IPReports continues to be the industry standard for providing professional and sleek looking validation reports, removing the need for users requiring ‘report days’ or spending hours sifting through long data sheets in other software.

In order for IPReports to sift through hours of data correctly, we use a function called ‘Data Sources’ that allow us to pinpoint the exact moments of sterilisation or disinfection relevant for the standards. This is important to know as it will require TQSoft data to be setup correctly before importing into the IPReports templates.

Data Sources can be seen by the end user by double clicking on any of the fields where data is pulled from TQSoft, allowing them to see what data is required for the report to be completed.

Take the below for example, in our Verification of Calibration template for Instrument Washers, the temperature and pressure needs to be taken during steady state conditions in Disinfection. IPReports then needs to know both the temperature probe and stage line from the data which to pull from.

Once the probes and stage lines are listed in TQSoft the data is automatically pulled into IPReports. Better yet if the Test Specification in TQSoft is setup correctly then this data will be pulled every time without much effort from the user.

During some parts of a cycle, especially the hold time, stages can happen very frequently, making your chart look messy as the stage names overwrite each other.

It is, however, very easy to adjust the stage names to make everything look neater…

Hover your cursor over the stage name until it changes to an up and down arrow.

Left click, hold and drag the name down the stage line to move it to some clear space.

Repeat for any other stage lines that are clashing with each other, and everything looks much neater and more professional.

Sometimes several different tests can be performed using the same cycle data, but a different number of probes are required. You don’t want to mark any probes as defective, as this would affect both tests, but only want to see one or two probes for one of your charts to make things clearer…

To simply remove a probe line from the chart (while keeping the data in the background, so as not to affect hold times etc.) look at the top left of the chart to find the probe key.

Simply click on the name of any probes not required on the chart, and they will be hidden from view. Here we have hidden all but the Drain and Pressure lines for an Automatic Control Test – hidden names can still be seen in the key, but are greyed out – to bring them back simply click the name again.

IPReports allows you to quickly add an additional chart to your report, zoomed in on a critical area such as the hold period, as well as showing where this zoom is focused… After importing your cycle chart, left click, hold and drag the cursor to create a box around the area you wish to zoom in on (note IPReports will automatically make the box the correct dimensions).

Click inside the box with the magnifying icon to zoom in.

Next, click on ‘Miniview’ in the toolbar – this will show where on the main chart the zoom is focused.

Finally, instead of clicking ‘Save’ as normal, click on ‘Snapshot’. This will keep the original full size chart, and create a new zoomed chart section immediately below it in the main report, so you can just close out of the chart without saving (which would replace the main chart with the zoom).

In Chapter 1, we looked at data sources in IPReports, which allow it to perform all sorts of calculations. As well as stage lines, one of the key pieces of information IPReports looks for is the relevant probe to draw data from – this is controlled by the Location in the TQSoft Test Specification.

As well as providing a data source for IPReports to work with, some TQSoft keywords are also used for calculations within TQSoft for automatic stage lines an lethality. Some keywords also have one or more synonyms – some are more relevant than others to a particular type of machine, but which you use is personal preference…

Drain, (or Vent, Discharge, Sump, Chamber) – this is the probe that is used to compare any measured temperatures with the machine display (for instance during an ACT), and should be viewed as a critical probe during testing.

Pressure (or just Pres) – pressure channel. If the pressure channel is not specified (i.e. the location is left blank) then the pressure trace will end up scaled the same way as the other channels (usually on a 0-150 scale, not very useful if you are reading 0-5 bar!)

Freespace (or Free) – Free space sensor used to compare the temperature between the drain & freespace during a small load thermometric test

Topsheet (or Top) – sensor under the top sheet of the test pack – used to compare the temperature between the topsheet and drain during a full load thermometric

Load (or Pack, Test, Centre) – sensor in the test pack or load – used to compare temperature of the drain and load during thermometric tests.

Not Used – this probe will be recorded and show on the chart/datalist but is not used in any calculations e.g.lethality, sterilising start stage insert etc.

Water (or Resev) – generally used for non-vacuum autoclaves, this probe is not used for calculating sterilising start & end, as it usually placed in the water reservoir.

One of the more complex examples of this is the saturated steam temperature calculation – this looks at the pressure value (which needs ‘PRES’ in the location name), checks the pressure units (in the General tab of the Test Specification), and then calculates the theoretical temperature. This is then subtracted from the temperature of the drain probe (called ‘DRAIN’ etc. in the location), and the value put in the correct box. If any of these are not present, the value will be incorrect.

Recording the serial numbers and calibration information of key pieces of equipment used for testing is required by most Standards and Guidance. IPReports works with TQsoft to import this into your Test Report automatically to ensure the correct details are filled out with the minimum of effort.

TQSoft allows you to enter details of all your test equipment, including make/model/serial number, calibration certificate number, calibration date and due date, and calibration house. This can be accessed by going to Setup/Test Equipment in TQSoft – you can then highlight each type of equipment, click ‘new’ and enter details for as many units as you like – just make sure you click ‘Save Changes’ after each one!

It is important that once you have entered the details of all of your test equipment you tick the box next to the one you are using at this moment in time – you can do this by either clicking on the box, or right clicking the description and then choosing ‘select’

When a piece of equipment has less than 1month left until its calibration due date, the description will be highlighted in pink, and tell you how many days you have left before the due date. Once the due date is passed, the highlight will change to red.

IMPORTANT – TQSoft takes a snapshot of the test equipment used when a calibration is performed. A copy of this, as well as the calibration itself, is attached to each test which uses that calibration. If you make any changes in the Test Equipment details (or select a different piece of equipment) this will not be reflected until you recalibrate to maintain a correct audit trail for the calibration.

Once a test has been completed, the ‘Equipment Used for Testing’ section of IPReports can be used to import all this information into your report in the usual way.

Note that if you have equipment that does not require calibration (for instance your datalogger), you can untick the ‘equipment calibrated’ box so you don’t end up with empty fields.

Any pieces of test equipment not being used can also be removed completely from the page by unticking the ‘Used in Testing ’box – this will grey out all fields associated with that equipment, and when the page is printed will be removed completely, with open fields below moving up the page so there are no gaps.

Some pieces of equipment are not used in TQSoft, but need their serial numbers recording – the type of equipment can be selected from the dropdown (and added in to the dropdown if required), and serial numbers etc. can be entered manually.

Frequently used manual fields will also remember what has been entered previously to reduce the amount of typing –simply click in the box and previous text will show in a dropdown.