This topic provides answers to some commonly asked questions about LabKey Sample Manager.
Absolutely. Whether cloud-based or on premise, you always own your own data. If you stop using Sample Manager, you will receive a full export of all your data.
Absolutely, the LabKey security model guarantees privacy and security using our role based access model.
However, if you need to store PHI and/or are interested in HIPAA compliant protection of your data, contact us to discuss whether another LabKey product might better meet your compliance needs.
Yes! Every action is tracked in a set of audit logs on a row by row level. Enhanced chain of custody tracking features are available in a Timeline for samples. Learn more in this topic:
Yes, right now because there is a single Sample Manager application serving each lab, if you ask the application to generate sample IDs for you, they will be unique within that single lab. However, letting the system assign sample IDs is not the only option.
If you wanted to share sample information across multiple labs, you could override the automatic assignment option by providing your own unique sample IDs, such as by using a sample manifest. The distinct Sample Manager applications at many lab sites could accept and use these sample IDs that are drawn from a master assignment list ensuring that they are both unique within a single application and unique across multiple locations.
Yes, sample replicates can be identified using custom naming conventions, i.e. S101-1 and S101-2 are replicates of one original sample.
Yes, you can identify and track many types of sample Sources within the application. Learn more in this section:
Yes, you can create your own field (either text or integer) to hold your own barcode values. Or, with the addition of a "UniqueID" column, Sample Manager will generate unique barcodes for samples for you. These barcodes are read-only, simple, and easy to use. Learn more in this topic:
Sample Manager also supports integration with BarTender for groups to use for printing labels with sample details. Learn more in these topics:Yes! LabKey Sample Manager includes a robust and flexible freezer management solution. Design virtual storage to match your physical storage. Easily find samples, or empty space for storing new samples. Track volume and check-in and check-out to support your workflow. Control access with specific storage roles. Learn more in this section:
LabKey Sample Manager is specifically designed to make data import easy. Design the structure of existing data and drag and drop to upload it simply and efficiently. Note that very large uploads may need to be split into batches to upload successfully.
Use custom templates to make it easier to format your data.
The handy Download Template feature gives the user a blank template for what columns are expected. The user can either add their data to this template or simply confirm that they have the correct columns prior to import.
Absolutely. Every field can have data validation performed, such as ensuring correct formats, valid ranges, and other such measures. You can also use controlled vocabularies for text fields, i.e. presenting uploading users with pulldown menus of options instead of free text entry fields.
We don't have a built-in mechanism for tracking study visits at this time, but by defining additional custom columns for your sample types, you can track the individual and date of collection for matching. For example, using a required column for study visit, you would capture this information.
Currently you can export data as CSV, TSV, and Excel. Multi-tabbed sample lists can be exported as multi-tabbed Excel spreadsheets.
There are no predefined templates. Users have full control of creating data templates for your own needs. During the definition of assays, Professional Edition users have the option to let the application infer fields in the data structure from the columns in a spreadsheet.
Absolutely, with the Professional Edition of Sample Manager. Our demos and example project include some possible ways to structure typical assays, but when you define your own, you have complete control over the fields and types of data collected. The only requirement is that assay data needs to provide a column linking to the sample.
The assay data import process will read only the "expected" columns from your data. If you have additional columns, they will be ignored. If you have a difference in column naming, you may be able to make use of column aliases to import data from a column of a mismatched name.
When importing data, you will see a preview of the first few rows to aid you in correcting issues or adding aliases.
Each workflow job can begin/proceed independently of all other jobs. You can have as many jobs underway simultaneously as you like. If you want to have actions that proceed in a sequence, consider whether these should be defined as tasks within a single larger job, rather than separate jobs.
In the future, we hope to add an administrative option to make a job dependent upon completion of another job, but at present this is not supported. In the meantime, you could also consider having a 'check for previous job completion' task at the start of the job you want to happen 'next'.
Yes, if you are using the Professional Edition of Sample Manager as part of a Premium Edition of LabKey Server, your application will be running on the same server as your other LabKey projects. After loading assay data into Sample Manager, you can access it via traditional LabKey Server folder management tools and link that data into your study on the same server.
Yes, if you have defined Standard Assays in the scope available to your integrated Professional Edition of Sample Manager, you will see them in the list of assay designs. You may need to map one of the columns to your sample information before you can use them.
We are very interested in hearing your feedback about what is important to you. Future development of new features for LabKey Sample Manager is already underway.
Yes, at this time, users of Sample Manager export their sample data for analysis and reporting. In the future, analysis and reporting will be added within the application.
Note that LabKey Server itself is a candidate for such analysis and reporting, and in fact, users of Premium Editions of LabKey Server can access data from Sample Manager directly from the traditional LabKey user interface.
Not explicitly at this time. You can use custom columns to track this information yourself. One option is to use a controlled vocabulary text field to track information and let users select from lists instead of free entering values.
Have more questions or need additional information? Please get in touch with us: