Evidence that stands up to inspection
Continuous, time-stamped, tamper-evident environmental records for MHRA data integrity, EU GMP Annex 11 and GxP audits. Eltek supplies the evidence and the controls your compliance depends on; you own the validation and the process.
Trusted in GxP laboratories, pharmaceutical cold chain and university biobanks across the UK.
Transparency
Does an environmental monitoring system make my facility compliant?
No monitoring system makes a facility compliant on its own, and any supplier claiming otherwise should be treated with caution. Compliance depends on your validation, procedures and controls as much as on the technology, so it helps to be precise about where the line falls between what we supply and what stays yours.
What we supply
Secure, computer-generated, time-stamped, tamper-evident records with full audit trails, role-based access and scheduled reporting, backed by UKAS-traceable calibration. We supply the calibration certificates, temperature-mapping reports and audit-trailed records that support your IQ, OQ and PQ documentation, the controls and the evidence that support your compliance.
What stays yours
Validation of the system in its intended use, your procedures, and the controls around them. No monitoring product makes a facility compliant on its own; validation and process remain the organisation’s responsibility.
Data integrity
MHRA data integrity and the ALCOA+ principles
The MHRA’s “GXP” Data Integrity Guidance and Definitions (March 2018) sets out the Agency’s expectation that the data you use to make GxP decisions is complete, consistent and accurate across its whole lifecycle. For environmental monitoring, that turns on how a reading is captured, kept and produced for review, not on the sensor alone.
The principles are commonly summarised as ALCOA+. Continuous monitoring supports each of them by design: readings are captured as they happen, attributed to a source, held unchanged, and available for inspection. Eltek supplies the controls and the evidence; the validated, procedurally-controlled process around them remains yours.
Attributable — tied to a source sensor and time, with role-based access.
Legible — stored in a permanent, readable form for your full retention period.
Contemporaneous — captured continuously as it happens, never transcribed later.
Original — the primary record, never a re-keyed copy.
Accurate — UKAS-traceable calibration, so a reading means what it says.
Complete — no gaps — door-open and out-of-hours events included.
Consistent — one time-stamp sequence, read in the order it happened.
Enduring — held securely for your full retention period, protected from change.
Available — retrievable on demand for review, reporting and inspection.
Computerised system validation
GAMP 5 and EU GMP Annex 11
GAMP 5, ISPE’s risk-based approach to compliant GxP computerised systems, is the framework most UK quality teams use to plan validation. Commercial software configured to your alarm thresholds, users and reports without altering its code is generally Category 4, validated for how your organisation uses it — where monitoring software such as Darca Command typically sits. Eltek supplies the calibration certificates, mapping reports and audit-trailed records that support your validation; qualifying the system remains the organisation’s responsibility.
EU GMP Annex 11 (Computerised Systems), part of EudraLex Volume 4 and retained by the MHRA after Brexit, governs computerised systems used in GMP environments, covering risk management, validation, data and audit trails. On audit trails it states that “consideration should be given, based on a risk assessment, to building into the system the creation of a record of all GMP-relevant changes and deletions (a system generated ‘audit trail’).” Eltek’s Darca Command records continuous, time-stamped temperature and humidity data with exactly this kind of secure audit trail.
If you export to the US
21 CFR Part 11 is a US FDA regulation. It applies to a UK organisation only where it has US market exposure, for example products destined for the US market or data supporting an FDA submission; for UK GMP the primary frameworks are EU GMP Annex 11 and the MHRA’s data-integrity guidance. Where Part 11 does apply, section 11.10(e) requires the “use of secure, computer-generated, time-stamped audit trails to independently record the date and time of operator entries and actions that create, modify, or delete electronic records,” and adds that “record changes shall not obscure previously recorded information.” Configuration depends on system implementation and customer processes; Eltek supplies the evidence, the organisation owns validation.
Standards and guidance
The frameworks we build around
We build our monitoring around the frameworks quality teams are actually inspected against — UK and EU as standard, and 21 CFR Part 11 too where you have US market exposure.
MHRA “GXP” Data Integrity Guidance (2018)
The Agency’s expectations for data integrity across GxP activities in the UK.
EU GMP Annex 11: Computerised Systems
Retained by the MHRA; the control framework for computerised monitoring systems.
GAMP 5 (ISPE)
The risk-based approach to validating compliant GxP computerised systems.
21 CFR Part 11 (US FDA)
Where you have US market exposure, Darca Command’s secure, time-stamped audit trails support the electronic-record controls Part 11 expects.
EU GMP Annex 15: Qualification and Validation
The IQ, OQ and PQ framework for equipment and facilities.
EU GDP Guidelines 2013/C 343/01
Retained in UK law; requires storage to be temperature-mapped before use and monitored with calibrated equipment.
ICH Q1A(R2)
Stability testing conditions, adopted by the MHRA and EMA, for stability-chamber monitoring.
WHO TRS 961, Annex 9
Model guidance for the storage and transport of time- and temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical products.
UKAS-traceable calibration
Calibration traceable to national standards, so a reading is defensible under scrutiny.
The platform
The Darca Suite
One complete platform for monitoring laboratories, biobanks, clinics and regulated environments.
Darca Collect
Wireless GenII transmitters and high-accuracy wired probes matched to ULT freezers, cold rooms, incubators, IVF equipment and stability chambers.
Explore
Darca Connect
The SRV450 hub gathers the network and SMS450 alarms escalate an out-of-tolerance excursion to the right person instantly, so samples are protected.
Explore
Darca Command
Compliance-ready dashboards, audit trails and scheduled reporting built for GxP, GMP, HTA, ISO and 21 CFR Part 11 environments.
ExploreProven in life sciences
Audit-ready records for a leading UK university biobank
Temperature mapping and continuous monitoring of ultra-low temperature storage down to −80°C, with GenII loggers, audit-trailed records and email and SMS alarms, meeting research-governance traceability for samples that have no second copy.
- GxP / GMP
- EU GMP Annex 11
- MHRA data integrity
- 21 CFR Part 11
- UKAS-traceable calibration
Show your quality team the evidence
Book a demo and our UK engineers will walk your quality and lab teams through the records, audit trails and reporting that support your compliance.
Related reading
Life Sciences monitoring
The full picture: labs, biobanks, cold chain, IVF and the regulated environments we monitor.
Read moreTemperature mapping guide
What a study proves, sensor placement, duration, UK compliance expectations, and the equipment behind it.
Read moreThe Darca Suite
Collect, Connect and Command, the connected sensing, alarms and audit-trailed software.
Read moreCase studies
Named installations, from cathedral estates to a −80°C university biobank, and the evidence they run on.
Read moreCompliance questions
Frequently asked questions
What is MHRA data integrity, and how does continuous monitoring support it?
The MHRA’s “GXP” Data Integrity Guidance and Definitions (March 2018) sets out the Agency’s expectation that data used to make GxP decisions is complete, consistent and accurate throughout its lifecycle. For environmental monitoring that means readings must be captured contemporaneously, attributed to a source, protected from undetected change, and available for review. Eltek’s Darca Command records temperature and humidity continuously as time-stamped, tamper-evident data with a secure audit trail, giving quality teams the evidence data integrity expects. No monitoring product makes a facility compliant on its own; validation and process remain the organisation’s responsibility.
What is ALCOA+ and how do environmental monitoring records meet it?
ALCOA+ is the shorthand for the principles of data integrity: attributable, legible, contemporaneous, original and accurate, extended by the “+” attributes complete, consistent, enduring and available. Continuous environmental monitoring supports each: readings are attributable to a source sensor and time, captured contemporaneously rather than transcribed, retained as the original record, accurate against UKAS-traceable calibration, and held complete and available for inspection. Eltek supplies the controls and the evidence; the validated, procedurally-controlled process around them remains yours.
What is GAMP 5 Category 4, and how does it apply to monitoring software?
GAMP 5, ISPE’s risk-based approach to compliant GxP computerised systems, classifies software by how much it is adapted to your use. Configured commercial software, adjusted to your alarm thresholds, users and reports without altering its code, is generally treated as Category 4, and is validated for the way your organisation configures and uses it. Monitoring software such as Darca Command typically sits here. Eltek supplies the calibration certificates, mapping reports and audit-trailed records that support your validation; qualifying the system in its intended use remains the organisation’s responsibility.
What does EU GMP Annex 11 require for computerised monitoring systems?
EU GMP Annex 11 (Computerised Systems), part of EudraLex Volume 4 and retained by the MHRA, sets out how computerised systems used in GMP environments should be controlled, covering risk management, validation, data and audit trails. On audit trails it states that “consideration should be given, based on a risk assessment, to building into the system the creation of a record of all GMP-relevant changes and deletions (a system generated ‘audit trail’).” Eltek’s Darca Command records continuous, time-stamped temperature and humidity data with a secure audit trail, giving quality teams the GMP-relevant history Annex 11 anticipates. Validation of the system in its intended use remains the organisation’s responsibility.
Does 21 CFR Part 11 apply to a UK facility?
21 CFR Part 11 is a US FDA regulation. It is relevant to a UK organisation only where it has US market exposure, for example products destined for the US market or data supporting an FDA submission; for UK GMP the primary frameworks are EU GMP Annex 11 and the MHRA’s data-integrity guidance. Where Part 11 does apply, section 11.10(e) requires the “use of secure, computer-generated, time-stamped audit trails to independently record the date and time of operator entries and actions that create, modify, or delete electronic records,” and adds that “record changes shall not obscure previously recorded information.” Eltek’s Darca Command provides exactly this kind of audit trail. Configuration depends on system implementation and customer processes; Eltek supplies the evidence, the organisation owns validation.
Does Eltek monitoring make my facility compliant?
No monitoring product makes a facility compliant on its own, and any supplier who claims otherwise should be treated with caution. Compliance depends on your validation, procedures and controls as well as the technology. What Eltek provides are the underlying controls regulators ask for: secure, computer-generated, time-stamped, tamper-evident records with full audit trails, role-based access and scheduled reporting, backed by UKAS-traceable calibration. Eltek supplies the evidence and controls that support your compliance; validation and process remain yours.