Sigma-Aldrich PT Portal Sigma-Aldrich introduces our new proficiency testing data entry portal. The new portal can be accessed at www.sigmaaldrich.com/proficiencytesting and will be available in mid-July 2014. You can also access the new portal by going to www.rt-corp.com/reporting where you will be redirected to the new site. The new portal has been streamlined and will offer superior speed and ease of use. sigma-aldrich.com

If you have trouble getting started or need to contact our PT Group for any reason – click on the contact header and fill in the required fields with as much information as possible. This information will be forwarded to our PT Group who will follow up on the inquiry within 24 hours.

Reset Password Everyone will need to register their password to get access to the new portal. Our systems use an encryption system for password information that makes it impossible to copy the data over to the new portal – the purpose of the encryption is to keep your password information secure. If you had access to the old system all you need to do is click on the “Reset Password” quick guide at the bottom of the page, type in your email address and the verification code listed on the page and a temporary password will be sent to your email address. You will use this temporary password to access the system for the first time – you can change the password once you enter the portal. When setting a new password remember that it should be 5 characters in length and contain at least one character and one digit

This slide shows you the screen you get when you click reset password – you will need to enter your email address(the one that was active in the old system) and the verification code listed below it. If you can’t read the verification code click the white arrows inside the black box and a new verification code will appear. Once you hit submit a temporary password will be sent to your email address.

Register New Account If you do not have an account setup and would like to register for a new account, click on the Register New Account link.

You will have the option to either register a new laboratory and a new account as a laboratory administrator or register a new user for an existing laboratory(you will need to know your organization’s labcode to access this feature). Click on the appropriate link and complete the required fields to move through the registration process.

Register DMRQA This portion of the website will not be active until 2015 when DMRQA35 becomes available. It will operate in a similar manner to the old portal. All DMRQA functions for DMRQA34 and previous studies were handled on the old site and will not be available here.

System Tour Click on this link and get access to a pre-recorded presentation that explains the new portal.

Desktop Once logged in you are taken to the Home Page(Your Desktop). This page shows any open studies that your lab is participating in and any news or announcements pertinent to proficiency testing. To enter data for a study you can simply click on the blue text that contains the study name. We will come back to the data entry portion in just a few minutes but first let’s take a look at some of the other areas accessible from this page.

Lab Management Clicking on this header takes you to the Lab Management screen.

This screen contains all the details about your laboratory – you can double check the details and edit as needed. You will add Accrediting Agencies from this screen – you need to add all of your applicable accrediting agencies in this screen before they can be added to each individual study. You will also need to add all of your laboratory analysts and administrators in this screen. It is important to setup your lab analysts before data is entered. This new system requires that analysts be setup this way (instead of just entering their initials) so that tracking by analyst can be performed later(for purposes such as Demonstration of Capability, historical tracking etc..) Once you are done here click home in the upper left corner to go back to the home page.

Show studies page here From the Home Page - Click on the blue text containing the study name to enter that study.

This is the screen where you enter your data This is the screen where you enter your data. All of the products and analytes in those products will display in a single screen. The first task to perform is choose the accreditors that you want this data sent to – click the add field

Select the box next to the accreditor to send this data to them and click the submit button. If the accreditor you need is not listed you will need to go back to the Lab Management screen and add them.

You will see that the accreditor you added is now listed.

The next thing needed is to choose the correct method from the drop-down box. Only the methods that apply to the analysis of that particular analyte will be shown. If you would like a list of the methods that we use you can find it on the Nelac Institute website at www.nelac-institute.org. If you are using a method that is not on the NELAC list then you can choose “In-House Method” which will also be an option in the drop down box.

If you have a sample with multiple analytes and want to copy the method to all analytes within the sample simply enter the first method

Then click on the blue action box beside method

And the method will populate to all analytes And the method will populate to all analytes. The same procedure will be used to populate the analyst and date as well

If you try to enter a result without entering a method first an error message will appear.

You can view the preparation instructions for any sample listed by clicking on the sample name

This screen shows the preparation instructions listed.

Now enter your result – in 3 significant figures

Now choose your analyst Now choose your analyst. If the analysts does not show up in the drop-down box you can add them in the Lab Management screen.

Choose the analysis date

If you only want this particular analyte to go on your evaluation report(and not the report that goes to the accreditor) you can click the voluntary box

If you need to enter multiple methods for the same analyte you can click the add button

Then choose the item and analyte, the lot and click add

When you do this the analyte you selected will add and you can repeat the process to enter the data. Once the data is entered, review your entry and if acceptable click submit

When you submit you will be taken to a submit confirmation screen where you will have one more chance to review your data. If the data is correct you can click on submit. If the data contains an error you can cancel and be taken back to the previous screen to correct the error.

You will get a message that says Submitted successfully when the data is submitted

If you prefer to import a CSV file for your PT Data – click import on the data entry screen. You will still need to select your accreditor in this screen

If you have a file ready you can click browse and upload the file from your location.

If you need a template of the required CSV file you can click on the download template button. The inset shows a completed CSV file for this study. Once the file has been loaded hit submit and the system will upload the data.

When the file submits it will take you to the data entry screen for review. You can submit the data

And then submit or cancel(and correct) at the submit confirmation screen

Clicking on the study button at the top of the home page will take you to the studies page

When you click on the studies field you will be taken to a screen where you can see all of your current and past studies.

If you want to see the reporting packet that contains study information and preparation instructions click on the field that says download under the packet column

And a pdf of your reporting packet will download that contains all study information such as dates, sample information and preparation instructions

If the report is available the word download will appear under the report column and you can click on it to download a pdf of the evaluation report.

So – What’s Next? PT Data can be a valuable tool for your laboratory. This new portal was designed to be a critical tool for the laboratory when reporting and analyzing PT data. We value and need your feedback as we expand the functionality of this new data portal. Please feel free to send us your comments.

RTC Contact Info OR Email: RTCPTGroup@sial.com Phone: (307)742-5452 If you need assistance with the new portal and have questions you can click on contact on the home page, or email or call our PT Group.