The Testability Director ^TM

Version 3.2 - Better Organized, More Guidelines, Lower Price - 

$499.50*  - request it now

Design for Testability is an excellent way to cut your test costs - providing returns on your investment which can exceed several hundred percent. Now, with The Testability Director you will know exactly what to do to make your product more testable and maintainable.

• What is The Testability Director?
• What is the Overall Testability Score?
• How does it work?
• What type of criteria do we score?
• How do we assign weights and scores?
• Can we add our own guidelines?
• Who should use The Testability Director?
• What do I get and how do I place an order?
• What if I buy the software and then don't want to keep it?

What is The Testability Director?

The Testability Director is a spreadsheet template, which guides in the development of testable designs. It contains the Inherent Testability Checklist used with MIL-STD-2165, the U.S. Government's Testability Program for Electronic Systems and Equipments. But Version 3.2 goes much further, bringing you hundreds of guidelines from IC design through board and system testing. It includes guidelines for X-ray and Automated Optical Inspection.  It also includes fixturing guidelines for bed-of nails, flying probe and even vectorless test approaches.  Developed by world renown experts on testability, it includes both digital and analog guidelines and spans from manufacturing through support. It is dynamic, allowing you to add criteria which may be specific to your needs. The following shows a sample page from The Testability Director:

The Testability Director will give you an Overall Testability Score in various aspects of circuit design. What you will get is a report similar to the one below:

Overall Testability Score Sheet and Section Weight Assignment

How does it work?

The Testability Director provides hundreds of very specific testability design guidelines in the form of questions called criteria. A Criteria Weight is assigned to each criterion. A Score in Percent is calculated by dividing those Meeting Criteria with the Total Number. From these figures, The Testability Director automatically calculates a Weighted Score. Criteria are grouped in sections, with each section having its own Assigned Section Weight. Major sections include the following:

Any criterion, subsection or section can be ignored by assigning it a 0 Weight. An Overall Testability Score takes into account all criteria and a score of 90% or more indicates good testability. A low score for any criterion indicates that improvement is needed. The Users' Manual, provided with the software, gives suggestions on how to improve the design. Version 3.2 includes a hypertext Users' Manual for easier browsing.

What type of criteria do we score?

You don't need any sophisticated testability formula, nor a detailed circuit analysis. You answer some simple questions (well, really hundreds of questions) about your design, such as the example below:

The Testability Director Version 3.2

How do we assign weights and scores?

Let us use Criterion #20020 above for illustration.

Criterion #20020 asks "Are standard commercial electronic modules used whenever feasible?" (The intent is to use standard modules, which are easier to repair.) The Score equals the number of standard modules used (5), divided by the total number of modules in the system (6), is 5/6 or 83%. This criterion is in the Systems/Subsystem Level Section and is assigned a Section Weight of 8 and a Criteria Weight of 6. The Weighted Score for this criterion is 8*6*83% or 40.0. If the Overall Testability Score needs to be improved, the designer could return to this section and exchange the non-standard modules for a standard one, thereby improving the scores.

Can we add our own guidelines?

Adding your own criteria (i.e. guidelines) is quite easy to do, but before you do, we caution you to maintain a copy of the original software, in case you inadvertently alter another cell.  We have taken precautions by protecting cells but when you add a criterion of your own, you may have to unprotect the entire worksheet.  

You can add a criterion (we recommend in a question form) and you can create a guideline for it.  You can also link the criterion to the guideline and it will operate the same way as our guidelines. 

The criterion you add may be specific to your organization and/or to your product, or it may be useful to everyone.  If you feel it is useful to everyone, you may share it and we can provide the guideline to all other users.  In turn, we will share their additions with you.

If you are concerned about making changes to The Testability Director, simply contact us at experts@BestTest.com and we will be happy to add your criterion to your software for you at no charge.

Who should use The Testability Director?

The Testability Director is best used as a cooperative effort between a number of disciplines: Test Engineers, Design Engineers, Manufacturing Engineers, Maintainability and other Logistics personnel and Management. The Testability Director can provide a bridge between these fields. Here is one method to accomplish this integration:

1. Have Management assign the Section Weight

2. Have Design Engineers, answer to what extent each criterion is met. (Total Number and Meeting Criteria).

3. Have Test Engineers, assign each Criteria Weight and give non-applicables a 0 weight.

What do I get and how do I place an order?

The Testability Director, includes your spreadsheet template in Excel(TM), which can readily be imported into most other spreadsheet programs. The software includes an extensive Users' Manual which gives guidelines for each criterion. The Users' Manual is also included in hypertext, allowing you to use any (Internet) browser to quickly find any criteria you are looking for.

To place an order, contact us at experts@BestTest.com.

Risk FREE Guarantee: Satisfaction Guaranteed

Our software products, The Testability Director and The Test Flow Simulator carry a special guarantee. While we cannot refund for pay-per-downloads, if you are dissatisfied with the software and  don't want to keep it, send us a FAX to 310-305-7703 on your company stationary that you did not make or keep any copies, and we will issue you a credit for the full amount good towards the purchase of any of our books or products in our Online Store for up to 1 year from the date of your purchase.

_____________

(TM) The Testability Director, Excel and Lotus 1-2-3 are trademarks of A.T.E. Solutions, Inc., Microsoft Corp., and Lotus Development Corp., respectively.

* License is for a single user at any time. A company-wide licensing is $1,000 and may be ordered at a later time. Californians add 8.25% sales tax.  No shipping charge for pay-per-download.

Orders from outside the United States may require additional fees.

If you would prefer the software sent to you on a CD for $25 more (including shipping and handling within the United States), send order to:

A.T.E. Solutions, Inc.
8939 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Suite 110-779
Los Angeles, CA 90045  USA

For questions, e-mail to Testable1@aol.com or Phone us at (310) 822-5231 or FAX us at (310) 305-7703.