Batches

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Batches - Viewing and processing samples that are analyzed together. The Batch Manager provides all the functionality needed to organize and process samples that are being analyzed, together with the various QC standards that the tests require. Batches are typically used to simulate a laboratory worksheet or as an autosampler load list. You define the positions and types of any QA/QC samples in a Batch Protocol. The positions of the standards in the batch can be defined explicitly or as repeating periodically and may be associated with Standards and Reagents. When the batch is built, they will be logged according to their templates and positioned automatically into the batch according to the protocol. Samples may then be inserted into the batch using the sample browser, scanning barcode labels or by dragging them from folders. Alternatively, and more conveniently, the samples can be chosen automatically from the pool of candidate samples (samples that have this test assigned and that do not yet belong to a batch) using the same QueryTag that you would have designed to populate a Folder! Thus, you can fill a batch according to any criteria associated with the samples and tests. Facilities to randomize sample positions (or samples together with QCs) are provided as a means to manually adjust their positions within the batch. As you would expect, LabWare LIMS supports batch calculations. Thus, results can be calculated depending on results of standards in the batch and their positions relative to each other (e.g. for drift corrections), or samples may have dependent samples (e.g. for spiked duplicates). As with folders, you may define an Action, or a series of Actions, to be performed on the samples in a batch. Actions enable LIMS Basic to be executed when they start or stop and may have defined sequences which are enforced when the Actions are performed. This functionality also provides workflow capabilities, especially useful when it is necessary to bring the time dimension into the process. Batches also support the creation of results that belong to the batch as a whole rather than to individual samples in the batch. These may be calculations based on results of the samples in the batch or, quite the reverse, sample results may have calculations that use batch results (e.g. ambient temperature). In both cases the calculations are simple to configure using the standard tools provided. The Batch Manager also interacts directly with the instrument interfacing software provided with LabWare LIMS. In addition, simpler instruments can be integrated directly into the grid result entry interface. A menu option allows you to run a Crystal Report based on the batch, and this feature is often used to produce batch tray loading reports and manual worklists.