Technological factors refer to high quality criteria that evaluates the accuracy, appropriateness and adequacy of:
- Technical interoperability and robustness
- Metadata and metadata tagging tools as well as automatic metadata generation
- Standards and specifications (IEEE Metadata Standard, DublinCore, IMS LD, SCORM, IMS-QTI, etc.)
According to Goldpractice there are three main types of testing for interoperability that are important to obtain and maintain high quality in a repository:
- Conformance testing is the process of assessing the compliance of a product to the defining specification or standard. Specialized test tools are used to exercise a product to determine if the proper actions and reactions are produced. The test tool is normally the only device the product being evaluated is connected to. Successful completion of a conformance test will enhance the probability of interoperability with other products that have been successfully conformance tested.
- Interoperability testing is the process of assessing the ability of a system to exchange usable electronic information with systems of other services or nations as specified in its requirements documents. Specialized test tools are used to monitor performance of products to determine if the proper actions and reactions are produced. A system is certified as interoperable at the completion of successful interoperability testing.
- Operational testing is the process of evaluating the performance of products in an operational environment. Due to the resource requirements needed to generate realistic environments, operational testing is usually conducted in the environment where the LOR is going to be implemented.
More documentation on technical issues can be found in our Q4R Repository by entering "technological factors" or "interoperability" as a keyword.
You can also discuss this subject in the Best Practices Wiki.