Structured Data Capture in Regulated Research
A commercial R&D organization runs dozens of approved test methods. Each one is a PDF. A technician reads the PDF, takes handwritten notes, transcribes everything into a spreadsheet, and then manually enters it into a LIMS. The process works — until it doesn't. Every manual handoff is a compliance risk. Every re-entry is a chance for error. And when an auditor asks which formulation was tested with which method, by whom, and when, the answer is scattered across three disconnected systems.
From PDF to Form
Each approved test method becomes a Carta form. The method details don't disappear — they move into the form itself. Field descriptions tell the technician exactly what to measure, how to interpret each value, and what the acceptable range is. The technician runs the test and enters results directly, looking only at the form. They never need to cross-reference the original document.
The form is also linked to the source test method — not just as a reference, but as a structured relationship. The test method is the parent; this result is a child of it. Every submission is traceable back to the approved protocol that defined it.
Automatic Downstream Delivery
When the technician submits the form, the data moves. It flows to the LIMS automatically — no re-entry, no spreadsheet intermediary. If other systems need the same data, they receive it through the same submission. The technician's job ends when they click submit.
Linking Results to Formulations
Test results don't exist in isolation. The form links back to the formulation that was tested — a separate record capturing the exact material composition evaluated in this run. This creates a chain: approved test method → characterization result → formulation tested. Everything connected, everything traceable.
The permissions system controls how much of that chain any given person can see. A technician running a characterization test can link their submission to the formulation record and confirm the connection exists. They cannot see the contents of that record. The proprietary formula stays protected. The traceability required for compliance is preserved. An auditor following the chain sees what was tested and under what conditions — without the organization exposing what it needs to keep internal.
What Changes
The data still lives across the systems an organization has already invested in — the LIMS, the protocol manager, the data store. Carta doesn't replace any of that. It connects it. Results are captured once and flow to wherever they need to go, linked to everything they relate to along the way. The audit trail isn't assembled after the fact — it's built as a natural byproduct of how work gets done.
Compliance becomes easier not because anyone added a compliance step, but because the structure that makes research traceable is the same structure used to do the research in the first place.