There is nothing wrong with paper… (some people say it is tearable, but not sure if we agree) it has been one of the most useful inventions since 100 AD. It has been critical to humans nearly everyday since, but there are shortcomings that are well documented and, in the age of cloud computing and the paperless chain of custody, easy to overcome.
One of the key areas we have overcome some of the challenges presented by paper is deploying our software to act as the paperless chain of custody for some of our clients.
The paperless chain of custody has benefits straight off the bat, including:
- Minimising (to nearly zero) human error. Errors are all but reduced with transcribing, spelling, mis-reading and misplacing information.
- Details within the COC are able to be added directly into laboratory LIMS systems or other systems where clients engage other services.
- Sample registration is not only much less prone to error, but is much faster – some labs have given us great feedback saying it saves many hours over a month (with just one companies Samples).
- Ability to receive big data back from the lab to be captured into compliance software – ability view in dashboards, assess critical results and auto report to key stakeholders.
The paperless chain of custody has been embraced by clients and partner laboratories and it has been enlightening to hear some of the benefits from our clients, both in the management space and those in the field.
Highlights from the field include:
- Saving significant time in the field when sampling and using the barcodes on the sample bottles further allows for confidence that the correct tests are taken from the correct samples.
- Being able to capture field data at the same time as sampling data means that clients get accurate environmental data at the time of the sample with nothing interfering with the data (no human error)
- Much of the admin such as recording name, time, location etc. is already taken care of.
- Enhanced Features such as all samples being scheduled – users capture samples that have been considered and set up prior to attending site.
While we have been using our electronic chain of custody solution for some time and with multiple laboratories across Australia, the key benefits to our clients remains the electronic transfer of information and the ease with which results are returned and uploaded into the compliance platform system.
Many of our clients have told us that they previously had to transcribe from Certificates of Analysis into Excel (and that is a painful process) which provided very little analysis or intelligence within the data.
We all know that paper will continue to serve a useful purpose for centuries to come, (including the aged old battle with rock & scissors), but we are pleased to have developed a system that provides a better solution for our clients and service partners.
