Equipment Qualification

Presented By:
Assistant Professor
Miss.Priyanka Kandhare
Dept:-Pharmaceutical Quality Assurance
AISSMS COLLEGE OF PHARMACY

Introduction
 The extent of qualification activities will vary depending on the specific function of
the equipment being qualified. Equipment may require IQ only, IQ/OQ, or
IQ/OQ/PQ. The number and type of specific inspections and tests will be dependent
on the complexity of the system & it’s impact on product quality.
 Assessment of systems should include an evaluation of system components and
functions to determine impact on product quality. These should take into account
User Requirements, (when available), Critical Process Parameters, (CPPS), and
Critical Quality Attributes, (CQAs) related to system use. The intent of these
evaluations should be to ensure that appropriate inspections and tests are prescribed
for each system element.
 Records of assessments should become part of the validation files. They may be
included in the Validation Plan or Equipment Qualification Protocols.

Equipment used in pharmaceuticals
dosage form manufacturing need to
observe continuous qualification to
monitor its performance.
Need of Qualification
 To manufactured a quality product
 Proof “suitability for intended use”
 Regulatory requirements
 Cost effective

Qualification Startup
To Initiate the qualification of pharmaceutical equipment a frame work before
startup is required:
 Defining User Requirements (URS) Defining Functional Requirements for given
User requirements (FRS)
 Factory Acceptance Test at the site of manufacturer (FAT)
 Site Acceptance Test at the site of user (SAT)
 Installation Qualification (IQ)
 Operational Qualification (OQ)
 Performance Qualification (PQ)
 Maintenance Qualification (MQ)
 Re-Qualification (RQ)

Validation vs. Qualification
Validation:
A documented objective evidence that provides a high degree of assurance that a specific
process will consistently produce a product meeting its predetermined specifications.
Refers to the total life cycle of a product from development through use and maintenance.
Owners are responsible for Validating Their Processes (personnel, equipment, methods,
SOPs) to ensure compliance to cGMP/GLP regulations.
Qualification:
The act of proving and documenting that equipment or ancillary systems are properly
installed, work correctly, and comply with specified requirements. The process used to
demonstrate the ability to fulfill specified requirements. Qualification is part of validation,
but the individual qualification steps alone do not constitute process validation.

User Requirements Specification (URS)
User Requirements Specification (URS), is the most critical of
documents and yet, the most often bungled. Whether the system is
purely mechanical, or a mix of electro-mechanical, or a software
program, the successful compilation and execution of the Installation
Qualification (IQ) (for installation), Operational Qualification (OQ) (for
functionality) and the Performance / Product Qualification (PQ) (for
operability), is dependent on an User Requirements Specification (URS)
containing clear, concise and testable requirements.

Conti...
Once the end user requirements specification is documented, agreed and approved they
form the basic URS Level-1 document. The engineers (or vendor) can then commence
the preliminary design to establish exactly what functions are required for each of the
items specified in the user requirements specification, the end user has listed. Once this
functionality is documented and approved it forms URS Level approved it forms URS
Level--2 document. This is the final level of 2 document. This is the final level of the
URS unless software is used. If software is to be used, the URS Level-2 document, is
passed to the code writers. As the code is written, lines, or groups of lines, of code must
be attributed to the individual functions that necessitate their presence. The completion
of this task results in the completion of the URS Level-3 document

Conti...
Developing the URS to this level is unique in most industries, but is,
standard practice in strictly regulated industries, as it is a major building
block in the creation of quality software. The URS Level-3 document,
contains all the traceability which is deemed mandatory for software
assessed to be critical to software to product quality, in the pharmaceutical
regulated industries.

Structure and content of URS
 The URS can contain a large number of requirements and should therefore be
structured in a way that will permit easy access to information.
 The requirement specification must be formally reviewed and approved by the
pharmaceutical manufacturer.
The following guidelines should be followed during the production of the URS :
1. Each requirement statement to be uniquely referenced,and no longer than 250 words.
2. Requirement statements should not be duplicated nor contradicted.

Conti...
3. The URS should express requirements and not design solutions.
4. Each requirement should be testable.
5. The URS must be understood by both user and supplier
6. The use of diagrams is often useful.
7. The scope for readers to make assumptions should be minimized.
8. Wherever possible, the URS should distinguish between mandatory/regulatory
requirements and desirable features.

The URS for a GMP computer control system application
will typically address the following:(FORMAT)
 Scope of system supply
 Project objectives
 Regulatory requirements
 Process overview
 System boundaries
 Operational considerations
 Manufacturing design data
 Instrument application data
 Data records
 System functions
 System software
 System hardware

 Environmental conditions
 System interfaces
 Access security
 Diagnostics
 System availability
 Safety
 Test and calibration
 Quality procedures
 Software development life cycle
 Documentation requirements
 Training
 Engineering/installation standards
 Ongoing support
 Warranty
 Delivery/commercial requirements

URS
 Newly sanctioned systems will require compliance with regulations for GMP electronic
records and electronic signatures, and definition of the functionality required will need
to be included.
 The structure of the URS be used as the basis for the presentation format of the FDS
and hardware and software design specifications; this helps ensure design decisions
are auditable back to the source requirement.
 Once reviewed and approved internally, the URS is issued to prospective suppliers as
part of the vender document set so that detailed quotations for the system application
can be obtained.

URS provides the following key benefits for the validation
program:
1. Clarifies technical, quality, and documentation requirements to the vendor( s).
2. Enables the pharmaceutical manufacturer to assess the technical, regulatory, and
commercial compliance (or otherwise) of submitted against a formal specification.
3. Ensures the basis of a structured approach to the presentation of information.
4. Provides a basis for testing and test acceptance criteria.
5. Provide a baseline for validation and verification..

User Requirements Specification justification (URS)
 They must be comprehensive. Each and every requirement relating to
product safety, identity, strength, purity, and quality must be identified.
Hence, Quality Assurance (QA) must have a significant role in reviewing
and approving the final set of requirements, and must be an approver of
changes to any requirement that can affect the above product or process
attributes (e.g., cGMP’s).

Conti...
 Given a comprehensive User Requirements Specification that has been approved
by QA and is under project change management, the Design Qualification(DQ)
process then can be reduced to two key objectives:
 Documented verification that the overall design appears to address, by some names,
each and every requirement affecting the product and performance of the
manufacturing process (or, in the case of unknown product or multi-product
manufacturing facility, the required equipment/ system performance capabilities).
 Identification (and documentation) of the critical individual physical components,
attributes, and operational features that directly support meeting each requirement.

Factory Acceptance Test (FAT)
FAT includes:
 Checks for completeness of installation.
 Verification of URS with the actual.
 Proof of functionality, by either a conventional function test or by simulation.
 Verification of documents (availability and quality).
 Overall Review/Inspection.

The Factory Acceptance Test is to be conducted to:
 Ensure that the equipment/instrument/system operates correctly and is of high quality
and integrity.
 Establish confidence that the equipment/instrument/system performs as expected
under the full range of foreseeable conditions.
 Ensure that the initial set of out-of-the box failures have been eliminated prior to
shipment.
 Eliminate the need to modify, adjust, and replace faulty components without
fabrication shop support.

Site Acceptance Test (SAT)
SAT includes:
 Verification of equipment design
 Specifications of received equipment at the site of User by received
 Documents/drawings from Manufacturer / vendor
 Physical verification

Equipment Qualification
 It is a basic requirement of good analytical chemistry that balances and other
analytical instruments must be suitable for the purpose for which they are used
and that they must be appropriately calibrated.
 As a consequence, equipment Qualification is gaining more and more importance
in ensuring the validity of results. Regulatory bodies ensuring the validity of
results.
 Regulatory bodies also seem to be turning their attention increasingly to this
area, and manufacturers of analytical equipment are forced to play a significant
role in the various steps of Equipment Qualification.

Steps of Equipment Qualification
 Step 1: Design Qualification (DQ) defines the functional and operational
specifications of a balance or instrument.
 Step 2 :Installation Qualification (IQ) ensures that a balance or instrument is
received as designed and specified. It documents the installation in the selected
user environment.
 Step 3: Operational Qualification (OQ) demonstrates that a balance or
instrument will function according to its operational specification in the selected
environment.

Steps of Equipment Qualification
 Step 4: Performance Qualification (PQ) demonstrates that a balance or instrument
consistently performs according to a specification appropriate to its routine use.
 Step 5: Maintenance Qualification (MQ) describes and documents any
maintenance required on the equipment.
 Step 6 : Re-Qualification (RQ) ensure that this confidence is retained, the
instrument validation process should be repeated at regular intervals during the
instruments operational life.

Design qualification (DQ)
Design qualification (DQ) is the process of completing and documenting design reviews
to illustrate that all quality aspects have been fully considered at the design stage. The
purpose is to ensure that all the requirements for the final systems have been
clearly defined at the start.
Design Qualification (DQ) defines the functional and operational specifications of the
instrument and details the conscious decisions made in the selection of the supplier. DQ
should made in the selection of the supplier. DQ should ensure that sure that
instruments have all the necessary functions and performance criteria that will enable
them to be successfully implemented for the intended application and to meet user
requirements.

The list below shows the recommended steps that should be
considered for inclusion in a Design Qualification :-
 Description of the analysis problem
 Description of the intended use for the equipment
 Description of the intended environment
 Preliminary selection of the functional and performance
 specifications (technical, environmental, safety) Preliminary selection of the supplier
 Final selection of the supplier and equipment
 Development and documentation of final functional and operational specifications

Installation qualification (IQ)
 Installation qualification (IQ) is the process of checking the installation, to ensure
that the components meet the approved specification and are installed correctly, and
to see how that information is recorded.
 The purpose is to ensure that all aspects (static attributes) of the facility or equipment
are installed correctly and comply with the original design.all of the instrumentation
components are identified and checked against the manufacturer’s component listing.
 The working environment conditions are documented and checked to ensure that
they are suitable for the operation of the instrument.

Installation qualification (IQ)
Installation Qualification establishes that the instrument is received as designed and
specified, that it is properly installed in the selected environment, and that this
environment is suitable for the operation and use of the instrument.
Before installation:
 Obtain manufacturer's recommendations for installation site requirements.
 Check the site for the fulfillment of the manufacturer's recommendations (utilities
such as electricity, water and gases plus environmental conditions such as humidity,
temperature, vibration level and dust).
 Allow sufficient shelf space for the equipment itself, related
 SOPs, operating manuals, logbooks and software.

Operational qualification (OQ)
 Operational qualification (OQ) is the process of testing to ensure that the individual
and combined systems function to meet agreed performance criteria and to check
how the result of testing is recorded.
 The purpose is to ensure that all the dynamic attributes comply with the original
design. Each of the instrument’s function are checked to ensure that they conform to
the manufacturer’s specifications.
 This includes the use of certified, traceable electrical simulators and standards to
verify that the equipment is processing input and input signals correctly.

Performance qualification (PQ)
 Performance qualification (PQ), also called process qualification, is the process of
testing to ensure that the individual and combined systems function to meet agreed
performance criteria on a consistent basis and to check how the result of testing is
recorded. The purpose is to ensure that the criteria specified can be achieved on a
reliable basis over a period of time.
 The performance of the equipment for its routine analytical use is checked to ensure
that this complies with its specification.
 For eg.The temperature sensor readings are compared with a certified reference
thermometer. After calibration, the conductivity sensor readings are compared using
certified, traceable control standards.

 Control Standards of similar values to the intended test samples must be used for PQ.
 Performance Qualification (PQ) is the process of demonstrating that an instrument
consistently performs according to a specification appropriate to its routine use.
 The test frequency is much higher than for OQ. Another difference is that PQ should
always be performed under conditions that are similar to routine sample analysis.

PQ should be performed on a daily (or at least a weekly) basis, or whenever the
instrument is used. The test frequency depends not only on the stability of the
equipment but also on everything in the system that may contribute to the analysis
results.
1. Define the performance criteria and test procedures.
2. Select critical parameters.
3. Define the test intervals.

Maintenance Qualification (MQ)
 The MQ describes and documents any maintenance required on the equipment.
 This includes routine servicing and any repairs necessary.
 Details of any maintenance contracts are also documented in this section, together
with a list of authorized service engineers.
 In addition, the MQ includes the routine cleaning of the equipment and also its
ultimate disposal.

Re-Qualification
 Instrument Validation should not be viewed as a one-off event confidence in
analytical results is required for the whole of the instrument’s working life.
 To ensure that this confidence is retained, the instrument validation process should be
repeated at regular intervals during the instruments operational life.
 The difference between Installation Validation and Re-Qualification is that IQ is
omitted for the Re-Qualification Re-Qualification should be performed at least
annually and should be performed more frequently for applications whose test results
have critical implications.

Re-Qualification
Re-Qualification carried out for one or more of the following reasons:
 To address deficiencies observed in an executed qualification
 Need for additions in qualification test criteria
 To qualify changes done in the equipment or a process involving the equipment
Failure
 CAPA
 Findings/Recommendations from Inspections/Audits/ PQR, etc.
 Inputs from Preventive Maintenance/Calibration Program
 Equipment Up-gradation
 In addition to testing the elements impacted by the changes or qualification
parameters found to be deficient, all critical components of the equipment verified
for functionality during Re-Qualification.

Concept of URS ,DQ, IQ,OQ,PQ,MQ...

REFERENCES
 FJ Caeleton , J Agalloco , validation of pharmaceutical process, Marcel Dekker Inc.
 How to practice GMP by P.P. Sharma ,5th edition, vandana publication Pvt.Ltd.
 ICH topic Q 7 good manufacturing practice for active pharmaceutical Ingredients.
 Manohar A Potdar , Pharmaceutical Quality Assurence, Nirali prakashan, pune

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