Patent Number: 
Section: claims

1. A computer-implemented method of compliance testing, said method comprising:inputting data from at least one analytical instrument or controlling software of an analytical instrument to a system;converting said inputted data of said at least one analytical instrument or said controlling software to a technology-neutral format;performing one or more calculations on said inputted data, using a computer-implemented analytical instrument compliance system, to produce one or more outputs;selecting from said one or more outputs to populate a final report; wherein said one or more outputs are standardized and are directly comparable to outputs resultant from said method carried out on another set of one or more other analytical instruments or controlling softwares for analytical instruments, irrespective of manufacturer or model of said other analytical instruments;comparing at least one of said outputs to first and second test limits indicative of said instrument's performance; andreporting compliance status of said at least one output based on said comparing to said first test limit and to said second test limit. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein said data is converted to said technology neutral format prior to said inputting. 3. The method of claim 1, wherein said data is converted to said technology neutral format after said inputting. 4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of said first and second test limits is user-settable. 5. The method of claim 1, wherein one of said first and second test limits is automatically preset. 6. The method of claim 1, wherein said performing one or more calculations comprises data reduction, said data reduction being carried out by a data reduction engine, wherein the same data reduction engine may be used for data received from multiple analytical instruments. 7. The method of claim 6, further comprising inputting results of said data reduction to a calculation engine and performing at least one further calculation based upon said inputted results. 8. The method of claim 1, wherein said calculations are performed to answer a series of questions relating to one or more performance tests designed to determine compliance of said analytical instrument or software under consideration with a set of predefined criteria. 9. A computer-implemented method of compliance testing, said method comprising:inputting data from at least one analytical instrument or controlling software of an analytical instrument to a system;performing one or more calculations on the inputted data, using a computer-implemented analytical instrument compliance system, to produce one or more outputs;selecting from said one or more outputs to populate a final report; wherein the one or more outputs are standardized and are directly comparable to outputs resultant from said method carried out on another set of one or more other analytical instruments or controlling software for analytical instruments, irrespective of manufacturer or model of the other analytical instruments;comparing at least one of said outputs to first and second test limits; andreporting compliance status of said at least one output based on said comparing to said first test limit and to said second test limit;wherein said performing one or more calculations are performed according to instructions instantiated as forms. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein said forms contain data generated from at least one of interactive manual input, information detected by a system performing said method, a computerized data system of an instrument from which data is being converted, and calculated, reduced data. 11. The method of claim 9, wherein said forms include launch points for executables that perform functions performed by said method. 12. The method of claim 9, further comprising storing said outputs of performed calculations on the forms. 13. The method of claim 9, further comprising storing said forms in a database as a repository of processed data. 14. The method of claim 13, further comprising identifying an audit trail based upon forms and data stored in the database. 15. A computer-implemented method of compliance testing, said method comprising:inputting data from at least one analytical instrument or controlling software of an analytical instrument to a system;performing one or more calculations on said inputted data, using a computer-implemented analytical instrument compliance system, to produce one or more outputs;selecting from said one or more outputs to populate a final report; wherein said one or more outputs are standardized and are directly comparable to outputs resultant from said method carried out on another set of one or more other analytical instruments or controlling softwares for analytical instruments, irrespective of manufacturer or model of said other analytical instruments;comparing at least one of said outputs to first and second test limits indicative of said instrument's performance, wherein said comparing is performed according to instructions instantiated as forms; andreporting compliance status of said at least one output relative to based on said comparing to said first test limit and to said second test limit. 16. The method of claim 15, wherein at least one of said forms contains said first and second test limits. 17. The method of claim 16, wherein at least one of said first and second test limits is user-specifiable. 18. A computer-implemented method of compliance testing, said method comprising:inputting data from at least one analytical instrument;converting said inputted data to a technology-neutral format if said inputted data is not already in said technology-neutral format;performing one or more calculations on said inputted data in said technology-neutral format, using a computer-implemented analytical instrument compliance system, to produce one or more outputs;comparing at least one of said outputs to first and second test limits indicative of said instrument's performance; andreporting compliance status of said at least one output based on said comparing to said first test limit and to said second test limit. 19. A method of compliance testing at least one of analytical instrumentation and analytical instrumentation software, said method comprising:displaying a test protocol form configured for said compliance testing of said at least one of analytical instrumentation and analytical software on a user interface and prompting a user to input information regarding a test for qualifying a result of the test;prompting at least one analytical instrument or analytical instrument software associated with an analytical instrument to initiate the test protocol, either in response to an input by the user into the test protocol displayed on the user interface, or in response to results from another analytical instrument in response to a test protocol run on the another analytical instrument;automatically calculating results of the test protocol run on the at least one analytical instrument; andoutputting status of the results as determined by comparing said results to at least one set of dual test limits. 20. The method of claim 19, further comprising inputting a first test limit value, by a user, of at least one of said at least one set of dual test limits. 21. The method of claim 20, wherein a second test limit value of said at least one set of dual test limits in which said first test limit was user inputted, is automatically preset. 22. The method of claim 21, wherein said first test limit is more stringent than said second test limit. 23. The method of claim 19, further comprising selecting from said one or more outputs to populate a final report; wherein said one or more outputs are standardized and are directly comparable to outputs resultant from said method carried out on another set of one or more other instruments and/or software, irrespective of manufacturer or model of the other analytical instruments. 24. A system for standardizing characterizations of at least one of analytical hardware and controlling software during compliance testing, said system comprising:a data reduction engine configured to reduce data outputted by an analytical instrument;a calculation engine configured to perform at least one calculation on at least one of said data outputted by an analytical instrument and the reduced data to produce one or more outputs required for a set of predefined criteria; andinteractive forms comprising computer executable format executable by said system to provide instructions executable by said data reduction engine and said calculation engine, said forms providing procedural information including calculation instructions;wherein said interactive forms provide instructions for calculating outputs to answer one or more questions relating to one or more performance tests designed to determine compliance of the at least one of analytical instrument and controlling software. 25. The system of claim 24, wherein said data reduction engine reduces said data to a technology-independent, reduced metadata set. 26. The system of claim 24, wherein at least one of said interactive forms includes dual test limits. 27. The system of claim 24, further comprising algorithms for converting data from a native format as outputted by an analytical instrument to a technology-neutral format. 28. The system of claim 24, further comprising an automatic detection engine configured to determine at least one of instrument and controlling software specific information to automatically characterize said at least one of said instrument and said controlling software. 29. The system of claim 24, wherein said outputs are stored on said forms. 30. The system of claim 29, further comprising means for mining said forms to extract metadata needed to produce a final report. 31. The system of claim 30, further comprising means for compiling the extracted metadata into the final report. 32. The system of claim 24, further comprising a user interface configured to facilitate manual input to at least one of said interactive forms by a user. 33. A non-transitory computer readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for compliance testing, wherein execution of said one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes said one or more processors to perform:inputting data from at least one analytical instrument;converting said inputted data to a technology-neutral format if said inputted data is not already in said technology-neutral format;performing one or more calculations on said inputted data in said technology-neutral format to produce one or more outputs,comparing at least one of said outputs to first and second test limits indicative of said instrument's performance; andreporting compliance status of said at least one output based on said comparing to said first test limit and to said second test limit. 34. A computer-implemented method of compliance testing at least one of instrumentation and software, said method comprising the steps of:inputting data from said at least one analytical instrument or software to a computer-implemented analytical instrument compliance system;performing one or more calculations on the inputted data, using the computer-implemented analytical instrument compliance system, to produce one or more outputs;comparing at least one of said outputs to first and second test limits, wherein said comparing is performed according to instructions instantiated as forms;selecting from said one or more outputs to populate a final report and reporting compliance status of said at least one output based on said comparing to said first test limit and to said second test limit;wherein the at least one output is standardized and are directly comparable to outputs resultant from said method carried out on another set of one or more other analytical instruments, irrespective of manufacturer or model of the other analytical instruments. 35. A system for standardizing characterizations of at least one of analytical hardware and controlling software during compliance testing, said system comprising:a data reduction engine configured to reduce data outputted by an instrument;a calculation engine configured to perform at least one calculation on at least one of said reduced data to produce one or more outputs required for a set of predefined criteria;an automatic detection engine configured to determine at least one of instrument specific information to automatically characterize said instrument; andinteractive forms comprising computer executable format that provides instructions executable by said data reduction engine, said calculation engine and said automatic detection engine, said forms providing procedural information including calculation instructions. 36. A computer-implemented method of compliance testing, said method comprising:inputting data from at least one analytical instrument or controlling software of an analytical instrument to a computer-implemented analytical instrument compliance system;converting said inputted data to a technology-neutral format if said inputted data is not already in said technology-neutral format;performing one or more calculations on said inputted data in said technology-neutral format, using said computer-implemented analytical instrument compliance system, to produce one or more outputs; andselecting from said one or more outputs to populate a final report; wherein said one or more outputs are standardized and are directly comparable to outputs resultant from said method carried out on another set of one or more other analytical instruments or controlling softwares for analytical instruments, irrespective of manufacturer or model of said other analytical instruments,wherein said calculations are performed to answer a series of questions relating to one or more performance tests designed to determine compliance of said analytical instrument or software under consideration with a set of predefined criteria indicative of said instrument's performance. 37. A computer-implemented method of compliance testing, said method comprising:inputting data from at least one analytical instrument or controlling software of an analytical instrument to a system;performing one or more calculations on the inputted data to produce one or more outputs;selecting from said one or more outputs to populate a final report; wherein the one or more outputs are standardized and are directly comparable to outputs resultant from said method carried out on another set of one or more other analytical instruments or controlling softwares for analytical instruments, irrespective of manufacturer or model of the other analytical instruments;comparing at least one of said outputs to first and second test limits; andreporting compliance status of said at least one output based on said comparing to said first test limit and to said second test limit;wherein said performing one or more calculations are performed according to instructions instantiated as forms; andwherein said forms contain data generated from at least one of interactive manual input, information detected by a system performing said method and software of system, a computerized data system of an instrument from which data is being converted, and calculated, reduced data.