All smiles (nearly) at NORAC! Kim & Jamie are ready to talk Alpha Tracker and our new software platform... codename "Elements"

Kim & Jamie are at the NORAC Conference in Manchester today, and their photos give us a little flavour of the day: a room full of asbestos professionals, our Alpha Tracker stand ready for visitors, and two smiling faces (well, one... that's as close as we get to a smile from Jamie!).

Kim & Jamie

As we mentioned in yesterday’s post, they’re there to answer your Alpha Tracker questions, hear your ideas and give you a look at our brand new software platform.

Kim at the Alpha Tracker stand — coffee and chocolates at the ready!

Whether you already use Alpha Tracker in your asbestos consultancy or want to find out how it could help your consultancy, pop over for a chat. Bring along that “how do I…?” question, tell us about a task you’d love to make easier, or ask for a quick demonstration. Kim & Jamie can also arrange a longer live demo for you in October.

Delegates gathering in the conference room

Events like NORAC are a valuable chance to listen to the people using our software and hear about the challenges facing asbestos consultancies. Those conversations help shape what we develop next.

If you’re at NORAC today, come and say hello — and don’t leave without asking to see what’s new!

Support Desk Performance: September 2026

Our Support Desk team solved 881 support requests during September 2026. This represents a return to typical volume following the quieter month of August, and is consistent with the number of tickets resolved in the same period last year.

Across the Start Software product family—including Alpha Tracker, Greenfield, and ecoScribe—we completed 89.78% of all requests within their target response and resolution times. For high-priority requests, this figure was 94.19%.

Our year-to-date performance is as follows:

• 8,076 total requests solved.
• 7,433 completed within target response and resolution times.
• 1,423 high-priority requests completed within target times.

Compared with August, the team handled a significantly higher workload, resolving 141 more requests than the previous month. Despite this increase in volume, our efficiency improved, with the percentage of requests completed on time rising from 87.28% to 89.78%.

The majority of requests this month related to Alpha Tracker, which accounted for 629 of the solved tickets. We also saw steady activity across our other products, including Greenfield. From a regional perspective, the UK desk handled 695 requests, while our Australia and New Zealand teams resolved 174.

The most common themes for support this month involved data queries and server disk space management. We have also focused on document production queries and addressing software bugs identified during use. Our team added 13 new articles to the knowledge base this month to assist with self-service and identified 106 further opportunities to improve our documentation and automated help systems.

We would like to thank our Support Desk team for their hard work during a busy month and our customers for their continued feedback and cooperation.

If you require technical assistance, please contact the Support Desk in the usual way or visit our support page: Start Software support.

Heading to NORAC? Look out for Kim & Jamie from Alpha Tracker!

Kim and Jamie are heading to the NORAC Conference tomorrow, Thursday 1 October, at the Manchester Marriott Victoria & Albert Hotel. If you’re going too, make sure you say hello!

Jamie & Kim at NORAC 2026

Whether you’re already an Alpha Tracker user or simply curious about what our software could do for your asbestos consultancy, they’d love to chat.

Ask them anything about Alpha Tracker. Bring your questions, share your ideas, or tell them about that everyday task you’d love to make easier. It’s a great opportunity to talk through how you work and what you need from your software.

And if you’d like a sneak peek at what’s new, ask Kim and Jamie to show you our brand new software platform! We’re excited to give you a look and hear what you think.  They can also book you in for a live demo in October.

We always enjoy catching up with clients and meeting new people from across the asbestos industry. Those conversations help us understand your challenges and shape what we develop next.

See you at NORAC — and don’t be shy about asking for a demo!

AI and Alpha Anywhere: Robin shares practical tips in latest Alpha Software webinar

Can AI help you understand an unfamiliar Alpha Anywhere component, improve your Xbasic code or check the design of a running application?

Start Software’s Robin Bennett has just presented a webinar with Alpha Software showing how to put AI to work on real Alpha Anywhere projects. The recording will be available on YouTube in a few days, so keep an eye out if you missed the live session.

Robin ready to present

Robin started with a look back at his June 2023 webinar, in which he demonstrated creating a universal database generator with ChatGPT and Alpha Anywhere.

Three years ago! Back when Alpha webinars were 50 minutes long and we were experimenting with free AI tools. These days, Start Software’s monthly AI spend runs into four figures — a reflection of how much these tools have become part of our everyday work.

Robin even wondered whether that early demonstration meant he could claim to have invented “vibe coding”. We’ll leave that debate to the historians!

This time, the focus was on practical ways Alpha developers can use AI, including:

• Planning an application: turning an idea into suggested screens and a database structure, using a travel and memories app for a 30th wedding anniversary as an example.

• Improving Xbasic: asking AI to review code, suggest optimisations and help investigate errors, including errors supplied as screenshots.

• Reviewing API code: exploring improvements to an existing REST API, including authorisation with a separate API key for each operation.

• Understanding a component: supplying an Alpha Anywhere UX component saved in JSON format and asking AI to explain its behaviour and identify possible bugs.

• Checking design consistency: using ChatGPT’s agent capabilities to navigate a web application and review its screens.

These are useful starting points for anyone maintaining or developing an Alpha application. AI can help you investigate unfamiliar code, explore an idea and spot things that deserve closer attention. Developer review and testing remain essential.

At Start Software, that work builds on experience with Alpha Anywhere stretching back to 2011. We develop and support business applications worldwide, working across Alpha Anywhere, Alpha TransForm and Alpha Cloud.

UPDATE: The webinar is now on YouTube for you to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vqxx2qGed9E

Microsoft Edge fix released for Alpha Tracker browser issue

Good news for Alpha Tracker users affected by the recent browser issue: Microsoft has released a fix in Microsoft Edge version 153.0.4234.48. The issue could cause Alpha Tracker to become unresponsive or stop responding to clicks.

If you use Edge, enter edge://settings/help in the address bar to check for updates. Install any available update and restart Edge to complete it. If your organisation manages browser updates centrally, your IT team may need to make the update available.

Google Chrome’s fix was already available when we first reported the issue. If Alpha Tracker still becomes unresponsive after updating and restarting your browser, please contact Alpha Tracker Support so we can investigate.

Temporary Support Arrangements for Australia & New Zealand

We wanted to let our Australian and New Zealand Alpha Tracker clients know about a temporary change to our usual support arrangements from Tuesday 22 September to Monday 12 October.

Judy is on her travels - we're still here to support you 24x7

Judy will be travelling during this period. She will still be working, but not from her normal timezone, so Jaime in our Adelaide office will be taking the lead on day-to-day support for our Australian and New Zealand clients, supported by our wider overseas support team.

Please continue to contact us as normal

There is no change to how you should get in touch with Alpha Tracker Support:

Email: support@alpha-tracker.com.au
Call: 1300 946 130

Our support service will continue to operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and all calls will be answered as usual.

During this temporary period, we would ask clients to allow for slightly longer resolution times than normal in some cases, particularly where an issue needs input from a particular member of the team.

Jaime and the wider support team will be working together to make sure queries continue to be handled promptly and that any urgent issues receive the attention they need.

Judy will return to her normal working arrangements from Tuesday 13 October, at which point our usual Australia and New Zealand support arrangements will resume.

Thank you for your understanding, and as always, please don't hesitate to contact the support team if you need us.

Recent Edge and Chrome updates may cause Alpha Tracker to become unresponsive

We are aware of a browser issue that may cause Alpha Tracker to become unresponsive or stop responding to mouse clicks for some users.

Microsoft has confirmed a known issue affecting Microsoft Edge version 153. The issue can cause web applications to become unresponsive during normal use. Because the problem originates in the Chromium browser technology, it has also affected Google Chrome version 153.

Check and update your browser

Enter the appropriate address below into your browser’s address bar:

• Microsoft Edge: edge://settings/help
• Google Chrome: chrome://settings/help

Google has released an updated version of Chrome containing a fix. Chrome users should install all available updates and then restart the browser.

A fix for Microsoft Edge is still pending.

Recommended workaround for Edge users

If Alpha Tracker becomes unresponsive while using Microsoft Edge:

• Refresh the page or restart Edge. This may restore access temporarily.
• Temporarily use the latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox.
• Contact your IT team or Alpha Tracker Support for advice if you cannot use another browser.

Organisations managing Edge centrally may also consider temporarily returning affected users to Edge version 152 until Microsoft releases the fix. Browser rollbacks should be performed by your IT administrator.

This is a confirmed browser-related issue rather than a fault within Alpha Tracker. We are monitoring the situation and will provide further guidance when Microsoft releases an updated version of Edge.

For further technical information, see Microsoft Edge known issues.

Welcome to the Alpha Tracker Family, Tetra Tech!

We’re delighted to welcome Tetra Tech as the latest UK consultancy to join the Alpha Tracker family.

Tetra Tech is a major technical, engineering and environmental consultancy, with more than 6,000 employees across its UK, Ireland and Netherlands operations and a much wider global presence.

Their UK health, safety and compliance teams have extensive expertise across areas that are particularly close to home for us at Alpha Tracker, including fire safety, asbestos management and legionella/water quality. Their services range from fire risk assessment and fire engineering through to asbestos and legionella consultancy and accredited training.

So, naturally, we’re very pleased that Alpha Tracker will now be supporting the Tetra Tech team in managing this work.

Training Underway

The project has now reached another important milestone, with Tetra Tech completing their first Alpha Tracker training session with Kim from the Start Software team.

Some of the photos from the first training session

As the photos show, it was very much a hands-on session — phones out, screens up and plenty of discussion around how Alpha Tracker will work in practice for the team.

For us, those first training sessions are always an exciting point in a new implementation. The software starts moving from being a project into something people will actually be using every day.

Another Major Consultancy Chooses Alpha Tracker

It’s particularly satisfying to see another multidisciplinary UK consultancy choosing Alpha Tracker to help manage its compliance work.

Alpha Tracker has been developed specifically around the workflows of asbestos, legionella/water hygiene and fire consultancies, bringing surveying, scheduling, field data collection, reporting and management information together in one system.

We’re looking forward to working with the Tetra Tech team as their implementation progresses and seeing Alpha Tracker put to work across another leading UK consultancy.

Welcome aboard, Tetra Tech!

And a big thank you to everyone involved in the first training session — particularly Kim for getting the team off to a great start.

Are you an asbestos lab? We may have new work for you - get in touch

Do you run a UK asbestos laboratory using Alpha Tracker?

We have a new Alpha Tracker asbestos consultancy wanting to connect

We’ve recently welcomed a large UK asbestos consultancy to Alpha Tracker, and they’re looking to connect with asbestos laboratories around the country who also use our software.

They have laboratory analysis work available and are keen to speak to potential lab partners, so this could be a great opportunity to pick up some additional business.

If you’re interested, please get in touch with Zac Marshall at zac.marshall@start-software.com and we’ll be very happy to make an introduction.

It’s always good to see Alpha Tracker customers working together!

Why Your Email Account Is More Valuable Than You Think

We recently listened to an interesting episode of BBC Radio 4’s Scam Secrets – The Power of Your Email – and it’s a useful reminder of just how valuable access to an email account can be to criminals.

The BBC "Scam Secrets" series is full of useful cybersecurity advice

For many of us, email sits at the centre of our digital lives. If someone gains access to your inbox, they may be able to reset passwords for other services, discover where you bank or shop, and learn a surprising amount about your personal and professional life.

The programme highlights some particularly worrying examples. Fraudsters have been known to monitor property transactions, waiting for the right moment to impersonate a solicitor and provide alternative bank details for a house-sale payment. Because they have access to the email account, they can potentially delete messages as well, making their activity much harder to spot.

Passwords Aren’t Enough

One of the key messages from the programme is that we need to move beyond relying solely on passwords.

The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) increasingly recommends stronger authentication methods, and passkeys are becoming an important part of that change. Passkeys are designed to be both easier to use and much harder for criminals to steal or trick you into revealing.

It’s also worth reviewing account recovery options. Traditional security questions such as “What was the name of your first pet?” can often be guessed, researched through social media or discovered from other compromised information.

A Few Minutes Well Spent

It’s worth taking a few minutes to check the security of your most important email accounts:

• Enable multi-factor authentication if you haven’t already.

• Use a passkey where your email provider supports one.

• Review the recovery email addresses and phone numbers associated with your account.

• Remove weak or outdated security questions where possible.

• Check for unfamiliar forwarding rules or login activity.

Email security isn’t simply about protecting your messages. Your inbox can effectively be the master key to many of your other online accounts.

The BBC programme is well worth a listen:

BBC Radio 4 – Scam Secrets: The Power of Your Email
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0030yr5

Beyond the Support Ticket: Using AI to Fix Problems at Their Source

Every month, we publish our Alpha Tracker support statistics as part of our general Support Desk update. We do this because we think customers should be able to see how we're performing — including the months when the figures aren't quite as strong as we'd like.

August was one of those months.

During August, 87.20% of support problems were resolved within our target time, compared with 93.18% in July. Summer holidays inevitably had an impact on the team, although we're pleased that 95.20% of our high-priority problems were still resolved on time.

But this month, we'd like to talk about something a little more interesting than percentages.

What if the best support ticket is one that never needs to be raised?

Over recent months we've been developing our own AI-powered Helpdesk system, and one of the areas we're particularly excited about is its ability to help us look beyond individual support tickets.

Our Root Cause Analysis stats in our new AI-powered Helpdesk system

Resolving a customer's immediate problem is obviously important. But sometimes that ticket is a symptom of something else.

Perhaps several customers have encountered variations of the same issue. Perhaps a process is unnecessarily confusing. Perhaps there's something in Alpha Tracker that could be improved so that the question simply doesn't arise again.

Our new system helps us identify those patterns.

Rather than treating every support request as an isolated event, it can help flag tickets that may warrant a Root Cause Analysis. We can then investigate the underlying issue, decide what needs to change and — importantly — track that work through to completion.

That last part matters.

It's very easy to say "we ought to fix that properly". It's rather more useful to have a system which makes sure somebody actually does.

Turning support into product improvement

Our new Root Cause Analysis dashboard is already giving us a different perspective on the workload coming into the helpdesk.

It currently identifies around 83 support tickets per month as potentially preventable through the root-cause work already under way. We've also recorded 56 problems fixed at source.

That might mean a software change, an improvement to documentation, a change to a process or another permanent resolution.

The goal is simple: don't just answer the question more quickly — remove the reason for somebody having to ask it again.

AI is particularly useful here because of the volume of information involved. Humans are very good at investigating an individual issue, but spotting recurring themes across hundreds of support conversations is exactly the sort of task where AI can provide some additional help.

The decisions remain with our team, of course. The AI helps us find the patterns; our support and development teams decide what they mean and what we should do about them.

August's support figures

For completeness, here are our latest results:

Month	Problems resolved on time	High-priority resolved on time	Problems solved
March	92.67%	97.93%	996
April	93.21%	97.92%	869
May	94.27%	96.07%	803
June	94.43%	98.33%	952
July	93.18%	97.41%	982
August	87.20%	95.20%	742

Across those six months, the team has resolved 5,344 support problems.

August's overall result isn't where we'd like it to be, and we'll be working to bring that back up as the holiday period comes to an end.

At the same time, though, we're increasingly measuring support success in another way too: how many future problems can we prevent?

If our new helpdesk helps us answer today's support ticket faster, that's good.

If it helps make sure tomorrow's support ticket never happens at all, that's even better.

Six ways to use AI with Alpha Tracker

AI is changing the way we use business software.

Until recently, most software worked in a fairly predictable way. You logged in, found the right screen, entered some information, clicked some buttons and ran a report.

AI gives us some completely new possibilities.

What if you could simply ask questions about your Alpha Tracker data?

What if you could build a small app for your business, working alongside Alpha Tracker and connected to your Alpha Tracker data, without employing a development team?

What if an AI agent could take care of some of those repetitive Alpha Tracker admin jobs?

What if AI could check your data and reports before they reached your clients?

These aren't just theoretical ideas. They're things we're already experimenting with and - more importantly - so are you, our wonderful Alpha Tracker users.  You've shared so many of your ideas, prototypes and plans with us - and we're as excited as you!

We've added a new Using AI with Alpha Tracker section to our Integrations page, looking at six ways Alpha Tracker users can start taking advantage of AI.

1. Build your own apps

Tools such as Lovable, Bolt.new and Replit are making it surprisingly easy to build web applications using AI.

This is sometimes called "vibe coding".

Because Alpha Tracker has an API, there's an interesting opportunity here. You can build your own specialist dashboard, internal tool, client application or workflow and connect it securely to the data held in Alpha Tracker.

Alpha Tracker remains your core business system, but you aren't restricted to the screens and tools that we build.

That's a big change.

2. Talk to your data

Alpha Tracker contains an enormous amount of information about your business.

Projects. Quotes. Clients. Sites. Surveyors. Appointments. Turnaround times. Invoices. Results. Reports.

Traditionally, getting answers from that data has involved reports, Excel, Power BI or perhaps a database query.

AI adds another possibility.

Imagine asking:

"Which clients have placed fewer orders with us this year?"

or:

"Which projects have been open for more than 30 days?"

or even:

"Summarise our performance this month and tell me anything unusual."

We believe that the data in Alpha Tracker is your data, and we're looking at ways of making it easier to use safely with modern AI analysis tools.

3. Use our AI tools

We've spent much of 2026 experimenting with AI ourselves.

We've built and demonstrated tools that can analyse photographs, examine information about buildings, extract information from documents and help with report quality control.

Some will remain experiments.

Some ideas won't work as well as we hoped.

And some will become genuinely useful features within Alpha Tracker.

That's exactly how we think AI development should work: experiment quickly, find the things that provide real value and then turn the best ideas into useful tools.

You can see some of our latest experiments on our AI Tools page.

4. Give some work to an AI agent

This is where things get particularly interesting.

An AI agent doesn't just answer questions. With the right permissions, it can actually do things.

For example, an agent connected to Alpha Tracker might be able to:

• add a purchase order number to a quotation

• turn a won quotation into a project

• find outstanding work

• update project information

• find an available surveyor

• book an appointment

• close completed jobs

Instead of learning which screen to use and which buttons to press, you might simply tell your AI agent what you want done.

Naturally, security and control are essential. Agents should only be able to access the information and functions they have been authorised to use, with human approval where appropriate.

Our prototype Tracker Agent product can do all of this and more - and it's ready to demonstrate.

5. Let AI help with QC

Quality control is hugely important to Alpha Tracker users.

Your reputation depends on the quality of the information you collect and the reports you issue.

AI can provide another pair of eyes.

It can potentially look for missing information, inconsistencies, unusual values, contradictory answers and other things that might deserve a closer look.

We see AI-powered QC as a first-pass check, supporting your technical team rather than replacing professional judgement.

If AI can spot an issue before a report reaches your client, that's a very practical use of the technology.

6. What haven't we thought of yet?

This might be the most important one.

We know Alpha Tracker extremely well.

You know your business extremely well.

There will almost certainly be opportunities to use AI that neither of us has considered yet.

Think about the repetitive jobs in your business.

The spreadsheets people keep updating.

The emails somebody has to read.

The information somebody has to copy from one place to another.

The reports somebody has to check.

The questions managers repeatedly ask.

Could AI help?

We're very happy to explore ideas with Alpha Tracker users.

Take a look

We've added all six areas to our Using AI with Alpha Tracker section on the Alpha Tracker Integrations page.

If something sparks an idea, get in touch.

You might already have the next Alpha Tracker AI feature sitting in your business, waiting to be discovered.

There's still time to donate for Cancer Research UK

The Telford team have just received their medal from Cancer Research UK, what a lovely surprise!

We'll put the medal on our (small) trophy shelf!

It was some feat to cycle 300 miles in one day as a group, and you can still how we did it here https://blog.start-software.com/2026/07/we-made-it-300-miles-in-one-day-for.html

If you were thinking of donating to this vital cause, but hadn't got round to it, please do - there's still time.  Click here and follow the instructions, thank you!  https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/robins-giving-page-2044

AI, Integrations, APIs, MCP Servers... we're striving to make Alpha Tracker even more open, connected, and accessible for our consultancy clients

Over the last week, we've had countless conversations with asbestos consultancies and water hygiene businesses wanting to make more of the data we store for them in Alpha Tracker.

We've always had a basic principle (which you can read on our website): data in Alpha Tracker is your data, stored in our database.  We've always tried hard to open up the system (securely, naturally) so that you have the right access to your data from wherever you need it.

Read about the Alpha Tracker integrations

Our focus now is on making it easier for you to integrate AI agents with your data.  We are using AI ourselves as we build the next generation of Alpha Tracker and related products and we know that many consultancy clients are also exploring the world of AI to improve productivity.

Want to know more about our AI plans?  Get in touch with Jack or Robin.

Isn't the summer supposed to be a quiet time for business? Two Alpha Tracker orders received - it's a hot week!

Things are heating up at Alpha Tracker!

It’s hot out there. And, as it happens, things are getting pretty hot here at Alpha Tracker too!

The UK is in the middle of another spell of exceptionally hot weather, with this summer already delivering repeated heatwaves. Yesterday, 13 August, temperatures reached a provisional 38.1°C at Kew Gardens, making it the hottest day of 2026 so far.

Meanwhile, our own thermometer seems to be heading in the same direction.

We’ve just received two new Alpha Tracker orders, and at the same time we’re seeing a really healthy flow of new enquiries from organisations looking at how Alpha Tracker can help them manage asbestos, water hygiene, fire risk and other compliance work.

It’s always exciting to welcome new customers, but it’s particularly encouraging to see so many new conversations starting at the same time.

There is a lot happening with Alpha Tracker at the moment. We’re continuing to develop the current system, helping customers get more from the software they already use, while also working towards the next generation of Alpha Tracker technology.

And judging by the number of organisations currently talking to us, there is plenty more to come.

So, while the rest of the country searches for shade, cold drinks and somewhere near an air-conditioning unit, the Alpha Tracker team will be keeping busy.

Two new orders, lots of new enquiries and plenty happening behind the scenes.

It really is turning into a hot summer for Alpha Tracker.

A huge thank you, as always, to our customers, partners and everyone recommending Alpha Tracker to others.

Client visit for Catherine - on the other side of the world!

Catherine took a day out of her family holiday to visit an important Australian user of asbestos software Alpha Tracker.

Monash University in Melbourne has complex needs for asbestos software, both internally and for their contractors.  Judy and her team have been working with Monash to ensure that Alpha Tracker is customised to suit their requirements, and she has built a strong working relationship with the Monash team.

The UK Alpha Tracker team - Jack & Catherine in particular - have been supporting Judy and have come to know the Monash project team, too.  During her holiday "down under", Catherine was able to visit Monash and Director Theresa to catch up and ensure that all priorities are known and understood.  Judy - full of cold - joined remotely.

Lovely picture Theresa, Catherine & Judy!  Thanks Theresa for your hospitality, it was great for Catherine to catch up in person.

Alpha Tracker Support Desk Update: July 2026

Our Support Desk team solved 982 support requests during July, making it our second-busiest month of 2026 so far.

Despite the high volume of enquiries, 93.18% of all requests were completed within their target response and resolution times. For high-priority requests, the figure was even stronger, with 97.41% completed on time.

During the first six months covered by our latest figures, the team has now:

• Solved 5,528 support requests

• Completed 5,159 requests within their target times

• Completed 985 high-priority requests within their target times

July’s overall performance was slightly below June’s figure of 94.43%, but the team continued to provide a consistently high standard of support while handling nearly 1,000 completed requests.

Thank you, as always, to our Support Desk team for their hard work, and to our customers for the positive feedback, patience and cooperation they give us.

If you need help with Alpha Tracker, please contact our Support Desk (UK or Aus/NZ) in the usual way. We are always happy to help.

Thanks for joining the Release 42 Webinar for Alpha Tracker. Watch the recording here

Our new webinar technology (Whereby) wasn't quite as slick as we'd have liked, but it was a fun Alpha Tracker webinar, anyway! We had a good turn-out, thank you - there's always lots to show and discuss.

Kim, Jack & Zac on our live webinar

You can see all of the Release 42 highlights on our website https://alpha-tracker.co.uk/latest-release and you can watch the recording of the webinar below.

Dan & I tried to join the webinar from the road to say hello, from our 300 Miles in One Day challenge.  We managed to join (with ropey signal from a Welsh mountain) but apparently no-one could hear us!  Here's a video we recorded just before the webinar, instead:

Thanks again for joining the webinar and keep an eye on the Alpha Tracker roadmap to see upcoming new releases during 2026.

We made it! 300 Miles in One Day for Cancer Research UK

We're so proud of the UK Start Software team!  Between us, we cycled 300 miles in one day for Cancer Research UK, a charity very close to our hearts.

Some of the photos from the day

Dan & Robin cycled to the Welsh coast together, while the rest of the UK team peddled on a static bike, relay-style, on the balcony outside our Telford office.  Lucas brought us over the line with Adam adding a final flourish!

You can replay the day, and add your own donation (thanks in advance!) here: https://300-miles.start-software.ai/

Click to replay the day

New Alpha Tracker Document Maker ready to deploy. Faster, more robust, better all around

CTO Jack and the team have completed the new version of the Alpha Tracker Document Maker (ATDM)—the workhorse behind report production for most asbestos consultancies using Alpha Tracker.  

The new ATDM is part of Alpha Tracker Release 42.1 per the 2026 roadmap: https://alpha-tracker.co.uk/roadmap with more to come in the next few weeks.

Jack & Jamie testing asbestos report production

The changes include:

• faster document production
  
  
• the ability for ATDM to recover from a server crash without needing to start a document from scratch 
  
  
• a new mechanism to produce the survey pages making it much more reliable for large (>1,000 page) survey reports.

Zac & the Support Team will be rolling out the upgrade to systems over the next few weeks.  Early reports from beta testing clients are very positive.

300 Miles in One Day! Follow along during the day and help us to raise funds for Cancer Research

On Tuesday 28 July, we're trying to cycle 300 miles in one day for Cancer Research UK.  It's not going to be easy but we're a determined bunch and this is a cause close to our hearts.

Follow our progress at https://300-miles.start-software.ai

We've built an app so you can track progress.  Follow along here!  https://300-miles.start-software.ai

What's new in Alpha Tracker Release 42? Is it the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything?

42 is famously the answer to the ultimate question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.  Take a look at The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy if you don't know the reference!

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was a work of genius

Alpha Tracker Release 42 is not quite that, but it is still a huge update, with the usual hundreds of improvements, new features, performance enhancements and bug fixes.

Important! It will probably also be the final major update to the core Alpha Tracker system before we begin rolling out our complete rewrite, built using a new technology stack, later in 2026. You can read more about our plans on the Alpha Tracker roadmap.

Jack, Ferry, Judy, Kim and the rest of the team have had a lot of fun creating this release. As always, we have also worked hard to implement ideas and suggestions from our wonderful customers.

Release 42 highlights

• More than 600 improvements and updates across every area of Alpha Tracker

• Major Water Hygiene enhancements, including clearer risk logic to improve how water risks are presented on the Client Portal

• A new LRA Review water project type, making it easier to revisit, review and update information from previous Legionella Risk Assessments

• Instant AI analysis of survey items from photographs, helping surveyors assess materials more quickly and consistently

• Further support for Australian asbestos material assessment scoring, helping asbestos teams work in line with updated Australian requirements

• A new Report Dashboard on the Home screen, giving teams a clearer overview of report production across their projects

• Improved Alpha Tracker performance, thanks to an updated version of the underlying software framework

• Faster imports using the Alpha Tracker Work Queue, improving the speed of some of our most popular data imports

• Improved site-sharing visibility, making it clearer which sites have been shared and helping teams manage access more confidently

• Enhanced site register controls, including a new hidden-items tab and site-level QR-code password protection for greater control over site information

Update on the new software framework

We have received a small number of reports of instability following the framework update. As of 25 July 2026, we believe we have identified and fixed the issue, and deployment of the fix to affected systems is under way.

More Info & Webinar

Full details of Alpha Tracker Release 42, including the Release Notes and Highlights document, are available on our latest release page.

You can also join us for our Release 42 webinar on Tuesday 28 July at 11:30am.  Find out more and register for the Release 42 webinar

300 miles. One day. One team. Please help us support Cancer Research UK

On Tuesday 28 July, the Start Software and Alpha Tracker UK team will be taking on an ambitious office challenge for Cancer Research UK.

Together, we are going to cycle 300 miles in a single day.

Thankfully, we aren’t expecting everyone to squeeze onto one bike.

Telford to the Welsh coast

Dan and Robin will set off from our Telford office and cycle approximately 75 miles each to Aberdyfi on the Welsh coast.

Looks like Robin needs to practice wearing his helmet

Back at Base

Meanwhile, back at Start Software HQ, the rest of our UK team will complete the remaining 150 miles as a relay on a static bike outside the office.

Kim spinning her wheels

That means the pedals will need to keep turning throughout the day, whatever the weather and however tired everyone’s legs become!

Please visit our Cancer Research UK fundraising page and make a donation

Why we are doing it

Cancer has affected several members of the Start Software team.

Some of us have lost people we love. Others are currently experiencing cancer first-hand, trying to carry on with everyday life while undergoing treatment, attending appointments and living with continual tests and monitoring.

It is something that touches almost every family, friendship group and workplace.

We wanted to do something positive together, while raising money to support Cancer Research UK’s vital work to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer.

Watch us live during the Release 42 webinar

Because cycling 300 miles in a day apparently isn’t enough of a challenge, we are doing it on the same day as our Alpha Tracker Release 42 webinar!

The webinar takes place on:

Tuesday 28 July 2026
11:30am–12:15pm UK time

You will be able to see how the challenge is progressing live during the webinar, including the office relay team pedalling away in the background. We are also hoping to bring you updates from Dan and Robin as they make their way towards the coast.

Alongside the cycling, we will still be showing you the highlights of Release 42, what has changed in Alpha Tracker and some of the exciting developments coming next.

Register for the Release 42 webinar on LinkedIn

You can also find information about the webinar on our Alpha Tracker webinars page.

Please help us reach our target

Every donation, large or small, will encourage the team and help Cancer Research UK continue its life-saving research.

Please donate through our official fundraising page:

Donate to the Start Software Cancer Research UK challenge

You can also help enormously by sharing the page with your colleagues, friends and family.

Thank you for supporting us. We will keep the pedals turning, and we hope you will join us online to cheer everyone on!

300 miles. One day. One team. Together, we can help beat cancer.

24 July update: https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/robins-giving-page-2044?feed=56da40e4-fd8c-40d2-84e8-dc66543336b2

The Alpha Tracker API has been updated

Jack and the team have updated the Alpha Tracker API with new and improved endpoints.  The appointment endpoints have had the most focus to give clients more opportunity to retrieve schedules into other software systems.

The Alpha Tracker API enables other systems to securely connect to Alpha Tracker

View all of the Alpha Tracker integrations here: https://alpha-tracker.co.uk/integrations

Serious faces - serious business! We've completed our next Traction/EOS Away Day

We've been in Birmingham for our leadership team Away Day.  We follow the Traction/EOS process - it's brilliant - and each quarter we set our goals (rocks) and plans and review where we are.

Catherine, Dan, Jack, Robin in planning mode

This was a serious day where we made significant changes to the shape of our business, introducing AI into our support process and planning the next AI-powered version of Alpha Tracker.

We're sharing the plans with our team first, then we'll be communicating with our wonderful clients.

Release 42 Webinar - Tues 28 July @ 11:30 - 12:15. It's time to register!

Join us for our Alpha Tracker Release 42 Webinar on Tuesday 28 July @ 11:30 - 12:15.

Join Kim, Robin & the team

We'll show you what's new, what's changed, and what's coming up next in the Alpha Tracker Roadmap.

Click here to register https://www.linkedin.com/events/7482403111265996800?viewAsMember=true  - or join on the day at whereby.com/alpha-tracker-webinar.

Cloud issue affecting Alpha Tracker has been resolved

We are pleased to confirm that the cloud issue affecting Alpha Tracker users in the UK earlier today has now been resolved.

Cloud issues are now resolved

The incident caused slow access and, for some users, difficulties connecting to or logging into Alpha Tracker during the morning of Friday 10 July 2026.

Our team worked closely with our cloud technical support specialists to investigate the problem and restore normal service. Alpha Tracker is now available again and systems are operating normally.

We are continuing to monitor the service closely and will review the incident to understand what happened and whether any further steps can be taken to reduce the risk of a similar disruption.

We are very sorry for the inconvenience caused, particularly to teams who rely on Alpha Tracker throughout their working day.

Thank you to everyone affected for your patience and understanding while the problem was being resolved.

Cloud issue affecting Alpha Tracker ** Friday 10 July 2026 **

Friday 10 July 2026 11:50.

We are sorry but an issue in the cloud has affected Alpha Tracker for many UK users throughout the morning.

The Alpha Cloud cloud has a major issue this morning

Symptoms will include slow access or difficulties connecting or logging in.

We are working with our cloud technical support to diagnose and resolve.  We will update affected clients as soon as we are able.

Thank you for your patience.

Welcome Bridgend Asbestos Services to the Alpha Tracker family

Welcome Bridgend Asbestos Services to the Alpha Tracker family!

Bridgend Asbestos Services

We’re delighted to welcome Bridgend Asbestos Services Ltd to the Alpha Tracker family!

We’ve just completed Alpha Tracker training with the BAS team at their offices in Bridgend, and it was great to spend time with such a friendly, knowledgeable and hands-on team.

Bridgend Asbestos Services provide specialist asbestos services across South Wales and the surrounding areas, including asbestos surveys, asbestos sampling, air monitoring, four-stage clearance testing, asbestos management and asbestos removal support.

The Bridgend Asbestos Services team

A busy team with plenty to manage

Like many asbestos consultancies, BAS have a lot to keep track of: jobs, sites, surveys, samples, reports, documents, certificates, appointments and customer communications.

That’s exactly where Alpha Tracker asbestos software comes in.

During the training session, we worked through how the BAS team can use Alpha Tracker to help manage their asbestos work more efficiently, from the office through to site-based activity. It was particularly nice to see the team trying things out on phones and tablets straight away, which is always the best way to bring the system to life.

Using Tracker Mobile asbestos site surveying app during the training session

Supporting asbestos teams in the real world

Alpha Tracker is built for specialist teams like Bridgend Asbestos Services. It helps bring together the day-to-day admin, technical records and reporting workflows that asbestos consultancies depend on.

For BAS, this means having a system that can support their work across asbestos surveys, air monitoring, clearance testing and wider asbestos management activities, while helping keep information organised and accessible.

The team at work

Thank you to the BAS team

A big thank you to everyone at Bridgend Asbestos Services for making us so welcome.

It was lovely to visit the office, meet the team properly, and see the BAS setup in action. We’re really looking forward to working with you and supporting you as you start using Alpha Tracker.

Welcome to the Alpha Tracker family, Bridgend Asbestos Services!

Help us shape Tracker Agent: what should it do for you?

We are rewriting one of Alpha Tracker’s most popular tools, Tracker Filer, and we would love your input.

Talk to us! You have a chance to shape Tracker Agent

Many Alpha Tracker users already rely on Tracker Filer to help link emails and attachments to the correct Alpha Tracker document folders. By copying emails to a special Tracker Filer email address, the system can read the content of the email and file the email and attachments into the appropriate job or quote folder.

It can also help with tasks such as scheduling appointments into your diary.

But Tracker Filer was created before the current generation of AI tools, and there is now an opportunity to make it much more powerful.

Introducing Tracker Agent

Tracker Filer is being completely rewritten as an AI-powered agent that can work on your behalf.

The new tool, Tracker Agent, is already in development. The aim is to allow everyday Alpha Tracker tasks to be triggered directly from an email, saving time and reducing manual admin.

We are currently working on features that allow Tracker Agent to:

• file documents for you, just like Tracker Filer
• automatically add Purchase Order numbers to quotes when you forward an email containing the PO
• mark quotes as won and create the project or job for you
• close one or more projects or jobs
• add an appointment for a job into a surveyor’s diary, either on a specific date/time or in the first free slot

All of this can happen straight from an email. You simply send or forward the email to Tracker Agent, and it can take the appropriate action for you.

We think this could become a major timesaver for Alpha Tracker users.

Built with safeguards in mind

Of course, any AI-powered automation needs to be handled carefully.

As part of the development work, we are thinking carefully about permissions, audit trails and sensible safeguards, so that Tracker Agent only does the things it should be allowed to do.

The goal is not just to make Alpha Tracker more automated, but to make it more useful, more controlled and more accountable.

What would you like Tracker Agent to do?

This is where we would really value your ideas.

What everyday tasks do you think could be safely triggered from an email? Are there small admin jobs that take up time in your team? Are there common emails that always result in the same Alpha Tracker action?

For example, should Tracker Agent help with chasing missing information, updating job statuses, assigning work, adding notes, creating tasks, sending acknowledgements, or something else entirely?

We are especially interested in ideas from people who use Alpha Tracker every day, because you know better than anyone where the time savings could be.

If you have a suggestion, please get in touch and tell us what you would like Tracker Agent to be able to do for you.

You can also view the full Alpha Tracker roadmap for 2026 here: https://alpha-tracker.co.uk/roadmap

What the latest FAMANZ newsletter tells us about asbestos management in the UK

The latest FAMANZ newsletter may be written for asbestos professionals in Australia and New Zealand, but many of the themes will feel very familiar to UK asbestos consultancies, laboratories, contractors and duty holders using asbestos software Alpha Tracker.

Visit famanz.org for more info

Across the newsletter, there is a clear focus on competency, practical guidance, consistent survey standards, public-sector asbestos assurance, training, laboratory reporting and the challenge of moving from simply holding asbestos information to proving that asbestos is being properly managed.

There is also a useful international comparison for UK readers. FAMANZ highlights the UK HSE’s decision not to lower Great Britain’s asbestos control limit, while noting that the European Union is moving towards a lower occupational exposure limit. The HSE’s position, as reported by FAMANZ, is that competency, training, supervision, site controls and enforcement may have more impact than changing the numerical limit alone.

That is an important point for Alpha Tracker customers in the UK. Asbestos compliance is not just about numbers in a report or documents sitting in a folder. It is about having reliable systems, clear processes, competent people, current registers, well-managed actions and evidence that risks are being controlled in practice.

Alpha Tracker is designed to support exactly that kind of joined-up asbestos management, from surveying and sampling through to lab results, registers, reinspection, recommendations, remedial actions, client reporting and audit trails.

The FAMANZ update is a useful reminder that asbestos remains a live issue internationally. The details vary by country, but the direction of travel is clear: better competency, better evidence, better systems and better protection for people.

Read the FAMANZ June 2026 newsletter

FAMANZ June update: competency, consistency and better asbestos management across Australia and New Zealand

The latest FAMANZ newsletter is well worth a read for asbestos professionals across Australia and New Zealand. It highlights just how active the sector is right now, with important work continuing around competency, training, asbestos survey standards, public-sector assurance, laboratory reporting, and the practical implementation of new and updated guidance.

visit famanz.org for more info

From an asbestos software Alpha Tracker perspective, the themes are very familiar. Asbestos management is becoming more demanding, not less. Clients, regulators and building owners increasingly expect clearer evidence, better records, stronger governance and more consistent processes.

FAMANZ reports continuing progress on its Competency Framework for Asbestos Professionals, the Safe Work Australia Asbestos Framework Review, the updated WorkSafe New Zealand Good Practice Guidelines, and preparations for the 2027 ASBESTOS Conference in Christchurch (Judy and some of the team from the UK will be there, of course!). There is also continued focus on asbestos in consumer products, including children’s play sand, and on the need for better supply-chain assurance and public protection.

For Alpha Tracker customers, this all reinforces the importance of having robust asbestos systems in place. Whether you are managing surveys, samples, registers, removals, reinspection programmes, client portals or reporting, good software helps turn professional practice into repeatable, auditable processes.

We will continue to follow these developments closely and support our Australian and New Zealand customers as expectations around asbestos management, competency and reporting continue to evolve.

Read the FAMANZ June 2026 newsletter