Advantage Reporting Tool

www.APGQA.com

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Advantage Reporting

Study Reports – The Information You Need at Your Finger Tips – Available All the Time

The APG Advantage Page presents a summary of all of your studies. You control the number of studies you want to display based on the timeframe you select.

The page also includes a graphical representation (pie chart) of your overall performance for all of the studies completed during that period of time.

The Study Homepage presents multiple report-viewing options. This page is the central control center for Advantage, and you will probably visit it often while you view your report. 1 2 2 1 3 3

Per for ma nc e Re por t

Advantage Reporting

Accreditation – Performance Report & Exception Report

summarizes your data for each analyte by product.

Use the Select a Studyand

Select a Productdrop down menus to change between studies and select products within a study. You will have the option to select an individual product or all products for a given study.

You can click on the analyte name link in the first column of the table to view more information.

Wherever you see the up/down arrows, you can click on these arrows to sort the table columns in ascending or descending order. The Exception Report summarizes the analytes for which you received an evaluation of 'Not Acceptable' based on US EPA acceptance criteria. This report allows you to quickly identify and correct problem areas in your laboratory. Immediate corrective action is recommended to resolve these issues.

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Advantage Reporting

Accreditation – Certification Summary

The Certification Summary details the analytes you reported to accrediting authorities for a given study. This report includes the official's name and your points (acceptable/check for error/not acceptable) and percent acceptable for each official.

If you want to view more detail about the analytes you reported to a certain certifying officer, you can click on the officer's name in the 'Certifying Official' column of the table.

The Certification Detail Page presents the data for all of the analytes you reported to a specific accrediting authority for a given study.

You have the option to view other studies by using the Select a Study

and Select a Certification Officer

drop down menus

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Advantage Reporting

Quality Improvement – Going a Step Beyond

The Points of Excellence

summarizes the analytes for which your performance was exceptional compared to other laboratories in the study. Less than 12% of all laboratories achieve this goal. The Points of Opportunity

summarizes the analytes for which you have the opportunity to improve performance to eliminate the risk of future failure. It is recommended that the cause of the issues be identified and resolved through corrective action.

The Points of Immediate Concerns summarizes the analytes that are inconsistent with the performance of acceptable laboratories. Effective, immediate corrective action is recommended to avoid future failure.

To view more details about the analytes, you can click on the analyte name. 1 2 3 4 2 1 3 4

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Advantage Reporting

Quality Improvement – Going a Step Beyond

The Analyte Detail Page presents the analysis of individual analytes. You can filter by product to view analyte details. This report includes comparisons to inter-laboratory results and US EPA acceptance criteria. The US EPA Acceptance Range graph depicts the results of all of the laboratories that reported data for the active analyte. The graph

compares your result to all of the other results. It also includes lines that represent the study mean and the high and low limits. You can click on your blue bar to view a detailed participation report for the active analyte. The Study Inter-laboratory graph depicts the results of all of the

laboratories that reported data for the active analyte. The graph

compares your result to all of the other results. It also includes lines that represent the study mean and the high and low limits.

You can click on your blue bar to view a detailed participation report for the active analyte.

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Advantage Reporting

Quality Improvement – Going a Step Beyond

performance of the inter-laboratory benchmark (all participating laboratories). This trend data may help to demonstrate to auditors or customers that your past corrective actions have been effective. You can sort by product and analyte to view analyte performance trends.

You can determine the amount of time you would like to see presented in the graphics. This Inter-Lab ZScore graph depicts your historical results for the active analyte compared to the inter-laboratory results. You can click on either line to view more analyte details.

Recoveries that differed more than 15% from the inter-laboratory average are red.

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Advantage Reporting

Quality Improvement – Performance Trends at a Glance

interlaboratory comparisons. This page will help you to determine whether your performance is

improving/decreasing/staying-the-same for an analyte.

The colored boxes with evaluation letters inside designate your evaluation for the active analyte and a specific study. All products that include the active analyte are included in the map. (i.e..An analyte may be in multiple products, such as WP and WS.)

You can adjust the time period with the

Select a Date Rangedrop down menu or the white arrows that appear on the map. This value is much like a grade-point average you would have earned in school. To calculate this, a score is assigned to each of the evaluation levels as follows: Excellent = A (4.0) Good = B (3.0) Satisfactory = C (2.0) Opportunity = D (1.0) Immediate Concern = F (0.0) 1 2 3 4 3 4 2 1

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Advantage Reporting

Certification Trends at a Glance

The Certification Map tracks your certifications over time. You can sort by accrediting authority, analyte, and date range to view the certification details for an analyte. It also allows you to view your last evaluation that was not acceptable, the last two of three evaluations that were not acceptable, and the last two evaluations that were not acceptable.

To view analyte trend data, click on the analyte name in the first column of the Certification Map.

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Advantage Reporting

Certification History the Way You Want It

The Analyte Certification History Page presents the data you submitted to certifying officers by analyte. You can select an analyte and study (or all studies) to view the certification information for each analyte.

You can click on the officer's name to view certifying officer history and/or on the study name to view certification details.

The Certifying Officer History presents the data you submitted to certifying officers over time. You can sort by certifying officer and analyte to view the study info for which you reported results for an analyte to a specific officer. You can click on a study's name to view more certification detail about that study. 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

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Advantage Reporting

Study Trend Analysis – Monitoring Overall Facility Trends

The Study Performance Trend Page compares your historical study performance to other participating laboratories.

You can sort by date range to view the desired number of studies. The right side of the table (in green) presents inter-laboratory

benchmark data, including the total number of participating laboratories and the overall percent acceptable. Use the Study Reportslink to return to the APG Advantage homepage for the selected study.

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Advantage Reporting

Trending Data at Your Fingertips

The Trend Analysis offers a variety of report options to help you visually track your historical laboratory performance and the data you submitted to accrediting authorities over time. The reports listed in the right column are Quality

Improvement reports; these reports take your data one step further by presenting it in helpful trending formats.

These Trend Analysis reports include several graphical depictions of your performance, and they can help you to determine how your performance has changed over time. The information presented within these pages may prove to be an excellent source of marketing material and/or information for your accrediting officials to validate that your laboratory's past corrective actions are working to improve your performance as time progresses. Comprehensive Online Help Files are available.

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