Labs we help

Transportation & Materials Testing

The Maine Department of Transportation runs its materials-testing laboratory on DOTSci, and our software also runs for other clients, including UW Veterinary Care and NIEHS. Your first step is a thirty-minute conversation with an expert.

Transportation and materials testing laboratories retype field records, lose sight of calibration, and assemble reports by hand. We built DOTSci with the materials-testing division of the Maine Department of Transportation, where it runs in production. Start with one workflow, from the field sample to the report, and an Understand phase, our on-site analysis of your work at a fixed scope and price.

Follow each specimen from the field through testing and review to the report.

Industries this practice serves

  • State DOT materials laboratories
  • County, city, and authority materials laboratories
  • Construction-materials testing firms
  • Materials producer quality-control laboratories
THEN · FIELD RECORDS RETYPED A young woman in a work shirt and headscarf writes on a clipboard at a bench of steel test samples while an older woman in dark goggles stamps identification numbers onto a rack of small test bars with a hammer and punch; heavy billet samples lie in the foreground. Archive photograph, 1943.
Digitally rendered from the archive photograph: Same bench of steel test samples; barcoded test bars in a rack and a tablet replace the 1943 hammer, number punch and clipboard. NOW · SAMPLE TO REPORTNOW · DIGITALLY RENDERED
Fig. 1 The metallurgical laboratory of Republic Steel, Buffalo, New York, 1943, staffed entirely by women: each test bar is stamped with its number and its result written on a clipboard.
THEN · 1943 · Library of Congress · NOW · digitally rendered THEN · 1943 · Marjory Collins · Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives · no known restrictions on publication · loc.gov/item/2017853095 NOW · digitally rendered from the archive photograph above (Gemini 3 Pro Image, 2026-09-26): the room geometry, the camera and the people's positions are the photograph; everything else is generated. Not a photograph.

01Problems

Problems we solve

These are the problems we see most often in transportation and materials laboratories.

  1. We type field records in again when specimens reach the laboratory.

    What was written down in the field is entered again at the laboratory. The test runs once, but its record is typed more than once. Read the full page on this problem

  2. A laboratory record and an engineers’ system that do not share results.

    Results are typed again into the system the engineers use. Pay items are paid from that second copy, so a typing error can travel all the way to a payment.

  3. A materials result whose chain, from specimen to report, is hard to show.

    A materials result is only as defensible as the calibration and custody records behind it. When sample, method, equipment, and report records sit apart, that chain is pieced together by hand.

  4. Test records that do not show when the equipment was last verified.

    When the equipment register and its calibration schedule sit apart from testing, the answer comes from a binder instead of the record.

  5. Reports for engineers and contractors still put together by hand.

    Reviewed results still have to become the right report for the district, the project engineer, or the contractor waiting on the number.

The Laboratory Operations catalog lists all twelve problems, grouped by what goes wrong.

02Tools

Right tool, right job

We choose tools around your workflow and the systems you already have.

delivered example
work delivered for an existing client and described on the Evidence page.
available approach
a product, module or service SynapticSci offers today.

  • Software

    DOTSci

    delivered example

    The problem A materials record that has to follow each specimen and mix design from the field through testing and review to the report.

    Why it fits DOTSci runs in production at the Maine Department of Transportation, where we developed it with the materials-testing division. It is designed to support laboratories working to AASHTO and ASTM test methods.

    Prerequisites and limits DOTSci becomes your record system, so we scope it in the Understand phase first, and it does not manage construction or certify a method result.

    Explore DOTSci · See how DOTSci is priced

  • Your current systems

    Existing transportation and laboratory systems

    delivered example

    The problem Results typed in again to move them from the laboratory record into the systems engineers use.

    Why it fits We delivered the exchange with the state’s transportation information system for the Maine Department of Transportation, so each result stays connected to its project.

    Prerequisites and limits Access, interfaces, permission, and scope are assessed for each system before a connection is proposed.

    How integrations are handled · See how project work is priced

  • Bench Tools

    FormSense

    available approach

    The problem Worksheets and logsheets that still arrive on paper and are typed in again.

    Why it fits FormSense reads handwritten worksheets and logsheets, and a reviewer approves every field before anything reaches the LIMS.

    Prerequisites and limits FormSense is available now, and where DOTSci captures records in the field, there is no paper sheet to read.

    Explore FormSense · See how FormSense is priced

Work around the tools

These are the services we carry out with your laboratory.

  • Workflow assessment. We run the Understand phase on one workflow first. The four phases
  • Integration. We connect the laboratory record to the systems engineers already use, as we did for the Maine Department of Transportation. Integrations
  • Migration. We run it as a project of its own. Active data moves first, history follows to an agreed depth, and you sign the reconciliation reports. Migration
  • Ongoing improvement. Sustain keeps your system improving after go-live. You choose its Service Level and Coverage separately, and it is optional unless your contract requires it. Sustain

03Our approach

How we approach the work

Diagnosis

We start with your laboratory. The Understand phase, our on-site analysis of your work, comes first, and nothing is built before it ends. Its four steps are below. The four phases

Constraints

Before we recommend a change, we list what has to hold. That means your records, interfaces, users, and operating requirements. It also means the test methods and accreditation you work to. Your laboratory demonstrates conformance on its own methods, and our products are designed to support that work. Accreditation

Collaboration

We work by Scientist-Driven Development. Scientists, lab-informatics experts, and the people who will use the system shape it together, from the problem we observe to the support after go-live.

Interventions

The fix might be a changed step, a capability you already have, a connection between systems, or a focused tool. Replacing a system comes last, when nothing smaller will do.

We deliver in phases, starting with a fixed-scope on-site Understand phase, then one proven step at a time, so you see a working result before you commit further. How we work

  1. On-site analysis

    We watch the work where it happens, from the field sheet to the report.

  2. Needs summary

    We write down what has to change and what has to stay.

  3. User stories

    Each need becomes a story, written with the people who do the work.

  4. Plans

    The plans set out the first build, and we price it from them.

04Evidence

Evidence

Our delivered work in this practice is at the Maine Department of Transportation.

The Maine Department of Transportation runs its materials-testing laboratory on DOTSci, in production since 2020, delivered by the team that founded SynapticSci in 2021. We developed it with the materials-testing division. We have also delivered the exchange with the state’s transportation information system.

Implementation plan is very clear and tuned to our requirements, agile and collaborative

State of Maine, RFP 201902032, Award Justification Statement, 2019

See the record →

The DOTSci result entry screen with values checked against the method and the validate-results control.
Fig. 2 Result entry against the method. The specification check runs as you type, and the validate step gates the report.

FormSense, our tool for paper forms, is available now. On real laboratory log sheets, it has turned handwriting into structured fields for a reviewer to approve. See FormSense on real laboratory log sheets.

05Your team

Who you would be working with

Your practice lead comes first, then the scientists who work in this practice. Meet the whole team on Our science.

  • Doug Holbrook

    Founder

    Doug worked as a biologist, a research tech, and a product manager, with a background at Fisher Scientific, and learned along the way that the best people to help a scientist find the solution they need are other scientists.

  • Sam Barrett

    Sr. Laboratory Informatics Architect

  • Shivam Gautam

    Laboratory Informatics Scientist

06Getting started

Ways to begin

Start with one workflow, such as moving field records into the laboratory or linking calibration records to the tests they support. We fix the price after the Understand phase. See How SynapticSci is priced.

All Lab Notes

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