Configuring Test Groups
Configuring test groups provides a structured way to organise SIS functions and devices according to the testing methods used at a site or unit. Within Safety Lifecycle Manager (SLM), test groups bring the equipment being tested, test intervals, recorded results and testing schedules together within the Operate & Maintain workflow.
The Safety Requirements Specification establishes testing requirements for functions and their associated inputs, outputs and logic solvers. Depending on the site’s testing approach, testing may involve individual functions, groups of functions, equipment within a unit or broader SIS testing activities.
This guide explains how test groups are structured in SLM, the prerequisites for adding equipment, how groups are created and modified, how test events are recorded, and how completed testing contributes to reliability information and operational reports.
What Does Configuring Test Groups Involve?
A test group in SLM organises the functions and devices that will be included within a defined testing activity. Test groups are created beneath unit objects in the Operate & Maintain module, allowing applicable functions and devices within that unit to be selected.
Functions can be added to a test group, while devices must be in a commissioned state before they can be selected. Device commissioning status can be reviewed through the Performance Data information maintained against the device.
This requirement helps ensure that test-group device selections correspond with equipment that has entered service. The Service Status Change Event guide explains the related SLM workflow for commissioning functions and devices and establishing their operational status.
Once established, a test group provides the structure from which test events can be recorded and testing schedules can be monitored.
How Test Groups Organise SIS Testing
Different facilities may organise testing in different ways. The training identifies examples including testing inputs and outputs within a unit, function-only testing, function-group testing and broader SIS testing.
SLM test groups allow the organisation of functions and equipment to reflect the testing method being used rather than requiring every test to follow the same equipment grouping.
Test events are created beneath the applicable test group. Results associated with the function can also be viewed from the function, while device test results are represented against the relevant device event history.
The test event itself brings the information together through dedicated functional and device test-result information. This allows users to review what was tested and the corresponding results from the same testing activity.
After a test event has been recorded, its data can be reviewed before the event is finalized or approved. This review stage is important because completed test information can subsequently affect other SLM calculations and operational records.
Configuring Test Groups in SLM
Configuring test groups begins from the applicable unit in the Operate & Maintain module. The demonstrated workflow uses Edit Tools and Add Test Group to start a three-step configuration process.
The first step establishes the basic test-group information. This can include the test group ID, description, group type, whether testing is online or offline, the module containing the functions, whether the group is active and the applicable test interval.
The second step selects the functions included in the group. The third selects the applicable devices, which can include inputs, outputs, logic solvers and auxiliary functions.
Once the selections are saved, the resulting test-group record displays the configured test information together with the functions and devices included in the group.
This creates a reusable testing structure rather than requiring users to rebuild the equipment selection each time a test is performed.
Recording a Test Event from a Test Group
Once a group has been configured, test results can be recorded against it. Users can initiate a Test Event from the applicable test group or unit and work through the step-by-step event workflow.
The initial stage captures general information such as the test result, date, description and notes. The selected as-found status then affects the subsequent workflow.
If the as-found result is Pass, SLM skips the stages used to record failure information. If another applicable result is selected, such as a pass with fail-safe failures or a failure with dangerous failures, the additional failure-recording stages become available.
Users then select the functions and devices that were actually included in the test. A test event does not require every function within the test group to have been tested, allowing the recorded event to reflect the work actually performed.
The event can therefore represent both the predefined scope of the test group and the specific functions and equipment included on a particular testing occasion.
Recording Function and Device Test Failures
Where the test identifies a problem, the workflow allows the affected functions and devices to be identified separately.
For function failures, users can record information including as-found and as-left status and dates, response time where applicable, failure codes and the cause of the failure. According to the demonstrated SLM workflow, a function with an as-found status of Fail with Dangerous Failures can contribute to its failed-on-test rate.
Device failures can similarly be selected and documented. Devices not identified as failed are automatically assigned a pass result within the demonstrated workflow.
For failed devices, information can include as-found and as-left status, failure codes, failure types, descriptions and mitigating actions. Maintenance information can also document repair activity associated with the change between the as-found and as-left condition.
The final testing information can include observed device response time for comparison with the specified or designed response time.
These detailed event records help preserve the evidence behind the overall test result rather than recording only whether the test passed or failed.
Finalising and Approving Test Events
After the testing information has been entered, the test event can be saved and reviewed for accuracy. It can then proceed through the applicable finalization or approval process.
Within the workflow demonstrated in SLM, finalizing and approving the test event have the same effect on the calculations that depend on completed event information.
Once completed, applicable test information can contribute to device failure rates, prior-use hours and Tier 3 metric calculations for the functions involved.
This creates an important relationship between testing records and broader operational performance information. The Tier 3 Metrics guide explains how approved operational events contribute to performance indicators such as failed-on-test rate and other IPL performance measures.
Where device information is associated with a Prior Use Certificate, testing can also contribute to accumulated operating experience. The How to Gather Prior Use Failure Rate Data guide explains this relationship in more detail.
Modifying Existing Test Groups
Configuring test groups is not necessarily a one-time activity. Testing arrangements can change over the operating life of a facility, so existing groups do not have to remain fixed after their initial creation.
SLM allows users to return to an existing test group and modify the functions and devices included within it. The Select Functions and Devices workflow returns the user to the relevant selection stages, where functions or devices can be added, changed or removed.
Saving those changes updates the test group to reflect the revised equipment selection.
This allows the group configuration to continue representing the testing scope being used by the facility while retaining the test events already recorded through the applicable SLM structures.
Test Scheduling and Testing Reports
Configuring test groups with the appropriate test interval also supports ongoing scheduling. Completed test events update the last test date and the next test due date calculated from that interval.
SLM can also show the number of days until the next test is due or the number of days by which testing is overdue, together with the applicable test status.
The Test Groups report can be viewed at site or unit level and provides information for the groups within that scope, including status, last-test information, test interval and the next due date. Users can also access the corresponding test results and sort testing information by due date.
The Test Status view separates testing information into categories such as overdue tests, tests due within the upcoming year, deferred tests, recently completed tests, tests pending approval and tests that have not yet been submitted for approval or finalization.
A further overview shows test groups according to whether they are overdue or on schedule, providing a higher-level view from which users can drill into individual test-group details.
The broader operational event process is covered in the Logging Events guide, which explains how test events sit alongside demands, bypasses, faults and other SIS operational records.
Why Structured SIS Testing Records Matter
Proof testing and other periodic testing activities generate important evidence about the condition and performance of safety functions and their associated equipment. Organising that information consistently helps teams understand what was tested, when testing occurred, what the result was and what failures or maintenance activities were identified.
The wider functional safety lifecycle also places importance on testing and maintaining safety instrumented systems. The ISA-84 Series of Standards provides authoritative guidance for safety instrumented systems throughout the lifecycle, including operation, maintenance and testing activities.
The particular test-group structures, event steps and reporting workflows described on this page are SLM capabilities rather than prescribed test-group structures from the standard. Organisations remain responsible for defining suitable testing procedures, intervals, acceptance criteria and functional safety practices for their applications.
A structured digital record can then support those practices by maintaining the relationship between the defined testing scope and the evidence generated when testing is performed.
Managing Test Groups with Safety Lifecycle Manager
Configuring test groups in SLM connects planned testing activities with the operational records generated when those tests are performed.
Test groups define which functions and commissioned devices are available within the testing scope and establish information such as test intervals. Test events then capture what was actually tested, the results obtained and any function or device failures identified.
Once the event has been reviewed and completed through the applicable finalization or approval process, its information can contribute to test scheduling, device reliability information, prior-use data and Tier 3 performance calculations.
The MSS Safety Systems solution supports the broader management of safety-system lifecycle information. Within the Operate & Maintain workflow described here, test groups provide the organisational structure connecting testing scope, individual test events and ongoing testing status.
This provides engineering and functional safety teams with a traceable path from the equipment intended for testing through to the results, failures, approvals and future testing schedule.
