Limitations

What QC Analytical Results does not do, by design: file sizes and types, below-detection results, what the Overview judges, and what the Lab files tab reads.

These are limits by design. They do not change between releases unless What’s new says so.

Files

  • An upload is one Excel workbook (xlsx or xls) or one CSV file, up to 50 MB. A larger export is split by date.
  • The columns follow the templates under CSV/Excel Templates and SQL Views. Data health on the Data tab lists what the app could not use.
  • The Lab files tab reads SIF certificates, comma-separated or fixed width, with a .csv, .sif or .txt extension, or a zip of them. It does not read PDF certificates or Excel workbooks from a laboratory.

Results

  • A result below detection is never plotted, never counted in a statistic and never mentioned in a finding. A blank below detection is a clean blank.
  • On a certificate, a result above the method’s range is a minimum, not a grade. It is a query until the lab gives an ore-grade result.
  • Duplicate pairs with a mean below a multiple of the detection limit are left out of the precision statistics: the Threshold factor on the chart menu, and the Overview’s Rules.

The Overview

  • It judges accuracy from CRMs, precision from duplicates, contamination from blanks and coverage from despatches. Turnaround is reported but does not change Lab Confidence.
  • It judges one laboratory at a time and does not compare laboratories with each other.
  • It needs enough results to judge. With too few, a card says Insufficient data rather than guessing.

Lab files

  • The app checks a standard only against certified values you hold. A standard with none is listed, not judged.
  • One certificate rarely has the ten pairs needed to judge a duplicate pass rate, so the report lists each pair outside its limit instead.
  • The app does not read a certificate’s attachments, such as the lab’s own QC report.

Accounts and storage

  • Nothing is stored when you select Check only. Keep in a project stores the certificate in your account, and only you can open it.
  • Projects and the Lab files set-up are kept with your account and are not shared between accounts.