CS Audit validates spectrophotometer performance across your supply chain.

CS Audit makes measurement quality assurance easier than ever before and improves confidence in the digital colour process.

CS Audit integrates with the SmartClient, but can also be used as a standalone tool with web-based status reports.

CS Audit


ChromaShare Audit is a system for monitoring the accuracy of spectrophotometer readings and sharing this performance information with other ChromaShare users. CS Audit is easy to use and increases confidence in the accuracy of colour measurements across the supply chain. Device or human errors are identified and highlighted early, accountability is improved and this helps to increase acceptance of digital colour approval.

CS Audit users with a spectro run the CS Audit client application. This small program runs in the background and displays an icon in the system tray area of Windows indicating the current spectrophotometer status. When this status is out-of-date the user is prompted to measure a set of 12 standard tiles and the CS Audit program guides the user through this simple process. These measurements are compared with the published reflectance data for the tiles to determine the device accuracy and assign an updated status; Excellent, Good, Acceptable or Out-of-tolerance. Normally the tile set is measured once a week, but the user can choose to make the measurements and update the device status at any time.

All data from CS Audit tile measurements are stored securely on the ChromaShare server. This makes it possible for users to access current and historical performance data, not just for their own devices, but for any CS Audit user who shares this information. In this way managers can keep track of spectro performance across their department or specifiers can review performance across the whole supply chain. This can be managed by exception by subscribing to email or SMS notifications which are sent when a device's CS Audit status falls out-of-tolerance or overdue.

Note that CS Audit never tries to manipulate or 'correct' spectrophotometer readings - it is designed to highlight measurement problems early so that errors can be tracked down and rectified as soon as possible.

SmartClient integration

The CS Audit client is a standalone application and CS Audit reports can be accessed on the web, so the SmartClient is not required to use CS Audit. However, the SmartClient does include a number of additional features which make it possible to get the most from the technology:

  • When available, the CS Audit status of the device which took the measurement is displayed for every sample.
  • Within CS Workflow the CS Audit status of submitted samples is displayed prominently using a colour-coded icon.
  • Detailed CS Audit performance reports can be viewed for multiple CS Audit users at once.
  • The CS Audit status of your own devices can be verified easily before taking measurements.