A critical issue in industrial coordinate metrology is the measurement of a work piece to assure compliance with its dimensional requirements. When using a computerized Coordinate Measurement System (CMS), the usual practice is to correlate computer calculated outputs with the dimensional requirements of the work piece. This correlation is performed by various computer routines that process dimensional coordinate data sets consisting of measurement samples of the object being evaluated. The purpose of this document is to provide guidelines for evaluating the quality of solutions generated by CMS software and to define minimal documentation requirements for software providers. This Standard is concerned with testing the behavior of algorithm implementation, not the testing of algorithms themselves. It is not the intent of this document to endorse or rate any computational method or system. Software performance evaluation is useful because it: 

(a) Allows objective validation of software; 

(b) Reduces the possibility of error in software application; and 

(c) Defines a method of comparing CMS software. This document covers the following areas: input data, feature construction, software documentation, performance characterization, and test methodologies.