QA with confidence for consistent performance

Demonstrable Quality

You know the work is not complete when the data is analyzed, you must be able to demonstrate the scientific integrity of your laboratory and the accuracy of the results. Quality assurance auditors - from your clients, from internal QA groups and from regulatory authorities - will want to examine the QA records that document the instrument's performance. Your entire operation needs to constantly monitor quality, document performance and correct problems when, and even before, they occur.

Alpha Analyst's built-in quality assurance features help you track spectrometer performance as well as monitor the consistency of your sample preparation chemistry and automatically maintain the records you need. You can define your QA database to be as extensive as you want. Reagent blanks, background checks, daily pulser checks, and routine calibration checks are all examined with the same rigor as unknown samples. Whether you are counting bioassay or environmental samples, Alpha Analyst provides warnings when QA checks turn up suspect performance. And with numerous variables being monitored in the database, you can even derive diagnostic information. Based on the tolerances you define as acceptable, on a variety of statistical tests, you will always know when your alpha spectroscopy laboratory is "under control."

QA automatically tracks the instrument performance

Event Log File...An Audit Trail

QA is not fulfilled merely by extracting and analyzing spectral data. You must have the tools to demonstrate that system integrity is entirely defensible. The Event Log File in every Alpha Analyst continuously records a historical journal of every event on the instrument - every user logon, sample count, recalibration and QA check - everything the most demanding auditor could want to see. The log file even notes each time you take a detector out of service for decontamination, repair or preventive maintenance. So you are never left without historical proof that you performed the routine operations to keep your Alpha Analyst at top performance.

CAM File

And should the results of any measurement be called into question, even several years after the data is collected and analyzed, you can retrieve every essential piece of information regarding that measurement from Canberra's exclusive Configuration Access Method (CAM) file. This archival storage file contains all information associated with each sample count, including sample-specific information, the serial number of the chamber where the sample was counted, raw spectral data, analysis results, calibrations, electronic settings, and the entire contents of the nuclide library used to analyze a spectrum.

Everything you need to review or reanalyze a sample is in the CAM file. The CAM file is where you will direct an auditor's attention when you are asked to prove what the instrument settings were at the time a sample was collected. The proof for your instrument's performance is in the CAM file.

Operating Procedures Ensure Consistency

One of the most formidable tasks facing a laboratory manager, when a new instrument arrives in the lab, is the preparation of written operating procedures - detailed, often site-specific operating instructions that provide structure for the proper use of the instrument. These procedures are used by the lab technicians in their day-to-day interaction with the instrument.

The Alpha Analyst is a complete, fully integrated and calibrated instrument, so Canberra is able to supply comprehensive operating procedures, directly with your system, as part of the ProLine suite of start-up services. These procedures are tailored to the specific instrument configuration we furnish, and are sent to you on electronic media so they can easily be edited. In this way, we can work with you to reduce or eliminate the time needed to produce site-specific documents.

Alpha Analyst provides Quality Assurance information for sample chemistry as well as counting