Business System Integration Quality information is required by many departments throughout an entire organization. A truly unique feature of INQAS is its ability to integrate the quality information with other business department information including purchasing, planning, production, inventory, engineering, research and development, and customer service. Instrument Interface Application INQAS reduces analysts' clerical work when importing data from instrument displays and reports into the INQAS database. lt minimizes transcribing errors and accelerates sample processing time. INQAS Business Information Exchange INQAS exchanges information with enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications. lt uses material requirements planning (MRP) to calculate laboratory equipment and personnel requirements. lt prioritizes laboratory samples based on production schedules. Inventory receipts trigger sampling worklists. Customer shipments are validated against customer quality specifications. Ingredients and intermediates traceability records are extracted from inventory transactions, reviewed, and included in the INQAS batch record. INQAS controls and synchronizes the quality status and the recertification and expiration dates of the ERP software application. Instrument Connectivity INQAS offers a client/server application (LABLINK) that runs on the personal computer and provides to the analyst a graphical interface to the Laboratory Information Management Module. LABLINK communicates with instruments that have RS232 output or are directly controlled by computer systems. The PC/instrument communication is achieved through a user-friendly system designed for laboratory instrument interacting Special windows help the user build, test, and implement the interface protocol between the PC and the instrument. The Application Server inputs and controls the client/server programs. Test methods pending analysis are selected in the Application Server through the PC. Before downloading the master documents, calculation formulas, input forms and all additional required information, INQAS verifies that the analyst is authorized to perform the selected test methods. The analyst confirms in the Application Server that the instrument to be used is in calibration and obtains from the database any standard or reagent value required to perform the analysis. The PC reads all preselected data from the instrument and calculates the test method result. The analyst reviews the test method result. and updates the database. All required data is stored in the Application database and any additional desirable data may be stored in compact discs for future reference. Statistics and Graphics Data required to be statistically or graphically analyzed is selected in the Application Server through the graphical interface and downloaded directly to Microsoft Office Excel for display.