Instrument Control and Data Acquisition Software – Clarity

Clarity – a Hub for Integration

Clarity is advanced Chromatography Data Station (CDS) software with optional modules for data acquisition, processing and instrument control.

The Power and Versatility of Clarity enables iChrom Solutions to use Clarity as the central control hub for multiple iChrom system configurations. These include Knauer chromatographic pumps and detectors, Microsaic mass spectrometers, as well as custom integration system solutions, employing products from a wide variety of suppliers.

iChrom Solutions

Clarity – Control, Acquisition, Ease-of Use, and Affordability.

Clarity’s wide range of data acquisition interfaces (A/D converters, LAN, USB, RS232) allows connection to virtually any gas or liquid chromatography (GC or LC).

Up to four independent chromatography systems can be simultaneously connected; up to 32 channels of data can be acquired from each system.

Control modules provide integrated control of selected instruments such as HPLC/UHPLCs, standalone pumps, detectors, autosamplers and others.

Extensions provide functions for specific separation techniques such as PDA, GPC analysis, Mass spectrometry or SST.

Clarity2Go in your iPhone or Android-powered mobile devices allows you to monitor running analyses from multiple installations of Clarity.

Clarity comes with extensive free support from DataApex as well as from the growing community of users in the Clarity Forum. DataApex’s one-on-one support of users has become a standard for the rest of the industry.

Clarity Features

The Perfect Balance of Power and Cost-Effectiveness

Many specialized HPLC/GC data systems are available in the overall chromatography market. Often, these systems are included with an instrumentation purchase. Due to the software customization for that particular instrument, integration of such software into the overall workflow of the laboratory can be complicated, due to lack of direct control over additional third-party instruments.

Compared to many smaller-scale solutions – products such as PeakSimple, ChromPerfect, Chrom&Spec, Borwin, Azur, Multichro or Chrom-Card - Clarity offers a very wide range of directly- controlled instruments, as well as optional Extensions for specific separation techniques.

At the higher end of the software spectrum, complex software solutions with a wide scope of features and scalable design - such as OpenLAB, EZChrom, ChemStation, Chromeleon, TotalChrom, GCSolution, LCSolutions, Galaxie, Atlas, Class-VP, Chromquest, Empower, and others - are usually quite expensive, with a steep learning curve for average users. These characteristics can be limiting factors for many customers.

Clarity, by contrast, is a highly scalable, medium-range solution which is easy to learn and competitively priced.

21CFR Part 11 Compliance

A number of tools are available to support 21CFR Part 11 compliance. These tools include:

  1. Software Validation
    Certificate of Software Validation is available upon request.
  2. Installation Qualification
    IQ (Installation Qualification) is an integral component of the station. This test monitors that the software has been properly installed and the results can be accessed from a printed protocol.
  3. Operational Qualification
    Validator for OQ (Operational Qualification) is an optional package available for testing and validating the station. This is accomplished simply with the use of our chromatogram generator and a software utility.
  4. Login with Password
  5. User Accounts
    Unique user profiles ensure accountability for results can be tracked to the unique user-level. The system allows a unique password-protected profile for each user. The user profile then defines in detail the user's rights within the station (e.g., authority to effect changes in the methods of measurement) and may limit access to only certain connected instruments.
  6. Password expiration and minimal length
  7. Electronic Signatures
    Electronic signatures are fully implemented. This electronic signature is stored with the name and date and supplemented with a set phrase (e.g. measured by, approved by, etc.). Two types of electronic signatures have been implemented: a) using user accounts b) using a certificate. The signature information associated with the signing that indicates the printed name of the signer, the date/time, and the meaning, is included in any readable form of the records (see paragraph 11).
    (NOTE - Certificates used for electronic signatures are not part of Clarity installation and such certificates are to be provided by certification authorities. DataApex and iChrom Solutions do not issue certificates for electronic signatures.)
  8. Audit Trail
    An Audit Trail for the entire system, chromatograms, calibrations and sequences is provided. Audit Trails are part of corresponding files. Detailed logs and histories of modifications enable accountability for all changes to chromatograms. The Clarity station documents all parameters describing all conditions and methods of data processing.
  9. Record of all changes
    History of all methods and calibrations are included as a subset of individual chromatograms.
  10. System Suitability Test
    Method performance and system consistency monitoring allow facile system suitability verification.
  11. Printed reports
    Page numbering, labeled with date and time of analysis and print out, includes information about applied electronic signatures. Reports can be printed to electronically signed PDF files.