The flexible structure of the ICAST database allows users to configure exactly what information is stored for each collection of samples. For example, some sample collections may only require perhaps 9 or 10 distinct pieces of information to be stored, but for others you may need as much as 50 or even 100 fields to store all the necessary information.

ICAST can easily be configured to cope with the variations in data required for each collection; however it is often the case that some of the information used to maintain an efficient inventory control database is already stored within another database.

To update and maintain the same information in 2 or more databases would be time consuming and inefficient, so ICAST has the ability to interrogate external databases and display external information within an ICAST record. This information is not actually stored within ICAST and is only retrieved when the user needs to review it, however the external can be searched using ICAST’s comprehensive search facilities.

ICAST's ability to integrate data from multiple external databases will almost certainly make it easier to keep your inventory control data fully up-to-date.