Certificate of Analysis (COA)

Overview

A Certificate of Analysis (COA) is a document that is attached to one or more assets to certify that they passed an analysis.

There are 3 ways that this module can work

1. TrackAbout provides a link to download a COA stored in an external system
2. TrackAbout stores COAs generated by another system
3. TrackAbout generates the COA

Method 1: Link to COA in another system

In this case COA documents are available in another system that can be found by using a specially formed URL. This URL is formed by TrackAbout on the Asset History page. Internal and external users can see and follow these links.

Tokens

This URL can contain tokens that are replaced with properties of the asset. The tokens currently supported are:

• Lot Number: The current lot number of the asset. The token is [LOT_NUMBER]
• Serial number: The serial number of the asset. The token is [DOC_NUM]
• Delivery ticket number: The most recent delivery ticket number used to deliver this asset to a customer. The token is [CROSS_REF]

Example

So for example you might have a url that is something like:

http://www.MyDomain.com/COAs/[LOT_NUMBER].pdf

• If an asset has a lot number of 123456 then this url will be presented as

http://www.MyDomain.com/COAs/123456.pdf

Rendering a Link

From the Asset History page, TrackAbout will do a quick check to see if there is a file at this destination address. If there is a file then TrackAbout will show a link on the Asset History page to this URL. If there is no file present at the formed URL then no link will be shown.

Multiple URLS

It is also possible to have multiple URL formats. This can be useful if you have multiple systems to store URLS. For instance a gas distributor might have one system for medical gases and a different system for specialty gases.

If there are multiple URLS, Trackabout will try them in sequence until one is found that links to an actual file. Then this link will be used.

Multiple URLS are delimited with "|GET:"

Here is an example of two URLS. The first URL will be tried first, followed by the second URL.

http://www.MyDomain.com/COAs/[LOT_NUMBER].pdf|GET:http://www.MyDomain.com/COA.aspx?SN=[CROSS_REF]&DOC=[DOC_NUM]

Many URLs can be tried. It is not limited to just two.

Method 2: TrackAbout to store COAs generated by another system

In this method COAs are generated in another system. This other system creates an output COA file. This file is transferred to TrackAbout and attached to the assets. This file is then available as a link from the Asset History page within TrackAbout. It is visible to both internal users and external Follow-On Tracking users.

Sequence

The workflow is as follows:

1. The assets are assigned to a lot using TrackAbout
2. The COA is generated in another system
3. The COA is uploaded to TrackAbout
4. TrackAbout finds assets that match the lot number of the COA*
5. TrackAbout links the COA to these assets
6. Users can now download the COA from the Asset History page of the asset(s)

• Note that it is important that the assets are assigned to the lot before the COA is uploaded. In practice this means that any non-wireless handhelds should be synced before pushing COAs to TrackAbout.

File transfer mechanism

Today FTP is supported to transfer COA files into TrackAbout. Contact TrackAbout support to have an FTP site setup and hosted by TrackAbout. TrackAbout will check this FTP site regularly (generally about every 15 min) to see if any new files have been added.

Naming convention

The logic expects the following naming convention for the COA: [LOT].[FileExtension] So for example a pdf file for lot 123456 must be named: 123456.pdf

Method 3: TrackAbout generates the COA

In this method, the COA is generated by TrackAbout using gas analysis data.

This is a powerful and fast way to create COAs right from scanning data. This method requires custom programming to make a custom COA from gas analysis and fill data being collected.

Please contact TrackAbout Support for more information on this. This will involve a project to collect requirements and customize the software to create a custom COA.