Automated Quality Assurance Checks | Cordel Connect User Guide

Automated QA checks are designed to be used to assist with decision making, rather than preventing data from entering the system.

The Clearance Connect module includes multiple stages of QA checks, that are configurable depending on customer requirements. This process flags data for review using a 'traffic light' 🚦 system:

cross mark Fail: Suggests the user to reject the data

warning Warning: Suggests that the data may not be fit for purpose, or requires manual validation

check mark Pass: Suggests that the data follows technical authority guidelines

Multiple stages of QA enable users to be alerted to glaring data inconsistencies in 'near real-time' upon upload; and again when a more in depth analysis is conducted periodically.

QA checks are configurable, and may vary depending on client requirements. Below is a list of standard QA checks the system typically performs.

Stage 1 Structure QA Checks

#	Level	Field	Check Type	Pass Criteria	Warning Criteria	Fail Criteria
1	Slice	Cant Horizontal Curve Radius	Comparison	Cant and Radius in same direction		Cant and Radius not in same direction
2	Slice	Cant Horizontal Curve Radius	Run-on-run comparison	Cant and Radius in same direction		Cant and Radius not in same direction
3	Slice	Slice points	Absolute value	No points inside the reference profile	Points exist inside the reference profile

Stage 2 Structure QA Checks

Currently, first stage checks must 'Pass' before the second stage will begin.

These checks fall into 'near real-time' analysis category, and will be batched together and submitted on an hourly basis in the system. The stage 2 analysis is much more in-depth than the stage 1 checks.

#	Level	Field	Unit	Check Type	Pass Criteria	Warning Criteria	Fail Criteria
1	Slice	Line Speed	mph	Absolute value	Between 5 to 125mph		Outside 5 to 125mph
2	Slice	Horizontal Curve Radius	m	Absolute value	Between +/-125m and +/-100,000m or 0m (straight)	Between +/-100m and <125m or >100,000m	<+/-100m
3	Slice	Vertical Curve Radius	m	Absolute value	Between -900m and -100km (concave), or +600m to +100km (convex) or 0m (flat)	>+/-100km	Between -900 and 600 (unless 0m)
4	Slice	Cant	mm	Absolute value	Between +/-160mm	Between +/-160 and +/-180mm	Outside of +/-180mm
5	Slice	Cant Deficiency/Excess	mm	Absolute value	-25mm up to +170mm		<-25mm or >170mm
6	Slice	Adverse Cant	mm	Absolute value	Up to 15mm (away from curvehand)	-15mm to -25mm	<-25mm
7	Slice	Fixity		Absolute value	Has a value of Low/Medium or High ie. 0, 1 or 2 (in source SC0)		Any value not 0, 1 or 2
8	Slice	Track Gauge	mm	Absolute value	Between 1426 and 1465mm		Outside 1426 to 1465mm
9	Slice	Number of Coordinates		Absolute value		Over 1,000 coordinates
10	Slice	Unwanted Platform Edge Attributes		Absolute value	0 or 1 attribute 013 within slice		2 or more attributes 013s on the same slice
11	Slice	Platform Height	mm	Absolute value	Less than 1200mm	Over 1000mm	>1200mm
12	Slice	Platform Offset	mm	Absolute value	Between 630mm and 921mm		Offset outside 630 and 921mm
13	Slice	Parent TSID		Absolute value	Integer TSID present		Missing or invalid TSID
14	Coordinate	X/Y Coordinate Positions	mm	Absolute value	No coordinates beyond +/-6m in XAxis or YAxis from track centre line	Any coordinates beyond +/-12m in Xaxis or Yaxis from track centre line
15	Coordinate	Valid Coordinate Attributes		Absolute value	Between 000 and 021		Missing or invalid attribute(s)
16	Survey	Survey Name		Absolute value	Survey Name for all slices in structure survey should be present and identical, and between 0 ad 150 characters in length	Survey Name length >150 Characters	Name is missing against any slice, too short/long or doesn't match all other slices
17	Survey	ELR		Absolute value	ELR is present, 3 or 4 characters long (3 letters and 1 optional number), identical for every slice in structure survey		Missing or invalid ELR, or not identical for all slices
18	Survey	Line Code		Absolute value	Present, number between 1000 and 9999		Missing or outside of 1000-9999 range
19	Survey	Survey Date	dd/mm/yyyy	Absolute value	Present, date should be no older than 2 years before check date, and no later than today		Older than 2yr or in the future
20	Survey	Change in Cant	mm per mm	Changes within a survey	Change in cant <= 0.0045mm cant per mm of distance		Change in cant greater than 0.0045mm per mm distance
21	Survey	Change in Horizontal Curve Radius	mm per mm	Changes within a survey	Change in versine <=0.02mm per mm of distance		Change in versine >0.02mm per mm distance
22	Survey	Slice Distance Spacing	m	Changes within a survey	No duplicate distances on the same survey, no gaps <0.5m or >12m		Duplicate distance or spacing falls outside 0.5 to 12m range

Track Intervals QA Checks

Track Intervals surveys are subject to their own set of automated QA checks, run at import (QA1 stage). These are separate from the Structure/Platform checks above, though some share a name with Structure-level checks (for example, Cant, Gauge, Line Speed) but use different thresholds specific to Track Intervals data.

#	Level	Field	Check Type	Pass Criteria	Warning Criteria	Fail Criteria
1	Slice	Cant	Absolute value	Between -200mm and 200mm		Outside -200mm to 200mm
2	Slice	Delta Cant (Track 1 vs Track 2)	Comparison		Delta between Track 1 and Track 2 cant exceeds 50mm
3	Slice	Track Gauge	Absolute value	Between 1425mm and 1465mm		Outside 1425mm to 1465mm
4	Slice	Horizontal Curve Radius	Absolute value	120m or greater		Tighter than 120m
5	Slice	ELR / Line Code	Absolute value	At least 2 tracks recorded; TrackCode2 present and different from TrackCode; TrackCode2 within the maximum allowed length		Fewer than 2 tracks; TrackCode2 missing, identical to TrackCode, or too long
6	Slice	Line Speed	Absolute value	Between 7.9km/h and 201.4km/h		Outside 7.9km/h to 201.4km/h (a configured sentinel value means "speed not found" and is skipped)
7	Slice	Survey Date	Absolute value	Present, no older than 5 years before check date, and no later than today	Older than 5 years, or set in the future
8	Slice	Track Spacing	Absolute value	Centreline offset (or running-edge offset, where configured) between 3.3m and 8m		Offset narrower than 3.3m or wider than 8m
9	Survey	Rate of Change (Cant, Versine, Track Offset X)	Changes within a survey	Cant change ≤0.0045mm per mm distance; Versine change ≤0.02mm per mm distance; Track Offset X change ≤1mm per mm distance		Any of the above thresholds exceeded
10	Survey	Consecutive Survey Intervals (Cant, Radius, Track Centreline)	Comparison to nearest adjacent survey		Max, min, average, or slice-to-slice delta vs. the nearest adjacent survey on the same track (matched by track name/code within a ~20m buffer) exceeds the configured threshold for that metric
11	Survey	Historic Cant Variance	Comparison to previously published surveys		Incoming cant values deviate from previously published surveys for the same Track Segment by more than the configured threshold (median absolute deviation)
12	Survey	Asset Coverage	Absolute value	Survey covers at least the configured target percentage of the Track Segment	Coverage below the configured target percentage

Thresholds shown reflect system defaults, and can be configured differently per client. See Track Segments: Overview for more on Track Intervals and Track Segments.