TrackPro

Calibration schedules, maintenance routines and reminders all come due on dates that somebody has to watch, and TrackPro is a Windows program written to do that watching. Baron Software presents it, and the site says it helps users meet quality requirements such as QSR, cGMP, ISO 9000, QS 9000 and ISO 13485.

A program that started in a metrology lab

According to the developer's own history, the idea dates from August 1986, when he was quality assurance manager at a small medical device maker and needed to track instrument calibration. The software soon covered several hundred instruments. It was rewritten in rBase in 1988 for better reporting, by which time it tracked over a thousand items and was run by metrology technicians. After he became a consultant in 1990, a client asked for a version in Paradox Application Language, and several features for maintenance and reminders were added. A Visual Basic version was finished in early 1998 and used by companies in Southeast Florida. Documentation and the interface were improved in late 1999, and plans for national marketing began in January 2000.

Tracking, labels and notifications

TrackPro calculates due dates automatically, tracks equipment locations and prints calibration labels. It emails the custodian of an item when action is due. Lookup lists build themselves as items are entered, a wizard guides the creation of master records, and every field can be renamed, with extra fields left for custom use. A fast search feature called SuperFind helps locate records.

Control and reporting

Access is password protected with three user tiers, and an audit trail is available. A built-in report designer comes with 31 report and label formats, and data can be exported to Word, text, CSV or PDF. Backups are automated, and a help file opens with the F1 key.

Versions and languages

The single-user version runs on current Windows releases up to Windows 11, and a multiuser version can be served from Microsoft Server editions. The interface is offered in twelve languages, from Czech and Danish to Spanish and Swedish. The site describes a free version for small companies with up to 100 entries.