Contract Lab

Replaced an 11-tab spreadsheet and got nights and weekends back

A 12-person regional contract testing lab · 12 employees · ~1,800 samples/mo

Published

After a critical QC manager went on leave and the lab lost two days reconstructing sample status, this 12-person contract lab replaced its brittle master spreadsheet with Aliquora — cutting COA turnaround by 63%.

Challenge

The QC manager was the only person who fully understood the master tracking spreadsheet. When she went on leave, the lab lost two days reconstructing sample status. Result entry was duplicated across instrument exports, manual spreadsheet logs, and Word-template COAs.

What they set up

Migrated three months of sample history via CSV import. Configured 14 test methods with spec limits. Connected the HPLC and pH meter via CSV export mapping. Trained the team in two 45-minute sessions.

Results

−63%

COA turnaround

−4 hrs/day

Manual data entry

0

OOS missed before review

"I used to spend Sunday evenings catching up on the spreadsheet so Monday wouldn't blow up. That hasn't happened in four months."

— QC Manager (composite, based on early-access feedback)

Implementation timeline

How the transition unfolded week by week.

  1. 1

    Discovery & data audit

    Week 1

    Mapped every tab in the existing spreadsheet to understand which fields were live data versus historical reference. Identified three columns that duplicated instrument export fields — those were the primary source of transcription errors.

  2. 2

    CSV import & method configuration

    Week 2

    Exported 90 days of sample history from the spreadsheet and imported via Aliquora's CSV template. Configured 14 test methods with upper and lower spec limits. Set pass/fail thresholds to match the lab's existing SOPs exactly, so no retraining was needed for the science.

  3. 3

    Instrument mapping

    Week 3

    Mapped the HPLC and pH meter CSV exports to Aliquora's result-entry fields using column aliases. After mapping, technicians drop the instrument file and the system populates the result fields — no copy-paste, no manual transcription.

  4. 4

    Team training

    Week 4

    Ran two 45-minute sessions: one for the bench technicians (logging samples, uploading instrument files, reviewing OOS flags) and one for the QC manager (approvals, COA release, dashboard review). No one needed a follow-up session.

  5. 5

    Full cutover

    Day 29

    Retired the spreadsheet entirely. The team ran parallel for three weeks and found zero discrepancies between the old and new records before cutting over.

What they'd do the same — and differently

Practical takeaways from the rollout.

  • Start with the instrument export mapping before training the team — once technicians see the file-drop workflow, adoption is immediate. Describing it in the abstract takes twice as long.

  • Importing historical data, even three months of it, paid dividends in the first week. When a client called about a result from six weeks prior, the QC manager could pull it up in 30 seconds instead of searching through archived spreadsheet versions.

  • Two training sessions are enough if you split them by role. Mixing bench staff and managers in one session means one group ends up waiting while the other learns irrelevant workflows.

  • Keep the spec limits in sync with your printed SOPs for the first 30 days. Any discrepancy becomes obvious quickly, and resolving it during the transition is far easier than doing it after everyone has moved on.

See how it works for Contract Labs

Contract / Third-Party Labs — features & workflow

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