1. Admin Configurations for ELN
Core ELN Training:
Admin Configurations for ELN
Welcome to CORE ELN training. This chapter will focus on configurations that an administrator can make to customize their Electronic Laboratory Notebook. It is recommended to complete all prior generic ELN Training chapters before starting this chapter.

2. Agenda Managing Signatures Configuring Custom Sections
What are Signature Workflows?
Creating a Signature Workflow
Starting/Stopping Signature Workflows
Nominating Witnesses
Alerts
Configuring Custom Sections
Options on Entries
This lesson will begin with a closer look at how to manage the signature process using either Signature Workflows or letting authors nominate their own witnesses. We will explain what Signature Workflows are and how they are configured and used within the CORE ELN. The lesson will include how to turn off Signature Workflows when they are no longer needed and how to check that they are running. We will also take a quick look at alerts. Next, we will show how administrators can add their own custom sections if desired. We will conclude with a few key system options that you may want to consider using. Please click on the page when you are ready to begin.
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3. Managing Signatures Signatures are a critical component of the ELN
Authors and witnesses verify that data in record is correct
Protects intellectual property
Two main ways to control signatures:
Admin sets up signature workflows that define who will be responsible for author and manager signatures and notebook creator selects signature workflow for all entries in notebook
Admin turns on nominate witness option and entry author selects witness during author signature
One of the key components of an Electronic Laboratory Notebook is the signatures. Signatures indicate that the author and another person familiar with the work have reviewed the entry and verified that the data is correct. These signatures are needed to protect the intellectual property of your company.
The ELN administrator has 2 different ways to manage the signature process. If you know ahead of time who the authors and managers will be for a series of entries, you can define a signature workflow to give appropriate permissions. When a notebook is created, then the desired signature workflow can be associated to the notebook. Although you can edit the signature workflow if needed, this does require that the set of authors and witnesses remains fairly static during the lifetime of a given notebook.
The other alternative is to configure the ELN to allow authors to nominate witnesses when they are adding the first signature. This lets the author change who the witness will be for each individual entry.
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4. What Are Signature Workflows?
Specialized workflow to manage which users can sign notebook entries as authors and which can sign as witnesses/managers
Built from any combination of signature queues (usually 1 author queue and 1 manager queue)
Does not need criteria to move objects
Usually configured by administrators
Every notebook should be associated to a signature workflow when it is created
No limit to number of signature workflows you can create
Can use 1 shared signature workflow that has all authors in author queue and all managers in manager queue
OR can create many individual workflows for each author/manager pair
Let’s take a closer look at signature workflows first.
Within the Platform for Science, a workflow is a sequence of connected steps that move an object through a logical or physical process. On the LIMS side, a workflow is usually used to move sample lots through a series of assays. For ELNs, a signature workflow is used to push notebook entries from one signature to the next. A signature workflow is built from any combination of signature queues, but usually a signature workflow has one author queue and one manager queue. Unlike other workflows in the system, signature workflows do not need to pass any specified criteria to move objects from one step to the next.
Typically, the ELN administrator will configure the signature workflows. When a new notebook is created, that user should select the appropriate signature workflow on the Create Notebook page in order for their notebook entries to be completed correctly. Depending on your business needs, notebook creation can be limited to a smaller group of super users or administrators or all users can have permission to create notebooks. It is possible to edit the notebook to change signature workflows later.
You can create as many signature workflows as you need. This leads to 2 major strategies for ELN setup. You can set up one single shared signature workflow that will allow all managers to operate from a single queue with entries from all authors. This allows managers to go to one queue to view all entries that need a signature in one place, but it does not limit a specific manager to only sign entries for specific authors.
Or, your administrator may have configured many individual signature workflows for each author/manager pair in order to pair up smaller teams together. This will limit managers from signing entries that are not direct reports, but it may mean they have to view multiple queues to see all the entries they need to sign.
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5. What Are Signature Queues?
A task list of all the entries that need to be signed
Cannot add or remove entries to the queue manually
Signature workflow automatically pushes entries into queue
Signing an entry automatically marks tasks as fulfilled
Only users who are associated to queue will have permission to sign
No limit to the number of queues an employee can be associated to
Entry authors can not sign as a witness
Users can be added/removed at any time
Typically configured by Administrator
Queue typically can be viewed by any user
Since signature workflows are built from signature queues, let’s take a look at those building blocks now.
Signature queues contain a task list of all the notebook entries that need to be signed. Unlike other types of queues in the LIMS, you can NOT manually add any entries to a signature queue or mark items as fulfilled. The signature workflow will automatically add closed entries to author queues and push signed entries into the next witness queue. Whenever an entry is signed, it will automatically mark the task in the queue as fulfilled so it will be removed from the current open task list.
The signature queue itself also controls which users are allowed to sign at this step.
Only the users that are associated to a queue will be allowed to sign the entries that are in the queue’s task list. However, even if a user is associated to a manager queue, they will not be allowed to sign an entry that they have authored. You can always edit a queue at any time to modify the users associated to it. An administrator typically will configure this queue, but usually most users can view the tasks that are in it.
Now that we understand what signature queues and workflows are, let's take a look at how to configure them.
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6. Create a Signature Queue
ELN Home Page Queues Signature QueueCreate
Fill out form -
Select users to have permission to sign
You will usually need to create two different types of signature queues - one that will be used by notebook authors who will enter the first signature and ones that will be intended for managers or witnesses to enter a second signature. If you are creating many different signature workflows for small teams, you will need to create separate signature queues for each small set of users that have an author or manager role within that team.
To create a queue, navigate to the ELN Home Page, and locate the Queues main menu. Expand the menu to find the Signature Queue menu and then expand that option to see the available menu choices below it. Click on Create to create a new Signature Queue.
On the Create Queue page, enter a descriptive name that will allow users to find the queue they need from a list of queues. For example, we’ll use Chemistry Dept Authors Queue here. Next, select the project, if project security will be used, otherwise the default project of General will be assigned. Next, select the employees to associate to the queue. These will be the users who will be allowed to enter a signature for the role the queue is assigned to in the signature workflow. Typically employees who are authors of notebooks will be assigned to author signature queues and employees who are witnesses should be assigned to management queues. There are no restrictions to the number of signature queues a user can be assigned to. Click on the Create New button to create the new Signature Queue.
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7. Modifying Users to Signature Queue
You can add and change employees associated to the queue at any time by selecting the Edit button on the Queue Details page
You will now be brought to an empty Queue Details page. From this page you can change the employees associated to the queue by clicking on the Edit Icon in the main tool bar. This will allow you to easily update a signature queue to reflect any changes in user roles.
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8. Create a Signature Workflow
Main Admin Panel  Workflow Super Type  Signature Workflow Workflow Type  New
Once our Signature Queues are all created, the next step is to create a signature workflow and add the queues to it.
As we said earlier, creating a signature workflow is very much the same as creating other types of workflows. If you need more detail, please view the Project Management lesson on Workflows.
To begin, navigate to the Main Admin Panel. Locate the Workflow Super Type and list of all the different workflow entity types underneath it using the List All Entity Types icon. Locate the Signature Workflow entity type and under the Action section, click on the corresponding New button. This will bring you to the Create Workflow page where you can create a new Signature Workflow.
Provide a descriptive name for your workflow, something that will make it identifiable from other workflows. Under the Eligible Entity Types, select Entry (unless you have named your notebook pages something else in which case, select that option).
Select a Project if project security is enabled, and then click on Create New to Create your workflow. This will bring you to the Workflow Details Page. This is where will configure the steps for your workflow.
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9. Configure Signature Workflow Steps
Configure the Workflow to move notebook entries into your author signature queue when entries are closed 1.
Select the Author Signature Action for the Signature Workflow
Leave Step set to 1 – click Add 2.
No Criteria needs to be added. Click on Add Actions to Add the Author Signature Action
For a signature workflow, the first step consists of configuring the workflow to move notebook entries into your author signature queue when entries are closed. To do this, leave the default in the Add Decisions Points text box set to 1 and click on the Add button to display the first step in the workflow. Since this is a signature workflow, we do not need to add any criteria. Simply click on the Add Actions hyperlink to select your author signature queue. This will bring you to an Action Criteria page, providing you with a list of available signature queues to select from. Check the box that corresponds to the desired author queue.
Note that you do NOT need to select a message here to send unless you want users who are not already associated to the relevant signature queue to get the message. The ELN will automatically send an automated to the appropriate users linked with the workflow.
Click on the Update Actions button to save your selection. 3.
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10. Configure Workflow Steps Cont.
Configure a second workflow step which will define the management signature queue to use. 1.
Select the Manager Signature Action for the Signature Workflow
Set Step to 2 and click Add 2.
No Criteria needs to be added. Click on Add Actions to Add the Manager Signature Action
The next step is to create a second workflow step, which will define which management signature queue to use. Even if you are allowing users to nominate their own witnesses, you should still include a management signature queue as a placeholder in the workflow to indicate the number of steps there will be. If users are nominating their own witnesses, they do not need to be added to the management signature queue.
Enter a 2 in the Add Decisions Points text box and click the Add button to display the second step to the workflow. Again, click on the Add Actions hyperlink, and this time select the desired management signature queue. Click the Update Actions button to save your edits.
The signature workflow is now ready to be used! 3.
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11. Assign Workflow to Notebooks
Once created, a signature workflow can be assigned to many notebooks 1.
Create a new notebook or edit an existing one and under the Signature Workflow section, add the Signature Workflow 2.
Once created, the signature workflow can now be assigned to any notebook to allow notebook entries to be moved through the two queues. When creating new notebooks, the new signature workflow will be available to select. You can also edit existing notebooks to add the new signature workflow whenever you need to. Unless you limit their permissions, users can also assign the signature queues to their own notebooks themselves.
To assign a workflow to an existing notebook, simply edit the Notebook desired, and then locate the Signature Workflow section. Select the desired signature workflow that you want to associate with this Notebook. This defines the author and management signature queues that the notebook will follow. Save your changes when you are done.
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12. Turning Off a Signature Workflow
Uncheck the Active checkbox and save changes
Note: Be careful that you do not deactivate workflows that are associated to notebooks with active entries!
If at any time you wish to turn off a specific signature workflow, simply deactivate the record by editing the record and unchecking the Activate box. Save your change and the signature workflow will no longer be displayed in Notebook drop down lists or automatically push objects into the signature queues within it. Be careful to not deactivate workflows that are still associated to notebooks that have active entries.
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13. Project Job Must Be Enabled
PD-EntityProjectjob should show as scheduled
LIMS Administration Application  Jobs  Project Job  Job Scheduler
Note that in order for signature workflows to work in the way they are configured, the Project Job needs to be running. This is typically something that is configured by an Administrator. Within the Main Admin Panel there is a Project Job Entity Type, splits processes into multiple threads that run in parallel. The PD-EntityProjectJob evaluates records when they are created or updated to see if they now meet workflow criteria. This must be active to allow the signature workflow to work.
You can confirm that a project job is running from the Job Scheduler page. Those jobs that are running will be listed at the top of the page with a label of "scheduled" and those that are not will be located at the bottom with a label of "descheduled". Please refer to the chapter on Project jobs for more information on this topic.
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14. Nominating Witnesses Allows entry authors to select who will sign next
Witnesses are defined by entry, not notebook
Signature workflow still needs to configured, but manager queues will be ignored
Witnesses will be notified by and have permissions to view entries they are signing
Authors can select witnesses when they sign an entry
Earlier we mentioned an option called Nominating Witnesses. This is the ability for the author of an entry to select who will sign the entry next. This feature is especially useful if your business needs to be able to select specific witnesses for different notebook entries and not be limited to the same set of managers associated to a manager queue for the entire notebook. To use this feature, you will still need to have a signature workflow configured, but the manager signature queue will be ignored if a witness is selected. The witness will automatically receive an to let them know an entry needs their signature and they will be allowed to view the page they are signing even if it would be otherwise hidden from them. The entry author will only be allowed to select their witness as they are entering their signature. The signature page with the nominate witness option enabled is shown here.
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15. Configuring Nominating Witnesses
Admins must enable this option by adding an association to Employee on the Signature Queue Member entity type
Use the context CI_ELN_WITNESSES
To enable this option, you need to navigate to the Queue Member Super Type in the Main Admin Panel. List all the Entity Types underneath the Super Type. Find the Edit Associations button next to the Signatures Queue Member Entity Type and select it.
On the Edit Associations page, add an association to an Employee as shown on this slide. You need to spell the association context as shown here, CI_ELN_WITNESSES
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16. Alerts
Signature workflows can send an alert to managers in the queue when an author signs a notebook entry
Note: Managers must have a valid account configured to receive an alert
By default, the ELN will automatically send an to users associated to a manager queue or who were nominated to be a witness when an author enters the first signature. An example is shown here on this slide. Beyond entering general settings in the System Configuration page, administrators do NOT need to configure anything else to turn this feature on. Note that all managers should have a valid address in their employee records in order to receive a message. If you would like s sent to additional people, then you can configure a message to be sent on the signature workflow.
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17. Key ELN Objects
These are the main Super Types and Entity Types in the Main Admin Panel that control the ELN
Now let’s switch gears and take a look at where to find the key objects in the ELN in the Main Admin Panel. If you ever need to modify the configurations on a notebook or a template notebook, you will find those entity types underneath the List Super Type. Similarly, the configurations for an entry are stored under the Procedure Super Type. We have already discussed the Signature Queue and Signature Workflow Entity Types in detail in this lesson.
The most likely place you might want to add configurations is to make a custom section. Section entity types are stored under the Task Super Type.
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18. Common Section Types File Attachments Office Tools Chemistry
Image Section
PDF Section
Attachments
Office Tools
Office Web Apps
MS Word Web App
MS Excel Web App
MS Powerpoint Web App
ThinkFree
Document
Spreadsheet
Presentation
Simple Text Editor
Chemistry
Reaction
Reaction Sketch
Associations
In an earlier lesson we learned what the common section types were that might be in your ELN. If you list all the Entity Types under the Task Super Type, you can see what your system has and add your own if you like.
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19. Custom Sections Vs. Template
If users add sections from scratch, they will be named by their original section type name
Tip: You can copy a Section Entity Type and give it a new name so it shows here
If users add sections from a template, the title can easily be renamed (For example, Simple Text Editor is called Procedure)
Before we create a new custom section type, let’s look at when you need to create one. If you simply want to rename a section something more descriptive (such as changing a simple text editor section title to Procedure), you can just enter a new section title within a template and encourage everyone to start entries from that template. When you add a new section from a template, the renamed section title will automatically be copied too.
However, if users are adding sections to an entry from scratch, they can only pick sections from the original entity type names. You can see the names they can select from in the Add Page section on an entry. If your users will often be creating their own section combinations from scratch and you want to standardize their section names, you can copy a section entity type that has the required functionality and give the copy your desired section name that is more descriptive.
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20. Custom Sections Can Have Attributes
You can configure a custom section that contains searchable attributes just like you do in the LIMS
Just create a new section entity type in the Main Admin Panel and add the desired attributes
You can also configure extra attributes on a custom section that has more of an organized form for users to fill out. Here is an example analytical results section with specific fields for users to fill out and placeholders for them to upload specific files. A standard form like this is encourages scientists to enter all the required information and is easier for all users to read and search. These are configured just like any entity type in the LIMS. We have also displayed here how these attributes are configured in the Section type in the Main Admin Panel. Please review the basic administration lesson if you need more information.
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21. Entry Entity Type Options
You can modify attributes on the Entry Entity Type if you want to change the default ELN behavior:
Users can add additional sections to open entries
Users can enter data into sections in any order they want
ELN does not lock sections within an entry for multiple authors
Let’s take a quick look at some of the attributes on the Entry Entity Type. There are a couple of settings that you can modify here is you want to change the default behavior of your ELN. If you want to block users from adding new sections, or force them to enter data into sections in a specific order, you can modify the values in the Main Admin Panel. If you have multiple authors working on a single entry, you may also want to modify the settings here.
There are also a few general system settings for the ELN on the System Configuration page. Consult the documentation for more information.
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22. Review Managing Signatures Configuring Custom Sections
What are Signature Workflows?
Creating a Signature Workflow
Starting/Stopping Signature Workflows
Nominating Witnesses
Alerts
Configuring Custom Sections
Options on Entries
This chapter has provided instruction on Signature workflows, what they are, how they are configured, along with providing some additional special features you should be aware of when working with them. We also covered how to make your own custom sections and set other ELN options. If you are unsure of any of the materials within this lesson, please take the time to go back through them at this time.
Thank you for investing your time in CORE ELN Training.
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