We've had a few users enquire about Napthalene, along the lines of:

"We have an issue that was raised regarding ‘Naphthalene’ reported for different methods, ie. BTEX and non-BTEX. Would you be able to advise us if there is a chem-code, that we can use to differentiate the results for this analyte?" 

It is fairly common to have a single compound analysed by multiple methods in a lab, potentially returning different results (or detection limits).  ESdat records all of the ChemCode and the Method Type and the Method Name for each result.  The ChemCode is always the same for a compound, and the Method used to obtain the result will often vary.  This means the ChemCode can be used to match data irrespective of the Method, and with guidelines.

If users wish to group their results by Method, that option is available in ESdat, using either the Method_Type or Method_Name grouping option on their output. 

Lots of users don't like those Method groupings because they prefer to use thier own grouping, where specific ChemCodes are grouped together however the user specifies.   (ie not incorporating Method Name or Method Type).  This by definition means that the results are not differentiated or grouped on the basis of the Method.  This may result in two different results are presented together for the Analyte, typically presented as a range in tables.

It may be that with Napthalene there is a significant need to use a different ChemCode for each Method, so that users can use their custom Grouping, but also, for Napthalene, incorporate grouping on the basis of Method.  We are cautious in doing so, for the reasons outlined above, and because it could quickly become a mess if this was done for all compounds.  However, if the preference for doing this for Napthalene is fairly unanimous after users have considered the reasons spelled out we are happy to look into it.

Edited by moderator Friday, August 9, 2013 12:25:44 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Hi Warwick,

Is there any chance of making a post-import calculation (as described by ntumney) available to all users? Unfortunately I don't have the SQL language skills to write the function myself.

Will