Maintaining Methods
A method details the process required to perform an analytical preparation or test. It is usually associated with an operational document.
Method Scope
Methods are created either with org-scope or lab-scope. An organisation or laboratory can contain multiple methods.
Properties of a Method
A method can have multiple accreditation bodies. These are the organisations that can certify the application of the method.
Methods created at the organisation level are used by all laboratories within the organisation, provided the laboratory is within the same line of business.
Methods created at the laboratory level are used for specific work within the laboratory.
Use of Method
A method is the literal instructions and steps that must be performed for a specific test. These methods might:
- Be internationally recognised testing methods
- Be in-house methods developed for specific samples, conditions or even clients
- Detail the calculations that need to be performed
- Indicate the instruments required or even their specific conditions
- Include specification checking rules on the results obtained.
Establishing methods provides laboratories with standard techniques to apply to sample analysis, maintaining consistency in their application across the organisation.
Scheme versions are linked to methods.
Schemes vs Methods
A method is the literal instructions and steps that must be performed for a specific test.
A scheme is the codification and simplification of the method, and effectively just describes and holds the definition of the calculations and the parameters (analytes) to be measured.
The results of the method are held in the scheme and its analytes when they are applied to a sample. A single method could be represented by more than one scheme, as there could be alternatives or options available within the method.
In theory, a single scheme could be the definition of more than one method, but as the method details are typically reported to the client, it would mean that at some time in the life of the registration or analysis stages of a job, the specific method would need to be associated with the scheme on the sample. For this reason, we do not have a definition of multiple methods associated with a single scheme.
A method code is optional for a scheme, and some laboratories just incorporate the basic method details directly into the scheme, but the option to separate these two entities exists, if required.
It is the method that is certified or accredited, not the scheme.
Method Creation and Maintenance
Methods are created and maintained by the CCMTHD—Method application, accessed using the Analysis Setup » Method menu option.
Method Restrictions and Dependencies
Methods can be directly related to schemes. All analytical results of the method (that is, the sequence and steps for testing) are recorded in the scheme and its analytes when the method is applied to a sample.
Although multiple methods can be specified, only a single method can be associated with a scheme version. However, that single method may be used in multiple different scheme versions as applicable across a laboratory.
Methods can also be associated with an accreditation body, where a method is certified for the organisation and laboratory.
Permissions to CCMTHD
Methods in CCLAS can be defined with either Laboratory scope or Organisation scope. Access to these methods is controlled through user permissions so that users can only manage methods within their authorised scope. The system enforces scope-based permission checks to ensure that users can only search, create, update, or delete Methods within the scope allowed by their permissions.
These permission checks also apply to Method Accreditation Body records associated with a Method. That is, users can only create, update, or delete accreditation records if they have permission to manage the parent Method within that scope.
Related processes...