Training before booking
Grant access per spectrometer after training, with an optional expiry for recertification. People without access cannot book it or add runs to its queue. Cores that do not check training can turn the check off.
NMR cores
Scheduling and billing for NMR cores
Book spectrometers with training checks, run samples through a queue with a night queue for long experiments, take staff-run samples by request, and keep cryogen fills on the calendar.
Who it is for
NMR and magnetic resonance cores
An NMR core runs walk-up samples through an autosampler, long experiments in booked time, and staff-run samples, often on the same magnet. ConductCommons keeps them in one place: who may use each spectrometer, the order of the queue, what each run and session costs, and when the next cryogen fill is due.
What you can book
Spectrometers, workstations, and the bench around them
Add any instrument your core shares. These are common examples.
Spectrometers with an autosampler
Samples queued and run in order, short runs by day
High-field spectrometers
Booked sessions for long experiments, with manager approval
Data processing workstations
Booked by the hour for processing in TopSpin or MestReNova
Fume hoods
Booked for sample preparation
How it fits NMR work
Queued samples and booked experiments
A sample queue with a night queue
Researchers add samples to a spectrometer’s queue with the experiments and the minutes each needs. Runs go one at a time, in order, around reservations on the calendar. Runs longer than the limit you set wait for the night hours you choose.
Everyone sees when their run starts
The Queue page shows the run on each spectrometer now and when each waiting run is expected to start. Staff move runs up or down; a researcher starts their own run when it is next and is emailed when staff finish it.
Booked sessions for long experiments
Long 2D and 3D experiments can be booked on the calendar instead, with manager approval and limits per person, such as hours a week or prime-time hours.
Billed for the time used
A queued run is billed like a session, for the minutes it takes, at the spectrometer’s rate for the person’s price group and project. Runs and sessions go on one monthly statement per paying account.
Core plan
Samples run by staff
Researchers request staff-run samples with the experiments, solvent, and a sample list pasted from a spreadsheet. Staff send an estimate and release a link to the spectra when the work is done.
Core plan
Cryogen fills on the calendar
Maintenance plans for weekly nitrogen fills, helium fills, monthly lineshape and sensitivity checks, and yearly service visits remind managers when each comes due, and each fill is recorded when it is done.
Problems and downtime
Anyone who books can report a problem, and managers get an email. A major problem still open after a day is emailed again each morning until it is fixed. Downtime blocks the calendar and tells the people whose bookings it cancels.
Set up in one step
Choose NMR when you set up the core: three spectrometers with their queues, two data processing workstations, and a fume hood open with their rules, along with the staff-run sample and processing help services and the maintenance plans. Change anything later.
Questions
NMR core questions
How does the queue decide the order?
Runs go in the order they were added, one at a time, and core staff can move a run up or down. In the night queue’s hours, long runs go first, and short runs fill the rest of the night. Runs wait around reservations on the calendar.
Who starts and finishes runs?
Core staff can start and finish any run. A researcher can start their own run when it is next and the spectrometer is free, and finish it when it is done. Whoever finishes a run marks it done or failed, and the researcher is emailed if someone else did.
How are queued runs billed?
Each run becomes a session from start to finish, charged at the spectrometer’s rate for the person’s price group and the project they chose. Time past the estimate is not charged as overtime.
Can long experiments still be booked?
Yes. A spectrometer can take booked sessions and queued runs. Runs wait around reservations, and a run that has started holds the spectrometer for its estimated time.
Do we have to check training?
No. Training checks are on by default and can be turned off for the whole core under Rules.
Other kinds of core: flow cytometry, light microscopy, histology, genomics, core facilities, and behavior cores.
Run your NMR core in one place.
Every new workspace includes the Core plan for 30 days. After that, booking stays free; rates, invoices, and service requests need the Core plan.