Article written by Michael Haller, Quality Manager, Analytical Products Group, Inc.
Complete article from Edition 27 APG eNewsletter
In 2004, my team was given the task of building the most comprehensive online
reporting tool in the PT industry. The directive was to create a
graphic-oriented, online system to clearly and concisely meet laboratories' accreditation
and quality improvement needs. Over the past 15 months, we have gathered input
from large and small laboratories; both commercial and municipal laboratories. APG is
pleased to announce that The Advantage Reporting Tool is now available at no
charge to all APG participants.
The Advantage Reporting Tool enables laboratories to track, trend, and
improve the quality and defensibility of their analytical data. For each APG
study in which a customer has participated since 1999, The Advantage Reporting
Tool securely presents performance results in two major categories - Accreditation
Management and Quality Improvement.
The Four Quadrants of the APG Advantage Reporting Tool
APG's Advantage Reporting Tool provides secure access to over 20 interactive, graphical
reports. The Advantage Reporting Tool includes tabular and graphical representations
of proficiency testing results. All study results, even quick-turnaround sample
results, are available online with The Advantage Reporting Tool.
Accreditation Management
How long do you spend per year monitoring accreditations? You now have the
power to visually monitor the data submitted to accrediting authorities. You can view
reports by accrediting authority or by analyte for a single study or
multiple studies. APG's Certification Map goes a step beyond these fundamental
reports. The Certification Map is an APG exclusive that provides a graphic
representation of your results over time. It also provides filters to
quickly identify analytes that require remediation and that fail the 2 of 3
NELAC Acceptability Rule.
Quality Improvement
Data Quality is essential to an efficient and effective laboratory. APG's Advantage
Reporting Tool gives you the capability to manage laboratory data quality.
Often quality is focused on "Not Acceptable" evaluations. APG believes that
a proactive approach can be utilized to identify data trends before "Not Acceptable"
evaluations occur. The Advantage Reporting Tool provides you with the
Points of Immediate Concern Report and the Points of Opportunity Report to
identify analyses that are inconsistent or trending toward unacceptable
evaluations.
The Advantage Reporting Tool also provides the Points of
Excellence Report. A Point of Excellence can only be statistically achieved
by 12% of the laboratories that evaluate the sample; therefore, it recognizes
your laboratory for the analyzes that you perform well (when compared to
other study participants). Points of Excellence are a valuable business
development tool that your laboratory should use to highlight your value
in today's competitive market.
In subsequent articles, we will explore other aspects of The Advantage
Reporting Tool. The list below shows the major reports included in
The Advantage Reporting Tool:
Accreditation Reports
Exception Report
Performance Summary
Certification Map
Certification Summary
Analyte Detail
Check For Error Report
Laboratory Benchmark Ranking
Quality Improvement Reports
Performance Map
Points of Excellence
Points of Opportunity
Points of Immediate Concern
Trend Analysis
Percent Recovery Analysis
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You can access The Advantage Reporting Tool at www.apgqa.com/online_reports.
If you have any questions or would like to provide
feedback, please send me an email at m.haller@apgqa.com or
give me a call at 800.272.4442. |
