Technical records: what to keep and for how long (clause 7.5)
Records must let the measurement be repeated under conditions as close as possible to the original, and every amendment must be traceable to who changed what, when.
Clause 7.5 requires technical records for each laboratory activity to contain the results, report and sufficient information to facilitate, if possible, identification of factors affecting the result and its uncertainty, and to enable repetition under conditions as close as possible to the original.
Design principle
Keep inputs and outputs together with their provenance: which reference, which values, which software version, which person, which time. Amendments must be tracked — the original data and the amended data both retained, with the identity of the person making the change and the date.
What this means for software
- Calculation inputs and outputs stored, not just the final number.
- Version of the calculation code recorded with each result.
- Review and approval actions recorded with user, timestamp and outcome.
- Audit trails that cannot be silently edited.
Frequently asked questions
- How long must calibration records be kept?
- The standard sets no fixed period; accreditation bodies and regulated customers typically expect several years and at least one full calibration cycle beyond the instrument's life.
References
- [1]ISO/IEC 17025:2017 — General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories
General technical guidance written against the cited sources. It is not regulatory or legal advice and does not replace the applicable standard, guideline or a qualified reviewer's judgement.
Have a question on this topic?
Ask ValiTrac AI and see the evidence and calculation behind the answer.
Ask ValiTrac AIFree calculator: Guard band / decision rule
Turn a tolerance and an expanded uncertainty into acceptance limits under ILAC-G8 rules, and see the false-accept and false-reject risks.
Open the calculatorCalibration on ValiTrac
Support calibration workflows, uncertainty budgets and certificate generation.
See the calibration workflowRelated articles
Personnel competence records under ISO/IEC 17025
Competence must be defined, achieved, authorised and monitored — with records for each step, for every activity that affects results.
Nonconforming work under ISO/IEC 17025 (clause 7.10)
When work does not conform — an out-of-tolerance reference, a failed data-quality check, a wrong method — the response must be controlled, evaluated for impact, and recorded.