Frequently Asked Questions

    General

  • CE marking stands for Conformité Européenne, and implies: complient to European regulation.

    For reagents and instruments in medical laboratories this refers to the IVD regulation. Regulations, which is not applicable to EQAS samples, which like patient samples do not need CE marking, since the application for such marking would require more time than the shelff life of these samples

  • We receive such requests more often, but we do not have the capacity to complete all of these questionnaires from our participants. You may be able to find the answers on our website and in the SKML General Terms and Conditions, which can be found on the website as well.

    We work according to ISO/IEC 17043:2010 and have obtained accreditation for a number of schemes since March 17, 2022 (under registration number R023 at the Dutch Accreditation Council). It is indicated when a scheme belongs to the scope of accreditation of the SKML according to ISO/IEC 17043:2010,

  • Ordering of new samples (after reporting), can only be done for payment and only per round set or annual set. An individual sample can be delivered free of charge, only if an incidental cause is required for proper participation.

  • You can register here

  • Product certificates can be requested at office@skml.nl

  • You can contact us here or send us an e-mail: office@skml.nl

  • No! The SKML is a non-profit foundation. Any financial surplus is used for the benefit of research, improvement in the quality of schemes, decreasing participants' subscription fees and/or will be used for reserve funds.

    The SKML is registered with the Chamber of Commerce in the business registry under number 41055610.

  • The SKML has a quality system based on ISO/IEC 17043:2010 and obtained accreditation for a number of schemes since March 17, 2022 (under registration number R023 at the Dutch Accreditation Council). It is indicated when a scheme belongs to the scope of accreditation of the SKML according to ISO/IEC 17043:2010.

  • You can find our general conditions at the bottom of our home page, or click here

    • Application and Finance

  • - Yes, suppliers are allowed to participate as any other participant and will receive samples and reports
    - If a participant does not intend to send in results, and only participates in order to receive reports, the participant can indicate that no samples are needed. This is better for the environmental sustainability, but does not result in discount

  • Yes, that is possible, but charges apply. We advise you to provide all information that you request on your invoice at forehand.
    If we have to correct an invoice with information that you have neglected to communicate at the stage of purchase or annual confirmation, we will charge € 50 per invoice.

  • - please contact: office@skml.nl
    - Provide for every contact role name and other contact specifications (title, initials, name, gender, e-mail address, phone number)
    - New contacts will receive a new login name and password

  • The SKML sends out invoices annually, approximately in the third week of April. When you start your participation after the start of the year, you will be charged for a complete year. This also applies to other products and services.
    The deadline for payment is 30 days.

  • Pricing is mentioned in the schemes

    • QBase

  • First of all: add a new cluster (button with the green + sign) (available 14 days before start-date)
    Next: select the QBase settings screen for a particular measurand by clicking the pocket knife icon and fill out the requested information on instrument, method and unit. Mandatory fields are indicated. As soon as all mandatory fields are filled out and saved (blue arrow), a green checkmark will be displayed next to the measurand.
    Only these measurands appear on the result entry screen.

  • See the QBase page for more information

  • For every scheme you can register 6 different contact persons (names + email addresses), 3 of which have Qbase access.
    We recommend to register several people. This is to ensure that important information is reached in case of absence of contacts.

    Contacts QBase

  • - The ultimate response time has passed
    - You did not create a cluster yet. For every measurand you need to define at least one cluster. You can create a cluster in QBase by choosing the pocket knife - hammer - add instrument + method + unit
    - QBase has been blocked due to late payment
    - The relevant round has not yet been released by the coordinator

  • Probably, you lack authorization because you are not registered as a contact for a scheme. You can find out who in your organisation is a contact in QBase: File - Participation Overview.
    Only the roles report holder, sample receiver and SKML contact have QBase access for the particular scheme

  • - Click on "details"on the error message. There you will find detailed information what is the cause of not beying able to log in.
    - You are using an expired version of QBase
    - You are using an invalid login name and/or password. Contact SKML at office@skml.nl or by phone to find out the correct login

  • Is a license required for the use of QBase?
    Licensed use of QBase is a part of participation in a SKML scheme. QBase remains accessible until one year after discontinuation of your participation.

  • No, as soon as the closing date has passed, the process of report creation starts automatically.

  • Validation is not essential. After validation results cannot be altered. The option is created to secure the results from unintended changes. Only the 'report holder' is allowed to validate results.

  • - Select the round of a scheme for which you are looking for documents
    - Right click and choose "archive"
    - Select the document of interest for download
    - SKML only archives two years

    • Reports

  • The SKML has a procedure for complaints and appeals. If you believe that your performance has been assessed incorrectly, you can appeal. You must submit an appeal or complaint by emailing it to office@skml.nl, stating the appeal or complaint respectively.

  • The difference plot illustrates that your intervention indeed was succesful. The fact that the point is marked as an outlier is caused by the double outlier approach.
    Not only points with large deviation from the true values, but also points with large deviation from the own long term regression are marked as outlier.
    When more new points after the bias correction become availabele, the new points will no longer be marked as outlier.

  • The residuals of your individual samples around the regression line define you within lab imprecision which is depicted as yellow bars on every sample point. You earn one point when the inside (2 sd) of that bar is within the tolerance area and two points when also the outside (4.5 sd) is within the limits..

  • - QBase archives historical reports for 2 years
    - Choose program options from menu item "file"
    - Choose "program settings"
    - Go to tab "Horizon" and set time horizon to 2 years
    - Switch back to standard horizon for optimal performance

  • With our QBase program you can enter your measurement results and save them in our database. You will receive the standard report as it is issued after each round.
    If your lab was not able to enter any results, then you can automatically receive such a report by creating a cluster before the closing date of the relevant round and activating the analytes that you want to see on the report.

  • - Statistics on other methods and instruments is available through QBase. Right click a round of the scheme
    - Choose "statistics (extended)"
    - A screen "statistics (extended)" becomes available

    Some options are only available after the checkmark "all measurands" has been unchecked and a measurand has been chosen.

  • Results using the less than '<' or greater than '>' symbol can be entered into QBase.These results are shown in the report.However, these results are not included in the statistics and these results are therefore not assessed.

  • You did not define a cluster

  • The mean of the reference value of several samples can differ when outliers occur. For those samples that remarked as outlier, also the reference value is left out of calculation in order to make the reference value comparable with the own mean.

  • You did not define a cluster

    • Scheme logisitics

  • All important dates can be found in Qbase (Menu- File- Agenda)

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