From Planning to Reporting – The New Digital Chain of Custody

Organising field sampling and monitoring programmes and analysing the result data carries a heavy administrative burden. There is legislative pressure driving more and more requirements on the environmental scientist to provide a traceable audit from the planning of collections to the reporting of result data.  Customers are demanding more immediate and detailed reporting.

In response to this market trend, Trilogy has produced a software system that will automatically create a full audit log from the creation of a plan to the reporting of result data.

The heart of the system is newly released TAPS V3 – a workflow driven software package will automate the administrative tasks of running a field programme, including the creation of work schedules, logging field collections and result data, pre-registering samples in a laboratory and publishing statutory or customer reports. The system provides a full electronic audit trail with checks to ensure compliance that all tasks have been completed within the permitted collection date rules.

The package is suitable for both consultants conducting one-off site investigations as well companies or agencies involved in regular or interval monitoring programmes.

To provide a complete digital chain of custody, various interfaces have been provided.

There is an interface to HAND for field data collection using a PDA, an export facility to pre-register laboratory samples and an interface to an environmental data warehouse such as EQuIS or Monitor Pro.

The package is provided either as stand-alone affordable desktop PC software for the independent environmental scientist or alternatively as a client-server networked version for larger organisations with sampling teams.

The key benefits are to:

  • Reduce the administration for creating plans
  • Automate or even eliminate the production of paperwork
  • Save travelling costs by efficient use of sampling manpower
  • Ensure compliance by completing all tasks within the required date
  • Log missing samples
  • Automate sample registration with your contracted laboratory
  • Accurate estimation of costs and manpower resources for a job
  • Invoicing customers

Key Features of TAPS

Set up New Projects Quickly

  • Whether one-off remedial sampling or regular monitoring is required, new projects are easy and quick to set up in TAPS.  New work can be slotted into the existing plan to ensure sensible geographical rounds. If the work is commercial, job numbers and contract values can be assigned allowing the manager to view the status of a customer’s project.

Organise Complex Collection Frequencies

  • If you are involved in running an on-going plan, TAPS has the facility to set up a wide range of different collection frequencies. Preferences of when to collect can be specified or alternatively the system can randomly choose the collection date within the bounds of the chosen rule.  For field quality control samples, random selection or pseudo-random patterns can also be defined.

Save Management & Administration Time

  • There is always a high administration overhead in the planning and running a field programme. This would include organizing samplers, printing bottle labels and round instructions, producing invoices and field reports and transposing handwritten field result data. TAPS automates these tasks.

Ensure Compliance to the Plan

  • TAPS will ensure collect all required samples within the date permitted by the rules.  Calendar views display a snapshot of the current status at a glance. The pull forward facility coupled with an escalating collection priority ensures samples are not left to the last possible day to be collected.

Optimise Field Work

  • Estimating the field staffs’ workload, optimising routes, grouping collections between geographically close locations, allowing samples to be taken for a variety of purposes by the same sampler and intelligent insertion of ad hoc collections ensures a significant cost saving in your field programme.

Plan for the Unplanned

  • Sampling or monitoring work can be easily reassigned or rescheduled in the event of unforeseen circumstances.  Unexpected collections or field tests can be entered into TAPS. If the sampler was unable to collect or monitor, this event can be re-scheduled at a high priority.

Prioritise Collections

  • Collections can be prioritised dependent on how close the event is to the frequency rule cut-off date when a collection is obligatory. Low priority samples can be added to a round sheet when the sampler has spare time.

Automate Laboratory Pre-Registration

  • TAPS has an export and import facility to reduce your administration.  New sites, locations and analysis can be imported from Excel and schedules can be digitally exported to a laboratory for pre-registration and bottle delivery.

Identify Missing Samples

  • TAPS will enable you to easily spot missing samples and missing result data and ensure your collection plan is complete and compliant.

Track Commercial Work

  • Track the status of completion for a customer to ensure they are invoiced correctly and in a timely manner.