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Start Software is an award-winning developer and leading publisher of asbestos software, systems for the legal services industry and more.
Want to know more about asbestos software Alpha Tracker? Alpha Tracker is the most used asbestos software in the UK, Australia & New Zealand with more than 60m items of asbestos data stored.
Our legal services software Alpha Legal helps will writers, accountants, solicitors, IFAs and estate agents to communicate securely with clients. Read about developments here on the blog.
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!
🎉We’re delighted to welcome TYSR Analysis Limited as the newest asbestos laboratory to join the Alpha Tracker asbestos family!
The TYSR team are completing their remote Alpha Tracker training today with Kim, learning how to make the most of their new asbestos lab management system — from sample tracking and chain of custody, through to lab reporting, quality control and dashboards.
And of course, no Alpha Tracker training session would be complete without the traditional selfie — here’s Robin’s shot featuring Kim and the TYSR team joining via screenshare!
Robin sticking his (big) nose into Kim's training session
About TYSR Analysis Limited
TYSR Analysis Limited are part of the respected Asbestos Sampling group — known across the UK for helping businesses and property managers bring asbestos sampling and testing in-house.
Their laboratories provide fast, professional asbestos analysis and are focused on accuracy, compliance and turnaround speed — values that perfectly align with the way we designed Alpha Tracker for asbestos labs.
Through their online platform, they supply asbestos testing kits, laboratory services, and training courses, all aimed at improving safety and efficiency in asbestos management.
Alpha Tracker for Asbestos Laboratories
At Alpha Tracker, we’re proud to support many of the UK’s leading asbestos laboratories and environmental consultancies. Our software helps automate every stage of the process — from sample registration and tracking, to UKAS-compliant reporting and client communication.
Key benefits of Alpha Tracker for asbestos labs include:
Seamless sample tracking from field to lab
Full chain of custody for compliance and auditing
Integrated report templates and certificate generation
Custom dashboards for productivity and turnaround monitoring
We’re really excited to see how TYSR Analysis Limited will use Alpha Tracker to streamline their asbestos testing workflows and strengthen their quality management.
Welcome aboard, TYSR — and thanks for joining the growing community of labs and consultancies who trust Alpha Tracker as their asbestos lab software of choice. We can’t wait to see what you achieve with it!
The Lab Sample Exchange feature that we have built will be a game-changer for Alpha Tracker labs wanting to work more closely Flow Mobile Surveyors (or Alpha Tracker asbestos surveyors!).
Watch the full video to learn more (especially about grey hairs...!).
Speak to your Alpha Tracker Account Manager to find out more about the Lab Sample Exchange and how it can benefit your asbestos lab and surveying team.
Kim has just completed the virtual Alpha Tracker training session and Almond's asbestos lab is ready to go.
Kim talking to Lindsay, configuring Alpha Tracker for their asbestos lab
We're introducing some exciting (possibly revolutionary) new features for asbestos labs in the next release of Alpha Tracker. Want to know more? Get Get in touch!
Have we caused some confusion in your lab? Sorry if we have!
Alpha Tracker specialist Kim - doing her best "confused" face!
As our asbestos lab users will know, we added the requirement for checking “under-limit” samples in Alpha Tracker Release 37 as one of the responses to the HSG248 update.
Following UKAS feedback via clients, we changed the maths behind the calculations in the last release to always “round up” and not “round down”. However, the way we made the change had the effect of altering the counts on dates in the past, as well as going forwards. This has caused some confusion for a couple of clients and we’re sorry if it has confused you too!
Some clients have also told us that they disagree with the “round up” interpretation and that their UKAS assessors have been happy that they check fewer samples and round down.
So, to give you ultimate flexibility to operate your lab in the way that works for you (and your UKAS assessor), we have added two new settings to Alpha Tracker which enable you to control if and when the “round up” change happens.
Please call Kim, whenever it is convenient on 0333 301 1010, or drop her a note, and she can talk you through your options and how we can apply the new settings to give you greater control over the calculations.
We've just improved Alpha Tracker to help consultancies and labs working with the largest asbestos surveys.
Asbestos surveying consultancies & labs working with large reports will benefit
Adam has just finished an update to Alpha Tracker Document Manager to save staff time and effort when incorporating multi-page lab certificates into asbestos survey reports.
Previously, when Alpha Tracker asked Word to insert the PDF lab certificate and it ran over more than one page, there would be some manual effort required to reformat the document as Word only inserts the first page of a PDF, not all pages.
Adam's update - known as ATDM v1.4.1936 - automates the process and automatically splits the PDF into multiple pages and inserts them all, one-by-one. This will be a real time-saver for asbestos admin staff.
Contact our support desk if you would like this update applied to your system. It is free of charge to all users with active support contracts.
The team have wrapped up Alpha Tracker Release 37 and it's now publicly available.
Release 37 is version 5683 of asbestos software Alpha Tracker which means that there are more than 300 updates since we published Release 36 in August. It's a big update.
This release is also an important update if you have an asbestos lab and/or you use Tracker Air, our air monitoring module. The updated asbestos analysts' guide - HSG248 - has caused us to update Alpha Tracker in a number of ways, including:
non-asbestos samples now count as 2 points in the lab, by default
we have implemented the new "< 40 points" blind checking process
the time that an analyst has started and finished with microscopes can now be recorded
the Tracker Air air monitoring process has been revamped and updated to reflect the new requirements.
In addition, we've also added some amazing new features and made big improvements to others:
the new map scheduling tool with automatic text confirmations to tenants is available - a massive help for any consultancy working with domestic surveying for councils and housing associations
all of our geocoding programming code has been rewritten for faster mapping of clients, projects & sites
we have improved and renamed some calendar screens. "Select Resource" is now "Staff Calendar", and "Calendar" is now "Company Calendar"
the login screen has been improved, including the incorporation of your own company logo
our QR code feature has been improved for better formatting of QR codes for site registers, projects and QR codes for individual items of asbestos.
finally, there is a new project pipeline feature on the client portal - great for your clients to track progress of jobs.
Please do send over ideas for Release 38 of Alpha Tracker. We want to hear from you!
We've called this update the "AI" release as we've added intelligence into so many areas of the system. Here's a short highlights video to show you three new features in particular:
Fibre analysis screen changes for quicker data entry, better display on smaller screens, and extra flexibility for your asbestos lab
Our intelligent Alpha Validator checks are now built into the Survey Data screen
A new follow-up system and improved display of quotations to help you to chase and win business.
If you need help updating your system please do get in touch - we're here 24x7 in person to help you.
I wish we were perfect but 20 years of being in business has taught me that things will go wrong. However many checks and balances are put in place, sometimes a combination of events will mean that a bug in our software impacts a customer.
So, we have a process that we follow. Our hard-earned ISO9001 certification means that we have documented processes which enable us to contact the customer(s) affected, back-track to find out when the problem occurred, resolve any data issues, resolve the underlying cause, and then report back. We also discuss any such issues at our next ISO9001 certification visit.
We've just had one such issue. When we analysed the problem, we found that fewer than 50 fibre analysis records across the millions of records captured and analysed in Alpha Tracker were found to be faulty because of a software bug. 50 is 50 too many of course!
A detailed piece of work to find the root cause and fix it is now complete and we've contacted and apologised to all affected customers.
NATA, the Australian equivalent of the UK's accreditation service for the asbestos industry, UKAS, has just signed off the latest Alpha Tracker lab update at our asbestos consultancy client, Environmental Health Solutions.
The asbestos professionals at EHS have been working with us to add a number of new features to our lab modules, all of which went live in Alpha Tracker Release 32.5.
The new features included an improved audit trail recording changes made to asbestos fibre analysis records and better management of superseded Word lab reports.
We're so pleased that we have the official "seal of approval" for our lab updates in Australia - something which will give new users of our Alpha Tracker asbestos lab module confidence when switching to Alpha Tracker from other asbestos software products.
In another sign that the asbestos industry is returning to more normal working, ARCA has announced that it is resuming practical asbestos training courses at their centres.
This will be of great interest to our Alpha Tracker asbestos software customers who are looking to train their asbestos surveyors and analysts.
Release 32.5 follows hard on the heels of Release 32 (you don't say!) and is focused on improvements for asbestos lab users.
There are 22 changes and improvements in the new fibre analysis screen, for example, and they include a fabulous new "keyboard mode". By the way, the new screen is optional - you can switch between the two designs with a system setting to see which one you prefer.
Here is a quick YouTube video to show you around the new screen:
In addition to the new features, we have included 20 bug fixes in this update which improve other areas of Alpha Tracker.
The update is available now for you to apply to your system, or get in touch with our 24x7 support desk if you would like them to apply the update for you.
With New Zealand almost back to normal after their fast and decisive approach to the Coronavirus crisis, it is great to see asbestos consultancies in NZ active, busy and switching across to asbestos software Alpha Tracker.
Fullu accredited and with experienced asbestos professionals, NZAS welcome enquiries from new clients via their website (click here).
Can we help your asbestos consultancy to improve quality, efficiency and save 1000s of admin hours each year? Do get in touch (UK or New Zealand/Australia).
After a socially-distanced training session via Zoom (in Zoom-friendly 40 minute chunks), the asbestos lab staff are now up to speed and working in Alpha Tracker.
This time it is Auckland (New Zealand) based asbestos consultancy LAANZ who has researched the market and has chosen to have Alpha Tracker as their asbestos management software.
LAANZ are WorkSafe New Zealand licensed asbestos assessors having proven their abilities with industry qualifications and many years of experience in the industry. Specifically, LAANZ work in these areas of asbestos management:
Issuing clearance certificates
Management surveys
Refurbishment surveys
Demolition surveys
Air monitoring
Management plans
Asbestos awareness courses
Asbestos Removal Guidance
Improving the efficiency of surveying for asbestos is at the heart of Alpha Tracker:
Before the survey, you can log calls and other contacts, generate quotes and plan work
When the asbestos surveyor is on site, they will have access to the Tracker Mobile data collection app enabling data, plans and photos to be captured on smartphone and tablet
Back in the asbestos lab, the results are recorded and auto-entered into the survey report
The asbestos report is generated with one-click! It is produced in your format, too, not ours
