If your chemical inventory management is the foundation for a building, then the chemical database is the soil the foundation is dug into. The database’s quality and composition dictate fundamental limits to how good your chemical inventory can be.

Okay, so what does that mean? First, let’s define an important term.

A chemical database (for inventory purposes) is a collection of data related to the chemicals tracked, including chemical names, CAS numbers, physical properties, hazards, related regulations, and other relevant data. This makes it possible to run reports without manual regulatory data entry. (Learn more from our ChemTracker Experts)

Even if the information in your inventory is accurate, a low-quality or inaccurate chemical database will undermine all your other efforts. There’s no point in tracking inventory if you can’t do anything with the resulting output.

If the database is just a garbage dump of every chemical the software developers scrape from the web, your users (and you!) will face the confusion of trying to choose from duplicate entries. And that will make using the software a migraine-inducing experience.

When you’re evaluating the database of a chemical inventory software, below are a few boxes to check. 

How can you tell if you're looking at a high-quality chemical inventory database?

1. A centralized database is included, as some systems rely entirely on data you enter by hand.
2. Hazard data is integrated into the database and tied to specific chemicals.
3. It’s structured specifically for chemical inventory.
4. Data is verified, not just blindly dumped in or produced by crowdsourcing-style quality control.
5. It has a good reputation, and you can trust that the information is accurate.
6. It’s regularly updated.