Data Management

Alpha's data management tools help make the most complex project easier to handle and simple to review.

Alpha Data Exchange (ADEx)

ADEx is Alpha’s data transfer vehicle. When a data set is approved for release by lab management, it is automatically uploaded to our ADEx Internet server in various standard and custom electronic formats requested by the client. Secure access to data on this server is via the Internet. Clients can access both current and historical data in PDF and MS Excel files. Special data management tools like our Data Merger or Criteria Checkers may also be available. Custom designed, contract required and other EDDs are also available. All formats are automatically available immediately upon data approval. There is no waiting to view special files.

Criteria Checker

Alpha’s Criteria Checker presents data from one sampling event to be displayed in Excel format and compares this data to specific regulatory criteria that you have pre-selected. Criteria Checker will highlight in color any cell with a data point that exceeds the regulatory criteria chosen. Even a non-detect with a reporting limit exceeding the regulatory criteria will be highlighted, but in a different color. Criteria Checker has several available formats and end-user data manipulation tools.

• Criteria Checker Formats:
  • Multiple-run analyses: Sample analyses with more than one analytical run are displayed in their own column. This allows the user to compare both sets of results against the regulatory criteria. This format is available on request.
  • Risk assessment calculations: File replaces the "U" reporting limit qualifier column with a value representing one-half of the reporting limit. Data is presented in each row as ND, for Not Detected, with a number in parentheses that represents the reporting limit divided by two. This format is available on request.
• End User Data Manipulation Tools:
  • "Hits only" Excel macro: An MS Excel macro installed on the client computer modifies any standard Criteria Checker file by deleting any row in the data table where the analyte was not detected for all samples in the report. Analyte rows that contain reporting limits that exceed regulatory criteria are not deleted. Final data table contains results only for those analytes with at least one sample having either a detectable value or a reporting limit that exceeded the criteria.
  • "Risk calculation" Excel macro: An MS Excel macro installed on the client computer modifies any standard Criteria Checker file by calculating a "risk value" and displaying it at the end of each analyte row in the table. The "risk value" is calculated by averaging all of the detectable concentrations reported for each analyte. Not Detected results are included in the overall average as a concentration representing one-half the reported detection limit.

Data Merger

Data Merger is a special data management tool that allows clients to build tables with data from multiple sampling events. A virtually limitless combination of options is available to create tables with current and historical data (up to 10 years old) and compare those data sets against specific regulatory criteria. Available to select clients, Data Merger works in real time on Alpha’s Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS).