TraceFinder has always had a plethora of criteria that is available to assist in the review of data quality. Below is a picture of the Chromatographic Suitability panel that can be set for each peak individually or as a global setting. This flagging criteria has existed since Xcalibur’s creation in 1994. However, unlike Xcalibur, TraceFinder will report out the actual measured value of each set criteria versus the simple PASS or FAIL. These values can be visualized in the data review summary flags or utilized in creating reports.

However, on each type of confirming criteria (Ion Ratios, Isotope Patterns, Library Searches, etc..) there exist the ability to turn them on or off for the method. Added in the TF 4.0 release is the ability to enable the Required option. Setting this option allows the users to control for peaks that only pass the set criteria. All peaks that have the Required option turned on for one or many confirming criteria and have a failed value for the Required option will not be intergrated. Thus, it will be as if the peak was not found in the sample.

This is an optional feature and is turned off by default when the compounds/peaks are created in the Master Method Template.