From a request to a protocol: laboratory work in X-Lab LIMS

X-Lab LIMS organizes the laboratory’s work on a customer’s request, from registering a measurement request to preparing and issuing protocols. Requests, assignments, the work, and the issued documents stay linked, so staff can follow the progress and find the related records.

The system also covers sampling work, sampling reports, and whether an assignment is complete. Time is available on the assignment and on a single protocol.

1. Registering the customer’s request

Measurement requests and sampling requests are recorded in one register. The customer and a contact can be named on the request.

If the customer changes, the contact has to be chosen again. The request stays linked to the right representative of the customer.

2. Creating a measurement assignment

After the request is accepted, a measurement assignment is created. The related work and protocols are brought together there, so the job is organized on one record.

Time can be recorded for the whole assignment and for a single protocol. The time stays with the laboratory work it belongs to.

3. Preparing, checking, and issuing protocols

During the assignment, protocols are prepared, then checked, and then issued to the customer.

Because the protocols stay with the assignment, it is clear which documents belong to that work. The assignment is complete when every protocol it includes has been issued.

Completion is tied to issuing those documents, not only to finishing the measurements.

4. Sampling and sampling reports

Sampling has its own assignment, and a sampling report is prepared for it. Sampling reports and protocols stay with the matching assignments, so the documents can be read with the work they belong to.

The records stay in order, and the documents for a particular assignment can be found.

5. Assignments and responsibility

Requests, assignments, and issued documents stay linked. Staff can see the assignments they are responsible for and work with that information in their own area.

The linked records show the path from the original request to the issued protocols and sampling reports.

From the request to the issued documents

Registration, assignments, time, protocols, and sampling reports stay in one workflow. The links between the records keep the history of the work.