IEC 61160:2005

INTERNATIONAL IEC
STANDARD 61160
Second edition
2005-09
Design review
Reference number
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INTERNATIONAL IEC
STANDARD 61160
Second edition
2005-09
Design review
 IEC 2005  Copyright - all rights reserved
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– 2 – 61160  IEC:2005(E)
CONTENTS
FOREWORD.3

INTRODUCTION.5

1 Scope.6

1.1 General .6

1.2 Application .7

1.3 Types of application .7

2 Normative references .8

3 Terms and definitions .8
4 Management of the design review process .9
4.1 General recommendations.9
4.2 Documentation requirements.9
5 Management responsibility .10
5.1 Top management .10
5.2 Design manager .10
5.3 Management review .10
6 Design review process.10
6.1 General .10
6.2 Planning for the design review.13
6.3 Design review personnel .13
6.4 Preparation of input package.15
6.5 Meeting notification and agenda .16
6.6 Conduct of meeting .16
6.7 Design review minutes .18
6.8 Actions and recommendations.18
6.9 Follow-up and completion of action items and recommendations .19

Annex A (informative) Example of design stages and type of design review .20
Annex B (informative)  Example of objectives for design review at different stages of
a design’s development .21
Annex C (informative) Example of design review panel attributes .23
Annex D (informative) Example of design review meeting topics .24
Annex E (informative) Example of team member responsibilities.26
Annex F (informative) Example design review checklists questions.27

Bibliography.33

Figure 1 – Design and development process.6
Figure 2 – Design review process .11

Table A.1 – Example of design stages and type of design review.20
Table E.1 – Examples of responsibilities.26

61160  IEC:2005(E) – 3 –
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION

____________
DESIGN REVIEW
FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising

all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote

international co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To

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8) Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this publication. Use of the referenced publications is
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9) Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this IEC Publication may be the subject of
patent rights. IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
This International Standard has been prepared by IEC technical committee 56: Dependability.
This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition published in 1992 and its
amendment 1(1994) and constitutes a technical revision.

The major changes with regard to the previous edition concerns the inclusion of the previous
amendment which dealt with environmental effects (10.2.7), human factors (19.2.9) and legal
matters (10.2.10), as well as clarification of responsibilities for the design review process and
the design review process itself.
The text of this standard is based on the following documents:
FDIS Report on voting
56/1044/FDIS 56/1064/RVD
Full information on the voting for the approval of this standard can be found in the report on
voting indicated in the above table.
This publication has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.

– 4 – 61160  IEC:2005(E)
The committee has decided that the contents of this publication will remain unchanged until

the maintenance result date indicated on the IEC web site under "http://webstore.iec.ch" in

the data related to the specific publication. At this date, the publication will be

• reconfirmed,
• withdrawn,
• replaced by a revised edition, or

• amended.
A bilingual version of this publication may be issued at a later date.

61160  IEC:2005(E) – 5 –
INTRODUCTION
The dependability of a product is enhanced through implementation of necessary disciplines

during the design and development phases of a product’s life cycle. Like other technical and

engineering disciplines, a design review needs to be properly managed in order to achieve its

objectives.
Properly implemented, design reviews enhance the potential for delivering a product of the

required dependability, quality, performance, safety and potential for reduction in costs and

delivery schedule. Both supplier and customer can utilize it.

A design review is an advisory activity. It is intended primarily to provide verification of the
work of the design development team, and to provide recommendations, where possible, to
improve the product or process and its realization. Thus design reviews should be considered
as a confirmation and refining procedure and not a creative one.
Design reviews, regardless of frequency or depth cannot replace good product definitions,
design specifications, and management of the design and development process. Used as a
control process, design reviews can provide the necessary verification of the successful
outcome of the design effort at a given time.
Design reviews should not be confused with day-to-day management of a design project. The
design manager carries the responsibility for the design and the final decisions for the
response to a design review’s actions and recommendations. Design reviews when properly
conducted, increase confidence that design and development activities were carried out with
due regard to all pertinent requirements for a product throughout its life cycle.
The application of this standard needs to be tailored to the needs of the design and
development project or task in question and the organization preparing the design.

– 6 – 61160  IEC:2005(E)
DESIGN REVIEW
1 Scope
1.1 General
This International Standard makes recommendations for the implementation of design review

as a means of verifying that the design input requirements have been met and stimulating the

improvement of the product’s design. The intention is for it to be applied during the design
and development phase of a product’s life cycle.
It provides guidelines for planning and conducting a design review and specific details
concerning contributions by specialists in reliability, maintenance, maintenance support and
availability.
The process for design and development is outlined in Figure 1 and requirements for
management of the design and development process overall are given in ISO 9001:2000. The
stages at whic
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