There
are currently five subcommittees that divide the work of developing
and maintaining statistical standards within TC 69 on Statistics.
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Is this a national or international activity?
The short answer is both! The ISO membership consists of the
national standards organizations of many countries around the
world. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is the
US member of ISO. ISO has numerous technical committees covering
a wide spectrum of interests that propose and develop standards
which undergo a strict protocol of due process by which documents
are moved from the initial proposal stage to adoption as International
Standards. ANSI delegates the responsibilities of participation
in ISO technical committees to various voluntary consensus standards
writing organizations such as American Society for Quality (ASQ)
and American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) as TAGs.
ASQ holds the TAGs to ISO/TC 176, ISO/TC 207, ISO/TC 207/SC1,
ISO/TC 207/SC2, ISO/TC 69 and IEC/TC 56. Participation in TAGs
encourages and enhances the process of harmonization of national
standards with international standards. Often national standards
are adopted with little change as ISO standards and vice versa.
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Who benefits from statistical standards and
how?
Beneficiaries of the ISO/TC 69 standards are individuals, companies,
industries and organizations that have a stake or interest in
standards being developed within the ISO community, particularly
those standards which have statistical content or depend on data
analysis for decision making. Parties to contractual agreements
for product acceptance; individuals and organization who have
a need to demonstrate conformance to government regulatory requirements;
and those who seek to meet the requirements of quality standards
within the ISO family, probably stand to benefit the most from
standardization on data collection methods, analysis techniques,
and interpretation. As an example, ISO 17025 on Calibration Systems
and other quality documents, require the reporting of uncertainty
of measurement results. Documents, which address this need for
clients with various levels of resources and In-House/On-Site expertise,
are currently under development with ISO/TC 69.
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Do I need a degree in Statistics to participate?
A degree in statistics is not as important as subject matter
command of the material. In the same sense that a diploma does
not equate to understanding of the material, the lack of a diploma
does not imply ignorance of a subject area. For example, an engineer
who has worked for many years in a facility employing SPC could
in fact be a great contributor to TC 69 efforts in SPC standards,
having served in the trenches. Furthermore, such a participant
could offer valuable insights into the presentation of ISO/TC
69 standards for high impact.
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What are the expectations from a volunteer?
A volunteer is expected to start by agreeing to review documents,
provide input and intend to participate in national and possibly
international meetings. Given considerable backing of their company,
I would expect that participants might wish to become a convenor
of a working group on a topic of their interest.
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What is expected of new members?
New members of the US TAG to ISO/TC 69 are expected to attend
the annual Fall and Spring meetings and, if interested, the international
meeting (late May or early June) of the TC. Depending upon each
new member’s interests and expertise, each new member will
voluntarily join one or more working groups of one or more subcommittees
of the TC. In the working groups/subcommittees of choice, the
new member will be expected to participate in the review, revision
and/or development of international statistical standards that
are the responsibility of those working groups.
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Is this a subgroup of quality?
The work of ISO/TC 69 deals with many concepts and standards
that are very useful for quality professionals, especially for
quality improvement. However, ISO/TC 69 deals with many other
areas of applied statistics. Thus we suggest that any person interested
in just about any area of applied statistics should be interested
in the work of this technical committee.
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How do I approach my management for support?
This is a company specific, management specific, situation specific
undertaking that each individual has to deal with accordingly.
The common elements that all can use to advantage in this process
include literature and brochures of ASQ and the TAGs which describe
their activities and the benefits of participation. You are the
best one to describe how specific standards and your job requirements
relate and how your company can benefit from your participation.
Talk to any and all ASQ members who are working in the area of
your interest for ideas and assistance.
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What meetings does the TAG sponsor?
The US TAG meets twice yearly for one day. A fall meeting is
held in the Washington, DC area, and a spring meeting is held
in another geographical locality. To facilitate the exchange of
information and accommodate members who also participate in the
US TAGs to ISO/TC 176, ISO/TC 207, ISO/TC 207/SC1, ISO/TC 207/SC2
and IEC/TC 56, the meetings are held concurrently with these groups.
The TAG also sends a delegation to the annual reunion of ISO/TC
69; the location for this meeting rotates among the member countries
of ISO/TC 69 on a yearly basis.
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