accessing Statit e-QC and the browser must be configured to check for newer pages on every visit to a page.
  • With Statit e-QC, Sun Java VM needs to be installed to use the optional Java Macro editor. Download from http://www.java.com.

Does every user need ODBC drivers installed on their machine to use Statit e-QC?

No. Statit e-QC is running on a central server which has the data connection. End-users only need one of the supported Web Browsers.

Can Statit e-QC be accessed from UNIX Workstations or Macs?

Yes. Statit e-QC only requires that one of the supported Web Browsers be running on the end-user's machine. See System Requirements for more information.

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Licensing

Who needs a license to access Statit e-QC?

Any login classified as a Statit e-QC User, Author or Administrator consumes one of the Statit e-QC floating licenses. If there are no Statit e-QC licenses available when the user tries to login, a message is displayed notifying the user that no licenses are currently available.

Statit e-QC licenses are immediately released when a user explicitly exits Statit e-QC by clicking on the Exit button in the toolbar. If the user does not explicitly exit Statit e-QC but, for example, browses somewhere else and does not return, or simply closes the browser, the license is not released until after a certain number of minutes have passed. The default timeout period is 20 minutes and can be configured.

Logins which are classified as Statit e-QC Viewers do not require a Statit e-QC license. Viewers are limited to viewing previously published reports to which they have been given access.

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Security

Can user access be restricted to specific reports?

Yes. When users log into Statit e-QC, only the reports and analysis for the areas which they are authorized to access are displayed. User access is configured by the Statit e-QC Administrator.

Does Statit e-QC use NT Security or Authentication?

No. Statit e-QC uses its own Login and Password mechanism. Logins and passwords are assigned by the Statit e-QC Administrator and are stored in the application database on the Statit e-QC server.

Is Statit e-QC output encrypted?

No. Statit e-QC itself does not encrypt output. This is configured separately on the Web Server where Statit e-QC is installed.

Does Statit e-QC use Cookies?

Yes. Statit e-QC uses cookies for the following two purposes:

This means that cookies must be enabled in the browser when running Statit e-QC.

Does Statit e-QC use Java?

Yes. Statit e-QC uses a Java applet to support Data Tips on graphs. Java applets must be enabled when running e-QC if the Data Tips feature is used.

Does Statit e-QC use JavaScript?

Yes. Statit e-QC makes extensive use of JavaScript to control the Statit e-QC user interface. JavaScript must be enabled in the browser when Statit e-QC is run.

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If you would like additional information, please call our Sales staff at (800) 478-2892 or send email to .