Spotted, if someone is looking
An analyst authorises a batch of water results. One exceeds the client's limit. If the analyst knows the client, they might mention it to customer services, who ring the client. If they do not, the result goes out on the report, maybe a day later, and the client learns then. For a food producer holding a batch, or a site manager with a legionella result, that delay matters.
Why alerts depend on luck
- Client limits are held in separate files or people's heads.
- Nothing checks results against limits when they are authorised.
- The right contact at the client is not recorded.
- Calls are not logged, so nobody knows if the client was told.
- Out-of-hours results wait until morning.
Limits change, too. A client's specification is revised, a regulatory limit is updated, or a new sampling point is added with its own limits. If those changes live in email, the check that relies on them is only as good as the last time someone updated the file.
What it costs
Clients may act late on important results, which damages trust in the lab. Staff cannot prove a client was told. Different staff handle it differently. A single missed alert can cost a major client.
| Step | Informal | Limit checks and alerts |
|---|---|---|
| Limits | In files or memory | Stored per client, point and test |
| Check | If someone notices | On authorisation, every time |
| Contact | Whoever answers | Named contacts and channel per client |
| Confirmation | Not recorded | Receipt acknowledged and logged |
| Out of hours | Next morning | Rules you set, with escalation |
The lab also carries risk it does not need to. If a client later says they were never told about a result, a phone call nobody logged is hard to point to. A record of the alert, who received it and when they acknowledged it protects both sides and settles the question quickly.
How we build it
- Each client's limits are stored per sampling point and test, maintained by your team with dates.
- As results are authorised in the LIMS, they are compared with the limits.
- Results outside limits trigger an alert to the client's named contacts by email, text or phone call, using a service such as Twilio for texts and calls.
- Clients acknowledge the alert. If they do not, it escalates to the next contact and to your customer services team.
- Every alert, acknowledgement and escalation is logged.
- The report shows the result against the limit, as your procedures require.
Alerts only use authorised results. We do not interpret results or advise clients on what to do. That is for the client and their advisers.
Client contacts and escalation orders are maintained by your customer services team, and clients can be asked to confirm them periodically, so alerts do not go to someone who left the client's company months ago.
What changes
Clients hear about results outside their limits promptly, every time. Your lab has a record that they were told. Customer services handle escalations rather than spotting results.
Clients who rely on prompt notice, such as food producers holding stock or facilities managers with water systems, come to trust the alerts and plan around them. Customer services no longer feel responsible for spotting results, and analysts can authorise batches knowing the check happens every time.
Does your lab rely on someone noticing?
- Client limits are held in files or memory.
- Out-of-limit results are phoned through when noticed.
- Calls to clients are not logged.
- Out-of-hours results wait until morning.
- Clients have learned of results late.