Create a calibration requirement | Guides

Select the actual work type and evidence route for this requirement. Setup answers recommend a checklist; they do not override this policy. External calibration retains the provider's uploaded certificate. Choose externally reported uncertainty when required; the form disables Metra certificate generation and mandatory internal uncertainty calculation for external work. Internal calibration uses an approved controlled method and the traceability, measurements, uncertainty and conformity evidence applicable to that method and intended use. Non-accredited work may still need uncertainty.

For verification or functional checks without an accreditation claim, you may select Defined acceptance criteria without a controlled procedure with a meaningful justification of at least 20 characters and explicit acceptance criteria. Choose Record check results without a certificate only for those work types. These choices do not waive other applicable evidence or approval rules. Mixed organisations should set accreditation applicability on each requirement and work item; unknown setup accreditation cannot authorise a claim. Completed work retains its original evidence policy and versions when setup answers change.

From the equipment detail page, select Add requirement. The guided page offers two methods:

Use existing template to apply a shared, approved requirement template to this equipment.
Create custom requirement to build a unique requirement for this equipment only.

Choose the method that best matches how you want the policy governed. Don’t duplicate a shared policy as a custom one unless you need a true one-off variation.

A calibration requirement is a repeating job definition for one equipment item. It is separate from the events that record completed work. Create a separate requirement for each recurring obligation.

For reusable policy across several equipment items, use requirement templates and bulk assignment.

Prerequisites

Select the organisation that owns the equipment.
Register the equipment and ensure it is not retired or archived.
Assign the equipment to a site before creating or assigning a requirement. The site provides the schedule's timezone; equipment registration itself does not require site placement.
Requirements can be activated for draft, active, quarantined or out-of-service equipment when their applicable configuration is valid. Draft equipment may collect controlled commissioning evidence before operational release. Retired and archived equipment cannot start new work.
Decide the calibration type, interval, warning period, accreditation need, risk level, procedure policy, and acceptance criteria.
Have an initial due date when activating; a draft can be created without this date.
Confirm you have permission to create and manage calibration requirements.

If the selected procedure policy requires an approved controlled procedure and none exists, Metra shows a prerequisite warning instead of leaving you with an empty procedure selector. Internal calibration requires that controlled method. Verification and functional checks without an accreditation claim can instead use Defined acceptance criteria without a controlled procedure, with a meaningful justification of at least 20 characters and explicit acceptance criteria.

Use Create procedure when authorised, or View procedures with read-only access. The procedure workflow opens separately so your in-progress requirement stays open.

Calculated uncertainty needs an approved uncertainty budget before activation. You may save the draft with the budget or procedure link missing; any supplied reference must belong to this organisation. The selector explains missing budgets and provides permission-aware setup links. Keep the form open, prepare and approve the budget in another tab, then select Refresh uncertainty budgets. Optional calculation remains visible for historical records; choose an explicit supported route for new work.

Review downstream evidence before saving

Proposed draft defaults shows suggestions from your explicit work type, reviewed operating model, equipment category and site context. Read the basis and warnings, then select Apply proposed defaults if useful. Only untouched policy fields change; values you already edited remain. The proposal cannot choose controlled-record identifiers, make an accreditation claim, select a certificate route or activate the requirement. If the category suggests a compatible active template, Review suggested active template lets you inspect it through the template-assignment path instead.

Choose the certificate route explicitly for every new custom draft. Changing work type keeps entered values and evidence selections until you apply its review, including the certificate choice. An incompatible output is retained with an explanation so you can choose a valid route. Review method, uncertainty, reference and accreditation policies against the new type before saving; changing setup answers never rewrites a saved requirement.

Changing an uncertainty route can also leave earlier budget or None-reason values incompatible with the selected route. The proposal panel lists the server-identified values. Select Clear reviewed incompatible fields to discard those values explicitly; the selected route and other policy choices are retained.

The form shows a plain-language summary as you select measurement, uncertainty, standard, and conformity policies.

Before activation, resolve every prerequisite listed. Saving an incomplete draft lets colleagues prepare technical controls in parallel; it does not authorise work. For example:

calculated uncertainty needs an approved uncertainty budget,
uncertainty and conformity checks need structured measurements,
and required standards may be needed for some methods.

Create the requirement

Open Equipment and choose the equipment item.
Open Requirements.
Select Add requirement.
Enter a clear requirement name. Names must be unique for that equipment.
Choose calibration type and accreditation requirement.
Enter interval in days, weeks, months, or years.
Set the warning period (when it appears as due soon).
Select risk level and optional responsible member.
Review the proposed defaults and choose the applicable procedure and certificate policies explicitly.
For external calibration, select an independently reviewed provider or enter the provider method or specification reference. Retain the required external certificate and service provenance; linking a provider does not waive that evidence.
Controlled-procedure requirements inherit the approved revision's activity reference. Retaining provider evidence for external work does not require authorisation to execute that provider's method internally. Other work may select the applicable activity override where shown.
Enter an initial due date when ready to activate. If approved calibration evidence supports an unambiguous baseline, review its performed date and site timezone and select Use suggested date explicitly. If there is no known baseline, choose a justified starting date yourself.
Optionally select Save this policy as a reusable template if you can create templates.
Review the live What every calibration will require summary.
Select Create as draft to review first, or Create and activate when all prerequisites pass.

The reusable-template option shows its explanation below the title. Select the checkbox, title or explanation to include a separate template draft; your entered requirement details stay in the form. The template does not copy this equipment's initial due date.

Draft requirements show Draft – not scheduled. They do not contribute an active due status yet, even when an initial due date is recorded. This label does not change their saved lifecycle or calculated evidence status. Direct activation opens first as draft, then performs the same controlled activation action.

Resume unfinished work

Unfinished template-assignment or custom-requirement inputs are retained in the current browser tab for this equipment, organisation and membership. Leaving edited inputs prompts you to confirm. On returning or reloading, select Restore unsaved form, review the current policies and choices, and resolve any missing prerequisites before saving. Discard unsaved form starts again. Recovery is not a saved requirement and is not available on another device; keep the tab open until you save.

If Create and activate creates the draft but activation fails, use Open the created draft to continue. After a reload, restore the form and use Continue the created requirement. Metra retains the created record's link and prevents replaying the creation request, so review and activate that draft instead of creating a duplicate.

Review and activate the schedule

Open the draft requirement.
Check interval, warning period, pinned procedure revision, acceptance criteria, and initial due date.
Confirm equipment is eligible.
Select Activate.

Activation sets the starting due date and the requirement starts showing as current, due soon, due, or overdue according to the site local date.

Understand dates and timezones

Due dates are calendar dates, not timestamps. Metra uses the timezone of the equipment's current site and displays the site date used for the calculation.

Intervals use calendar arithmetic. Months are not treated as 30 days, and years are not treated as 365 days. End-of-month dates are aligned correctly, including leap years.

Use the due status shown in Metra rather than recreating the calculation in a spreadsheet.

Maintain the lifecycle

The lifecycle is:

draft: being prepared and not active yet
active: contributes to the calibration schedule
suspended: temporarily paused without resetting the next due date
retired: no longer applicable and cannot be restored in normal workflow
archived: kept for history with no further transitions

Controlled updates and lifecycle actions create fixed revisions. Changing schedule fields does not silently recalculate existing approved due dates. If the due date must change, use Adjust due date and add a reason.

Expected result

The equipment now has a traceable calibration requirement with an approved scheduling baseline. It appears in Dashboard and work queues based on its calculated due status.

Permission caveats

Requirement actions use separate permissions. A visible record does not mean you can edit it.

If an action is unavailable, ask an owner or quality manager to verify your permissions and the equipment state.

Next steps

Understand policy choices

The initial due date is optional when saving a draft and required when activating the requirement. Risk level describes the impact of missing or failing this recurring check; use your organisation’s risk assessment. The responsible member coordinates the recurring work and does not automatically gain technical authorisation.

The optional authorisation activity override reuses organisation activity references. Find an existing activity, or explicitly choose Create a new activity reference and enter its name. Controlled procedures supply their own activity reference. Leaving the optional override empty retains the inherited requirement policy.

Save policy without changing other controls

Editing a name or draft due date retains the selected certificate route, uncertainty, conformity, accreditation and other controls. Review Certificate route in the edit form. Choosing another work type opens Review work type change in requirements and templates. The server shows the proposed policies and incompatible fields that will be cleared. Choose Apply reviewed type change before saving, or Cancel type change to retain the previous type and entered values. Accreditation and certificate choices remain explicit; a type change does not downgrade a selected accreditation profile.

A warning period longer than the calendar recurrence displays a warning and still permits saving. For example, a fourteen-day warning on a daily check may leave it due soon throughout the interval. Adjust it when shorter notice is more useful; Metra does not silently change your interval or warning.

Distinguish our accreditation from provider evidence

For work performed by your organisation under its own accreditation, select the applicable approved accreditation profile on the requirement. For external calibration, the accreditation requirement describes the provider evidence you need; your organisation's profile does not establish the provider's eligibility. Review the saved requirement's readable procedure, budget, decision-rule and accreditation selections and revisions before activation.

For eligible non-accredited verification and functional checks using defined criteria, the criteria suggestion is a starting point only. Edit it into the actual method, check standard, nominal values and limits applicable to the equipment. Retain the meaningful justification of at least 20 characters. A suggestion does not approve the criteria or waive quantitative evidence, traceability or independent approval.

See Record a verification or functional check.

Review readiness before activation

The requirement detail and activation dialog show Requirement readiness and evidence from the server. Review every applicable blocker and its corrective link. The listed permissions identify the colleague who can resolve a missing prerequisite; assignment does not grant those permissions. Draft and ongoing requirements appear together in the default requirement list.

Schedule: Current describes the due-date window only. Initial evidence required means no applicable approved acceptable calibration establishes evidence currency, even if the initial due date is in the future. A saved reference profile, activated requirement or configured task does not make a standard usable. Review the separate evidence checks and the normal reference fitness assessment.

A missing responsible member produces a visible warning and an assignment remedy. Existing optional responsibility remains optional; Metra does not silently assign an owner or hide retained records. Choose an active member of this organisation when assigning responsibility.

Review operating model and schedule suggestions

When setup guidance is available, Operating model suggestion identifies the recommended work type for a new draft. Use Use operating model suggestion only after reviewing it. Proposed draft defaults then explains technical policies, calendar interval and warning period for the selected type. Daily verification and quarterly functional-check recommendations are proposals; Apply proposed defaults updates untouched draft fields and keeps entered values. Review every field before saving.

The suggested certificate route is informational. Choose the route explicitly. An internal calibration still requires a supported certificate route; operating-model choices do not grant an evidence-only exception or an accredited claim. If a selected approved procedure has certificate output disabled, the form explains the mismatch before you save. Choose an appropriate approved revision or arrange a controlled revision; issuance remains subject to backend checks.

Available uncertainty routes for this work explains the server's allowed and unavailable choices. External calibration uses provider-reported numeric or documentary evidence. Accredited internal work requires calculated uncertainty; eligible non-accredited internal work can use calculated or independently approved declared uncertainty. No uncertainty required is limited to eligible non-accredited verification or functional checks whose method does not need it. Record Reason no uncertainty is required rather than inventing numeric uncertainty. Older policy history remains retained; a new work type or claim must satisfy the current rules.