Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for sensor manufacturers.
A checklist built from how sensor manufacturers work, to print or save as a PDF and bring to any supplier meeting.
What the software should cover
Tick each one that matters to your business.
- Sensor models and variant codes
- Sensing element lot control
- Calibration runs and coefficients
- Reference instrument register
- Certificates and final test
- Field returns and drift analysis
- Orders and OEM custom builds
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For owners and managing directors
- For design and product engineers
- For calibration technicians
- For quality and the lab manager
- For sales and customer support
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Units calibrated by day, station and technician
- Master gauges and thermometers due or overdue
- Element lots with failing incoming readings
- Hysteresis and ingress failures by model and cause
- Field returns by element lot, potting batch and housing supplier
- OEM orders open, with stage reached
- Certificate reprints requested, by customer
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- Calibration station files
- Barcode and label printers
- SMS or WhatsApp
- Accounting export
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Does it store the actual readings behind a certificate?
- What stops a calibration using an expired master gauge?
- How are element lots linked to finished sensors?
- Can OEM buyers have private variants?
- How do returns help the design team?
- Can calibration stations send files in directly?
- How is a certificate wording changed?
- What should we bring to the first session?
- What can we export?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- Calibration data leaves with the engineer
- Reference instruments fall out of date
- Element lots are not tied to finished units
- Variant codes grow out of control
- Returned units show no fault pattern
Prefer to talk it through? See the sensor manufacturers page.