Alchemist now has the facility to produce a certificate of analysis for batches of products that have been manufactured.

To work with this facility you need to do the following:

1. Make a list of all of the parameters you test for in your quality control operation. This list should comprise of items like bacteria count, pH, etc.
2. Go to [ALCHEMIST]<Formulations><Alchemist-Global Settings>You will see a screen similar to this:
   
   
   Click on [COA Parameters]
   You will see something like this:
   
   

Click on the + to add a new item, enter the Description on the right hand side of the screen and, if applicable, add a Measuring Unit.

You may use the User fields for whatever purposes you wish, and these may be made to appear on reports or not.

Under the Grouping you determine whether the parameter should appear in the header, body or footer of the document.

You will end up with a screen that looks something like this:

Once you have entered all of the parameters, go to the actual formulation maintenance to set up which parameters you want for specific recipes.

Go to: <Alchemist><Formulations> [Formulations], select a recipe and then click on the [COA Parameters] tag.

Now click the [Load Default list] Button to load all of the parameters

You will see a screen similar to the following:

You may now delete or move items to suit the particular recipe by clicking the “–“ button or the Move up / down buttons.

Parameters that have a numeric value may have the upper and lower limits specific to this formula recorded in the {Low value} and {High value} fields. And the measuring unit may be entered.

These values may be seen at the time of generating the COA to ensure that the figures entered on the certificate are within limits.

You may also add an ad-hoc parameter just for this recipe by clicking the + sign, and you may over-ride the standard group setting for the item to determine its position in the document.

Now, once you have set up all of the formulas or recipes in this manner, after you have manufactured a batch and have processed it into finished goods , you can generate a COA for that batch.

Go to [Alchemist] <Production><Certificate (COA)>
Select a date range for batches that have been produced and press the [Refresh] button.

Any batches that have COA parameters will appear under Completed, as shown below.

As the batch is selected by clicking next to the date of completion on the left of the upper part of the window the parameters for that formulation or recipe will appear in the lower half of the screen.

The measured values for the parameters may be entered into the fields as follows:

Under {Passed} enter 1 for passed or 0 for a failure.

Under {Value} a numeric value for the parameter may be entered in the units in which it is measured. (These units and the upper and lower limits may be seen by clicking [Show parameter list] at the bottom of this section of the screen.)

Under {Text} a non-numeric text value may be entered, such as the appearance or colour or smell.

Please note that an entry should be made under {Value} or under {Text}, but not under both.

The above values will appear on the COA, but an additional short entry under {Comment} and a longer entry under {Notes} will not appear.

If something is typed into the {Notes} section at the bottom, a “Yes” will appear in the [Note] column and the (Memo) will switch to upper case.

The completed screen may look similar to this:

The Certificates may be adjusted at any time, however, once information has been entered and a certificate generated, only the System Manager will be able to unlock the COA for editing by clicking on the button for this purpose at the top right of the window.

Once all of the parameters have been entered correctly, the operator should click the [View] button and the certificate will be displayed on the screen from where it may be printed.

The certificate template may be altered to suit your company by inserting your logo and other information particular to your operation. This is done by holding the [Ctrl] button whilst clicking [View], which will bring up the report editor.

An example of a completed report may be seen on the following page.