PDA Technical Glossary

PDA Technical Reports are highly valued membership benefits because they offer expert guidance and opinions on important scientific and regulatory topics and are used as essential references by industry and regulatory authorities around the world. These reports include terms which explain the material and enhance the reader’s understanding.

The database presented here includes the glossary terms from all current technical reports. The database is searchable by keyword, topic, or by technical report. Each definition provided includes a link to the source technical report within the  PDA Technical Report Portal.

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Fault Tree Analysis (FTA)
A deductive technique used to analyze the causes of faults (defects). The technique visually models how logical relationships between failures, human errors, and external events can combine to cause specific faults. (TR54) (TR54-2) (TR54-3) (TR54-5)

Source: TR 54: QRM:Manufacturing Operations

Biotechnology Manufacturing GMP/Good Manufacturing Processes/cGMP Inspections Validation Quality Risk Management/QRM

Commissioning
A well planned, documented and managed engineering approach to the start-up and transfer of facilities, systems and equipment to the end-user that results in a safe and functional environment that meets established design and user requirement specifications. Commissioning precedes Qualification and includes three phases: 1. Inspection, testing, and regulation 2. Adjustment and setting of work 3. Functional testing (TR 3) A prescribed number of activities designed to take equipment and systems from a static, substantially complete state to an operable state. (TR 48) A well planned, documented, managed engineering approach to the start-up and turnover of facilities, systems, and equipment to the end-user, that results in a safe and functional environment that meets established design requirements and stakeholder expectations.(TR 54) (TR 54-5)

Source: TR 3: Validation: Dry Heat

Biotechnology Manufacturing GMP/Good Manufacturing Processes/cGMP Inspections Packaging Science Validation Quality Risk Management/QRM Supply Chain