Take and run service requests

Service requests are part of the Core plan.Core plan Owners, admins, and managers keep the list under Requests, on the Services tab.

1. Choose + Add service. Enter the name and how it is priced: per sample, per hour, or per request.
2. Enter a price for each price group. A group left blank pays the external price. Add the usual turnaround in days if you want requesters to see it.
3. Under Questions on the request, add what you need to know. A question can show only when an earlier choice or yes-or-no question has a given answer, such as an IRB number when the organism is human.
4. For a service priced per sample, add columns under Details for each sample, such as tissue or fixative.
5. Under Stages of the work, list the steps the work goes through, with a target in days for each (see Stages and progress).
6. In a workspace with more than one facility, choose the Facility that does the work. With one facility, every service is its own.
7. Under Reagents from stock, list the stock items the work uses and how much (see Reagents).
8. Leave Offered ticked so people can request it, then save.

Each request keeps the questions, stages, and price it was sent with, so later changes to the service never alter it.

1. Open Requests and choose + New request.
2. Choose the service, say what the work is for, and answer its questions.
3. List the samples one by one; choose Paste a list and paste rows from a spreadsheet, the sample name first, then the sample columns in order; or choose Upload a sample sheet (see Sample sheets). For a service priced by the hour, enter the hours you expect instead.
4. Choose the project, or type the paying account, and choose Send request. The estimated charge is shown before you send.

Members, managers, admins, and owners can send requests. Researchers see only their own requests.

A sample sheet is a CSV or Excel (.xlsx) file with one sample per row, up to 500. Use one for a long list, or when your samples are already in a spreadsheet.

1. In + New request, under the samples, choose Upload a sample sheet. Download a template gives you a file with the service's columns, the sample name or ID first.
2. Choose the file. Each column is matched to a sample column by its name, in any order. Change a match under Use as, or choose Leave out. Untick The first row has the column names if the file starts with a sample.
3. Check the rows. Each sample is checked the way the core checks it: required columns filled, numbers as numbers, choices from the list, and real dates. Names used more than once are pointed out.
4. Choose Use with the number of samples to fill the sample list. It replaces the samples listed before. Fix anything still marked in the list, then send the request.

The core for a request is the workspace's owners, admins, and managers, and the managers and staff of the facility that does the service. Give a technician the Staff role in that facility, under Facilities, and they can work its requests. They do not need to be workspace managers.

Facility managers and staff are emailed about new requests for their facility, answers to the core's questions, accepted and declined estimates, and cancellations. A request can be assigned to any of them; the person assigned is emailed. Staff can also send a request for a researcher, for example when samples are dropped off.

A new estimate is a new revision; earlier ones stay as they were sent. An estimate sent after approval replaces that approval until the requester accepts the new revision. Completing can charge the approved amount or less, never more; for a request billed by the hour without an estimate, the core enters the hours used, which start from the billable time logged (see Staff time).

The requester can cancel a request until the work starts. After that, the core cancels it.

Stages are the steps of the work, such as Received, Processing, Embedding, Sectioning, Staining, and Delivered. A service can have up to 12. Each has an optional target in days, and you can choose Email the requester when it is done for the stages a requester cares about.

Open a request to see its Progress: how many stages are done, the stage the work is at now, and the expected finish. The expected finish starts from the current stage's start (or today) and adds the targets of the stages left. A stage still open past its target is marked Late, on the request and in the list.

Marks use today's date where the core is, unless you choose an earlier day in Date of the change. A date cannot be in the future, and a stage cannot be done before it started. Stages can be marked out of order. Only the core marks stages; the requester sees the stages and their dates, and the core also sees who marked each one.

Stages do not move a request to In progress or Completed: Start work and Complete still do. A completed request's stages can still be finished; a cancelled or rejected request's stages stay as they were.

Samples are listed on the request with their details, their stage, and a status: not received, received, done, or failed. The core selects samples and marks a status, or chooses a stage under Move to and chooses Move.

A sample is with the request until it is moved, and shows the stage the work is at. A moved sample keeps its own stage, ahead or behind, and shows Own stage. When a stage is marked done or not needed, the samples at that stage go on with the request; samples held at an earlier stage stay there. Choose With the request to put a sample back with the rest.

Print sample labels prints a sheet with a QR code for each sample.

Completed requests are billed on the monthly invoices; Bill for use and services explains how.

A service can list the stock it uses, such as hematoxylin, eosin, and slides for H&E staining. Each reagent has an amount per sample, per hour, or per item, as the service is priced, or one amount per request. The items come from the workspace's stock under Supplies.

1. Open the service, and under Reagents from stock choose + Add reagent.
2. Choose the item, enter the amount in the item's unit, such as 0.5 for 0.5 mL, and choose what it is for. Save.
3. When you choose Complete on a request, Reagents from stock lists each amount for that request: 0.5 mL per sample for 12 samples is 6 mL. Change any amount that differs from what was used, or untick Draw these reagents from stock.

Completing the request takes the amounts from stock, the lot that expires first first, and the request shows Reagents drawn. Each draw is in the item's stock history with the request number. Reagents are not charged to the requester: the service price covers them. Supplies charged separately go under Supplies used.

Open a request and use Log time under Time to record work on it: the day, the hours and minutes, the stage, and an optional note. The day is today where the core is unless you choose an earlier one, and one entry holds at most 24 hours. Time can be logged in any status, a cancelled request included, because it records work done rather than a charge.

Owners, admins, and managers can report on time under Reports: choose Staff time and group the hours worked or billable hours by person, service, stage, project, month, quarter, week, or billable. Each entry counts on the day it was worked. Every entry, change, and deletion is in the activity log.

Owners, admins, and managers see the core’s throughput under Reports. The overview has Requests completed, Samples completed, and a Throughput by service table for the period, with a total row. Download CSV saves the table for funding reports and annual reviews.

To group the same numbers another way, use Build a report and choose Completed requests, then group by service, person, PI, project or account, price group, month, or quarter. Choose Request stages to see each stage done in the period, counted on the day it was marked done: stages done, average and median days at the stage, the share done within the stage’s target, and late stages, by service, stage, month, or quarter. Stages marked not needed are left out.

The monthly summary email to core managers includes the requests completed, their samples, and the median turnaround.