LabOrders is a modular solution, tailored to each institution's specific needs and internal processes. For that reason, the available privileges and how they are managed may vary from institution to institution. Nevertheless, some general principles apply. This section describes the general principles guiding LabOrders privileges management across our different modules. If you still have questions after reading it, please get in touch with our Helpdesk.
Lab users vs. Services users
One important aspect of LabOrders user privileges is the distinction between "lab users" and "services users". In short:
- Lab users' accounts are the most common ones, allowing users access to the basic LabOrders functionalities, for example, they are used to initiate requisitions. Their privileges are managed directly by the institution, either by a lab user with sufficient privileges (see below) or by an authorized services user.
- Services users are normally accounts associated with the central services of the institution. They have access to additional LabOrders functionalities and typically can see all of the institutions information. Their privileges are managed by our support team in interaction with the institution.
You can check your account type by placing the mouse over your photo on the top right of the screen. A service account will have a blue outline around your photo and present you with a "Services account" label:
What if you have two different accounts (one lab and one services account)? In that case, you can quickly switch between them, by clicking on the "Switch account" action presented under your name.
Orders
The privileges around the Orders requisition process determine what actions one can perform in your institution's requisitions workflow. For example, they determine who can initiate a request or generate a Purchase Orders and email it automatically to the vendors.
- Lab users' orders workflow privileges are managed in the Orders > Privileges menu option.
Lab users' privileges for Orders are organized around Grants. Each grant has one Principal Investigator (PI) that is assigned during the Grant's creation. This person is the formal responsible for the grant and automatically receives Admin privileges.
Other users can be added directly from the interface (see How do I add a new lab user?). You can find an explanation for the different privileges at the bottom right of the table, by clicking on the question mark icon.
In most LabOrders institutions you will have some users able to initiate a request for a specific grant (with the Request privilege attributed to them) and other users approving those requests in that grant (those with the Approve or Admin privilege), before they are sent to services users for further validation or processing of the request.
- Services users' order privileges
Usually, after a lab user approves the request, it will pass to one of the services users. For institutions with simpler workflows, this could be immediately the person responsible for generating and emailing the Purchase Order. In more advanced workflows multiple steps will be involved: for example, a project manager can validate the requisition, followed by the financial director or one or more board members, before it is ready to be ordered. The workflow steps specific to your institution were shared during the onboarding session, but if you have any questions please let us know.
The assignment of privileges to services users so they can execute one or more of the steps above is currently managed by LabOrders following a request by authorized personnel in your institution.
Stocks
- The privileges associated with access to the stockroom functionalities can be confirmed and attributed via the Stocks > Privileges, by an user with Admin privileges in a Stockroom.
In LabOrders a Stockroom is the logic unit around which privileges are allocated. You may have more than one stockroom in your institution with different privileges. For example, you could have a Stockroom for your group/lab products, which only your group members can see and edit, and the institution could have a central warehouse that everyone in the institution can view.
You can add new users to a Stockroom directly from the interface and use the help icons at the bottom of the page to better understand what different privileges allow users to do.
Advanced stockroom users could have additional privileges to control Pick-up lists (requests to the warehouse) or Bills of Materials and Production Lots workflows. Please get in touch with our Helpdesk if you would like to know more about these advanced functionalities.
Equipment
The Equipment list is currently visible to all users in your institution by default.
Only users with extra privileges can add new equipment, and edit the location and organigram tables. Currently the management of these privileges is done by the LabOrders team after a request from the institution's authorized personnel.
Additional services users privileges
A services user can also have a number of additional privileges attributed, allowing them to perform specific administrative tasks. For example, some services users may be able to activate disabled accounts or edit lab users' privileges centrally. Please get in touch with our support team if you require any extra privileges to be attributed to your services account or would like a quick overview of what is possible in your institution.