TRADAS users have the ability to set up automated QA/QC validation checks within the system. Some checks are run by default and other checks are customized to the site specific location. The text below highlights some of the validation checking features found within the TRADAS product. A TRADAS user has the ability to set up a default, an individual site, or a site group validation check so that automated validation parameters are executed when loading data into the data warehouse. Upon loading data into the warehouse, auotmated QA/QC check are executed. All data is loaded in the data warehouse through a "workorder" as described in the loading data page. Each workorder is displayed in the workorder status window. Before loading any data, the site must be set up and configured with specific validation parameter settings if needed.

A TRADAS user has the ability to set up a default, an individual site or a site group validation check so that automated validation parameters are executed when loading data into the warehouse. As seen in the Validity Parameters screen on the right, validation checks are configured based on the type of site such as classification, volume-only, or weigh-in-motion sites. The validation parameter can be configured to check all data all the time or check data that is loaded for a specific day of the week or specific month of the year. The server performs QC checks at three levels: raw data file format checks, data channel level checks, and traffic count level checks. Raw data file format checks will reject any raw data files that are not in the correct format, or that contain invalid characters.

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As seen in the "NumConsecutiveZero" validity parameters set-up screen, the channel level checks for traffic volume will, at a minimum, check for consecutive hours of zeros, number of zeros between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., and consecutive repeated values. Count level checks for traffic volumes compare directional splits, check lane distribution, and compare historical traffic volumes.

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Vehicle classification percentage checks include high and low percentage thresholds for each class and percent unclassified vehicles. Additional vehicle classification checks include maximum hourly rise of class 8s, maximum percentage of class 3s to 2s, maximum percentage of class 8 plus class 9 to class 2s, and the number of class 14s.

TRADAS users have the ability to set up automated validation quality assurance and quality checking (QA/QC) checks within the TRADAS system. Validation checks can be configured to apply to all site statistics or customized to the site specific location. Chaparral Systems Corporation staff have spent a significant amount of time incorporating data validation checks into the TRADAS system. These validation checks are well documented in Chaparral's more than 40 page validation checking documentation that describes each individual QA/QC check within the TRADAS product. Upon loading data into the TRADAS data warehouse, data is automatically checked and each data that fails a check is flagged. A TRADAS user can review data loading status through the work order window display where data that does not pass a validation check is flagged with an alert. There are a few types of flags provided to the TRADAS user in the work order window including the following:

The system performs WIM vehicle record checks per federal highway administration (FHWA) limits. It will also check the number of zero WIM hours.

The system allows the results of the automatic QA/QC checks to be overridden by the operator on a file-by-file basis if it is determined that the data represent actual traffic conditions. Results of QA/QC checks for a particular data type can be propagated to other data types automatically on a check-by-check basis. For example, if the volume data fails the “8 hours of consecutive 0s” check, it might be appropriate to fail the associated class data as well. However, the user may decide that if the class data fails the “exceeds % unclassified” check, the volume data remains intact. If the data operator is aware of a specific situation that for some reason is not covered by the quality checks, they can retroactively remove the data using our purge mechanism built into the system.

All standard TRADAS core product QA/QC validation checks are very well documented. Some clients have requested additional customized QA/QC checks that are agency specific. For a complete listing and to view QA/QC validation checking documentation, please contact Chaparral Systems Corporation at info@chapsys.com or call 1-877-230-2974 ext. 1103.