Structure of a Node Test

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Structure of a QA Session

Room systems or nodes
A Quality Assurance Session should normally take less than an hour. These sessions are not only to check that your system is running properly, but should be seen as an opportunity to demonstrate how your system is set up and used in live situations and to ask any relevant questions about Access Grid and its use.
The metrics in the table below show the criteria measured.

Sec.	Category	Item	Measurement Scale	Measurement / Criteria
1a	Audio	Echo	Imperceptible Slightly intrusive Very annoying	checking for echo - 1. Ensure the Echo Cancelling device is properly configured. 2. Consider microphone placement. Microphones placed too close to loudspeakers will increase the risk of echo. 3. High volume levels can also cause echo.
1b	Audio	Audio Quality	Excellent Fair Poor	Voices must be clearly understood and without distortion. In a normal speaking voice the LEDs in the audio tool should peak at approx 75%.
1c	Audio	Microphones off	Display in audio tool	When microphones are muted/switched off, there should be no LEDs showing in the audio tool and nothing heard at remote sites.
1d	Audio	Ambient room noise	Display in audio tool	The microphones are switched on but no one is speaking. The background ambient noise should not be obtrusive or light up more than the first 3 LED's on the display in audio tool.
2a	Video	Picture Quality	Excellent Fair Poor	The contrast between the presenter and the background should be good. Presenters should not be placed in front of bright projected images or backgrounds. The images should not flicker.
2b	Video	Camera positioning	Excellent Fair Poor	Cameras should be positioned for head and shoulder shots. Group shots should be restricted to 2 or 3 people per camera to avoid faces becoming too small in the shot.
3a	Connectivity	IOCOM only IG Meeting: Connection to Server	virgo.agsc.man.ac.uk knight.agsc.man.ac.uk	Users should be connected either to the main server ‘virgo.agsc.man.ac.uk’ or to the backup server ‘knight.agsc.man.ac.uk’ Users should know how to swap between the main and backup servers.
3b	Connectivity	Connection type	Multicast/Unicast	Check either: 1. Unicast functionality (multicast is not required for a QA pass) or 2. Multicast and unicast.
4a	Miscellaneous	Text chat	Response No response Text chat not in use	Is text chat being used? Say "Hello" to other site. Do they respond without being prompted?
4b	Miscellaneous	Check all contact details are correct	Data Check	Check node resources (e.g. number of seats, whiteboard etc) and node details (addresses, phone numbers, e-mail etc.)
4c	Miscellaneous	Shared presentation or desktop	IGPix Shared desktop	Test IGPix to share PowerPoint. or Test shared desktop
4d	Miscellaneous	Time synchronisation	Public Time Servers free download http://www.ntp.org	Is the NTP synchronisation running on the system? Useful tool for changing Windows XP synch interval settings on http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_inet_time.htm.

Desktop systems or nodes
The desktop Quality Assurance Session should only take a few minutes. The main intention is to advise users about the need for echo cancellation in a conference environment. Please be aware that loudspeakers and microphones cannot be used without some form of echo cancellation.

Sec.	Category	Item	Measurement Scale	Measurement / Criteria
1a	Audio	Echo	Imperceptible Slightly intrusive Very annoying	checking for echo - 1. Use either a headset with microphone or an echo cancelling microphone with loudspeaker. 2. High volume levels can cause echo.
1b	Audio	Audio Quality	Excellent Fair Poor	Voices must be clearly understood and without distortion In a normal speaking voice the LEDs in the audio tool should peak at approx 75%.
2a	Video	Picture Quality	Excellent Fair Poor	The contrast between the presenter and the background should be good. Presenters should not be placed in front of bright projected images or backgrounds. The images should not flicker.
3a	Connectivity	Connection to Server	virgo.agsc.man.ac.uk knight.agsc.man.ac.uk	Users should be connected to the main server ‘virgo.agsc.man.ac.uk’ or to the backup server ‘knight.agsc.man.ac.uk’ Users should know how to swap between the main and backup servers.
4a	Miscellaneous	Text chat	Responded No response Text chat not in use	Is text chat being used? Say "Hello" to other site. Do they respond without being prompted?
4b	Miscellaneous	Check all contact details are correct	Data Check	Check node details (addresses, phone numbers, e-mail etc.)

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Structure of a QA Session

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