1. Users, roles and clients, set up the way your laboratory works
From the first day, each person sees and does only what their job requires. In OnConfig, the administrator creates every user with a role — Administrator, Manager, Supervisor, Technician or Client, plus any role the installation adds — and the role sets the permissions by application and task, including who can publish results.
Clients are registered with their contact details. A client who will consult results gets a separate login assigned to its client record, so in LabData it sees its own jobs and no one else’s. Client and job categories group the work for filters and statistics.
2. Templates and jobs ready for sample reception
Reception starts from templates, not blank forms. A batch job groups a submitted set of samples with their requested tests; a routine is created once for recurring samples distinguished by date and time. A job template brings in the client details, samples and tests, any saved job can become a template, and revisions are kept under distinct names such as “Routine metals rev 02”.
Worksheet templates carry the column definitions — formulas, units, format and detection limits — so every new worksheet starts from the laboratory’s validated calculation. Each job also carries a turnaround target in hours, which the turnaround report compares with actual hours by job, sample and test.
3. Instrument connections
Readings reach the worksheet without retyping. The OnLIMS team connects the laboratory’s instruments from a catalogue of 150+ instruments from about 40 brands, including AAS, ICP-OES/MS, XRF, carbon/sulfur analyzers, calorimeters, titrators and balances.
A balance connected to a serial (RS232) port sends each weight straight into the selected worksheet cell. AAS, ICP, XRF and LECO readings are imported from the instrument’s file, and the import preview shows the element, unit and destination column before the readings are accepted.
4. Training by module and by role
Each person practises the work they will do, in the modules they will use. Sessions follow the path of a sample, from registration to the result the client sees.
- Laboratory users — OnLAB and OnWSH Register jobs from templates, enter consecutive sample numbers, create worksheets, capture weights from the balance, import instrument readings, mark tests that do not apply and record where each sample is: reception, weighing, oven.
- Supervisors — OnWSH, OnQC / OnLQC and OnLAB Review results and QC before locking, decide on out-of-range QC, approve worksheets, publish results and follow turnaround and monthly statistics.
- Administrators — OnConfig Users, roles and permissions, clients and their LabData access, instruments and the audit log.
- Client access — LabData What the client sees: published results with their values, and asterisks for results not yet published.
One exercise every supervisor runs: a standard with a target of 1 and an accepted range of 0.9–1.1 returns 5.000. Locking the result opens the Control Chart; the analyst cancels to investigate, or accepts with a note, and the accepted value stays red, bold and underlined with its note.
The questions new users ask in these sessions are collected, with their answers, in the OnLIMS FAQ.
5. User manual and support
After training, the answers stay at hand. The user manual, in English and Spanish, is organized by module — OnConfig, OnLAB, OnWSH, OnQC / OnLQC and LabData — with the procedures for the daily tasks practised in training.
Support covers the installed version, the instrument readers and the configuration, in English or Spanish, from Ontario and Santiago. The first year of maintenance is included after go-live; from then on, the annual agreement covers software updates, instrument drivers and IT support. Every change stays traceable: OnConfig keeps a read-only audit log, and each job keeps its own audit.
Talk to the OnLIMS team about the modules, instruments and roles your start-up needs to cover.