A method for evaluating system performance from collected test computed tomography data using component analysis and a test statistic, the method comprising: collecting test measurements of a calibration standard with a sensor of a system such that the test measurements correspond to same CT data as baseline measurements; transforming, automatically with one or more processors, the test measurements into a test CT data set, wherein the test CT data set comprises a matrix having multiple instances arranged as columns of the matrix and test system variables arranged as rows of the matrix, and wherein each of the instances of the test system variables corresponds to a single test measurement instance and the test system variables correspond to same type of variable used as one of baseline system variables in the baseline measurements; comparing, automatically with the one or more processors, a test average of the instances of a variable of the test system variables to a baseline average of corresponding instances of a corresponding baseline variable in the baseline measurements; determining a shift amount based upon a difference between the test average of the instances of a variable of the test system variables and the baseline average of corresponding instances of a corresponding baseline variable in the baseline measurements; setting the shift amount to the instances of the variable of the test system variables, when the test average differs from the baseline average by less than a practically significant difference; shifting CT data for each corresponding instance of the variable of the test system variables by the shift amount to generate a modified test CT data set from the test CT data set; transforming, automatically with the one or more processors, the modified test CT data set with a sparse principal component analysis into test components; comparing, automatically with the one or more processors, the test components to baseline components using a Hotelling T 2 test to generate a Hotelling T 2 test statistic; and quantifying performance of the system based upon the test statistic. collecting test measurements of a calibration standard with a sensor of a system such that the test measurements correspond to same CT data as baseline measurements; transforming, automatically with one or more processors, the test measurements into a test CT data set, wherein the test CT data set comprises a matrix having multiple instances arranged as columns of the matrix and test system variables arranged as rows of the matrix, and wherein each of the instances of the test system variables corresponds to a single test measurement instance and the test system variables correspond to same type of variable used as one of baseline system variables in the baseline measurements; comparing, automatically with the one or more processors, a test average of the instances of a variable of the test system variables to a baseline average of corresponding instances of a corresponding baseline variable in the baseline measurements; determining a shift amount based upon a difference between the test average of the instances of a variable of the test system variables and the baseline average of corresponding instances of a corresponding baseline variable in the baseline measurements; setting the shift amount to the instances of the variable of the test system variables, when the test average differs from the baseline average by less than a practically significant difference; shifting CT data for each corresponding instance of the variable of the test system variables by the shift amount to generate a modified test CT data set from the test CT data set; transforming, automatically with the one or more processors, the modified test CT data set with a sparse principal component analysis into test components; comparing, automatically with the one or more processors, the test components to baseline components using a Hotelling T 2 test to generate a Hotelling T 2 test statistic; and quantifying performance of the system based upon the test statistic.