IES FAQ Answers
QA Validation
IES does not publish a 'QA Program Manual', validation suite, or follow any government or industry protocols for formal quality assurance. Due to software complexity and the combinatorial explosion of possible input values or 'paths' through an algorithm, it is both practically and theoretically impossible to prove a program 100% correct.
Our policy is to "Do our best", using known software development principals, the latest tools, automated validation methods, unit-testing, etc. to develop high-quality software. We build our products on standard numerical libraries from reputable sources, such as Microsoft or Intel. We have built up extensive internal checks for our products to verify fundamental calculations. These checks are run with every new release or update.
We strongly encourage customers to run validation checks yourself with your specific types of projects or input. When in doubt about what the software is doing or what the results mean, solving a small well understood problem can help insure you really understand the input, theory, and result-notation used in our tools. Trial and error can quickly answer a lot of questions.
IES tools are used around the world (over 80 countries) since 1994, which is some testimony to our quality. Our many thousands of customers in the USA include all branches and levels of government, US military, universities, top international firms, manufacturers, contractors, and many engineers in private practice.
The engineers using our products are ultimately responsible for their own use. IES cannot control data, misuse, or abuse of the documented theories implemented by products. Nor can we speak to the applicability of specific codes or specifications for any project. It is up to the engineer of record to double-check, interpret, and apply the results obtained from our products. The old adage "Garbage In, Garbage Out" still applies to software.
We have free technical support to encourage customers to report any issues or suggestions for improvements. We typically publish patches every month or two, as necessary, with a public and transparent change-log to help you understand what has changed.