Quality Assurance

The Ansys quality assurance process is integral to our corporate commitment to world-class products and customer services. Our formal verification process, administered by our Corporate Quality group, sets the standard for the computer-aided engineering software industry. This process includes:

• Verifying and validating both existing and new program functions
• Researching improvements to quality of the Ansys program
• Helping to define and improve our software development processes
• Conducting internal and external quality audits

Product errors cost you and us time, money and frustration. That's why we create and follow a set of stringent plans to build quality into each product release. Detailed Ansys quality procedures govern every activity related to product development and support. Full documentation for each procedure resides online, available to all Ansys employees. Quality planning includes a quality plan, high-level documentation plan, configuration management plan, high-level test plan, product training plan and software design specification.

The software design specification, a document or collection of documents that prescribes the requirements, design and other characteristics of each proposed software feature, includes:

• A design specification that satisfies requirements and objectives for the product
• A set of tests that constitute acceptance criteria for the design

Each project is developed through iterations; in each iteration the design is reviewed by project team customers or proxy customers. The teams are composed of developers and engineers from the technical support, development, testing and documentation fields.

We conduct regression tests to ensure that new product features and enhancements don't break existing product functions. Acceptance testing on each supported hardware platform and operating system also is required. A defect tracking system logs all errors that are discovered. A technically competent person must approve each step of the correction process before we consider a defect to be "fixed."

The new product then undergoes a final round of verification testing. All reported defects must be resolved before the product ships. Similarly, all documentation for the product goes through several levels of review by technical experts and must be approved before product release. Finally, Corporate Quality auditors ensure that each department or function involved in the product release has complied with Ansys quality procedures.

Ansys makes it easy for you to verify that the Ansys program is running properly on your computer and operating system by offering different levels of service for verifying and validating the program. Such testing can benefit you when your system undergoes changes, such as an upgrade to the operating system or the installation of different math or vector libraries.

You can use our automated testing service to execute verification tests, perform comparisons against certified outputs, and produce a computer-generated summary file quickly and easily, providing confidence that system changes have not adversely affected software results.

Your enterprise benefits even more if it is considering ISO 9001 certification. Implementing Ansys Quality Assurance testing services brings you one step closer to achieving certification, because they provide proof that the Ansys program is functioning properly on your system.

Quality Assurance Services for Structural Mechanics and Fluid Dynamics 

• Quality Assurance Testing Agreement
• Quality Assurance Service Agreement

With the Quality Assurance Testing Agreement, you get the following:

• The Ansys Verification Manual, a collection of analysis problems you can use to test how Ansys features and functions operate on your system
• A controlled copy of our Quality Manual. ("Controlled" means that you receive copies of changes to our quality processes.) The Quality Manual defines the procedures Ansys uses to ensure that our products and processes meet our internal quality goals and ISO 9001 standards
• Testing services on one operating system, including:
  • License for a compare program and automated testing procedure
  • Inputs and certified outputs for Ansys Verification Manual tests cases
  • Inputs and certified outputs for Class3 error correction test cases (A Class3 error is defined as one that allows the program execution to complete and yield results that may be wrong but not easily identifiable as incorrect.)
• Telephone support for these services

The Quality Assurance Service Agreement includes everything in the Testing Agreement package plus the following:

• Formal commitment to the requirements given in the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Rules and Regulations, Title 10, Chapter 1, Code of Federal Regulation, Part 50, Appendix B and applicable parts of NQA-1, Subpart 2.7, Quality Assurance Requirements for Computer Software
• Acceptance of provisions of Title 10, Chapter 1, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 21, titled "Reporting of Defects and Noncompliances" for commercial grade items
• Tracking of customer-reported errors in Ansys (which you can audit)
• Long-term storage of and access to quality records
• Expedited error reporting with certified mailing
• Certificates of Conformance provided with product shipments
• Auditing rights

Auditing rights for Quality Assurance Service Agreement holders entitles you to conduct an audit of our quality system. You also receive uncontrolled copies of our Quality Procedures document by request.

For information on obtaining ANSYS, Inc.'s Quality Assurance services, contact Quality Assurance team at ansys-qa-services@ansys.com.

Errors, though undesirable, are inevitable in software products as large and as complex as Ansys products. Even the most rigorous product tests do not always catch every error before an Ansys product ships. ANSYS, Inc.'s policy is to correct product errors and/or notify customers about the errors and provide workarounds as rapidly as possible.

Error Reporting and Resolution

Anyone can report an error in Ansys products. Once an error is reported or found, the resolution process begins. If a customer reported the error, Ansys will notify the customer when it's resolved.

Class 3 errors, which may cause the program to yield incorrect results that are not obviously faulty, produce immediate action.

We send Class 3 error reports to holders of our Quality Assurance Agreements within two working days after we complete them and by certified mail at the end of each quarter. We also post all Class 3 error reports on the customer area of the Ansys home page within two working days after their completion. In addition to investigating Class 3 error reports, the Corporate Quality Manager issues Quality Assurance Notices when appropriate; these contain information that we deem as important to all Ansys product users. For information on obtaining Ansys Class 3 error reports and Quality Assurance Notices, contact Quality Assurance team at ansys-qa-services@ansys.com.

Special Versions

To minimize the impact of errors on customers between releases of our products, Ansys occasionally issues special versions of the products that include customer-requested error corrections. Special versions also may include system-specific program modifications to address changes in hardware and operating systems. The Corporate Quality department must approve the release of all special versions, assuring acceptance criteria is met before the special version ships to customers.

Always inform an Ansys channel partner or technical support staff member when you discover errors in any Ansys product.

When reporting an error, describe it as specifically as possible. The more you can tell your support contact and the more details you provide, the faster we can diagnose and solve the problem. You also can help your support contact and us by following these tips:

• Document the circumstances that produced the error. For example, how was your Ansys environment configured when the error occurred?
• What type of analysis were you doing? What analysis options were active? What did you do (or what happened) immediately before the error occurred?
• Try to reproduce the error and save output data if possible. Forward the data to your support contact along with your input file and error report.
• Tell your support contact about any temporary workarounds you found for the error.
• Tell your support contact if the analysis that produced the error differed in any way from similar analyses that ran without problems.

At Ansys, we do our best to deliver first-class products and services. If a problem occurs, we are committed to replying promptly to your feedback and ideas on how we can do things better. To ensure that all complaints receive quality assistance and problem resolution, our quality system includes a detailed procedure for handling them.

We define a complaint as a high-level, serious problem, other than a product defect, that affects quality. A typical complaint involves items such as:

• Non-technical issues or problems related to Ansys products
• Issues or problems with or concerning an Ansys channel partner or an Ansys technical support staff member
• Handling of an order or a product shipment
• Issues pertaining to our company or its policies and procedures

We treat problems with Ansys software or documentation as errors, not complaints. Likewise, product enhancement requests are not complaints. Use the procedure described in Reporting Errors to notify us of such issues. If you have minor problems that aren't errors or enhancement requests, a simple phone call often can resolve them before they escalate into complaints.

When you file a complaint via phone call, letter, email or fax, include your:

• Name
• Address
• Phone number and email
• Details of the complaint

Submit your complaint to Technical Support by telephone (800.711.7199), fax (724.514.5096) or electronic mail (techsupp@ansys.com). You may also mail your complaint to this address:

Attn: Technical Support Group
ANSYS, Inc.
Southpointe
2600 Ansys Drive
Canonsburg, PA 15317
U.S.A.

The information will be logged into our computerized customer complaint database. We will tell you who at Ansys has been assigned to resolve your problem. Our Support Department then checks with you and the person handling your problem to track the complaint's status until it is resolved. Once we close the complaint entry, you'll receive a follow-up phone call or letter to confirm that you are satisfied with the resolution.

We welcome your suggestions for enhancing our products and services and increasing their quality. You can help us to determine which features and functions can improve our products most, by submitting enhancement requests to an Ansys channel partner or an Ansys technical support representative. When we start planning a new product release, our product creation managers review these requests along with other proposed requirements. The items you request help us to focus on delivering functionality that significantly benefits most Ansys users and answers your most pressing needs.

You can contact Ansys technical support at these addresses:

Telephone: 724.746.3304
Email: techsupp@ansys.com
Fax: 724.514.5096

We are always alert to opportunities for making our products and operations serve you better. Your notifying us of product errors along with out customer complaint system help us to quickly avert or resolve problems that disrupt your work with Ansys technologies.

ISO 9001 Certificate – ANSYS Inc. (PDF)