Sample Approval by Specific Users

Many labs need the ability to approve sample results. Some will need a record of who approved the results and when. And labs using LIMS Messaging to automatically email sample results need to ensure the results are approved before sending final reports to clients.

In LIMS, it is easy to configure sample approval for specific or all samples. First, create an “approval” analyte with results entry limited to a “Yes” result type and enable its “Admin privileges required for results entry” option. Next, select your approval analyte on the Data Entry tab of the System Configuration screen as shown in the screen excerpt below, which enables querying unapproved samples. An unapproved sample is a sample whose only incomplete analysis is the approval analyte. Finally, add the approval analyte to all LIMS projects whose samples require approval.

To approve samples, open the Results by Analyte setup screen, select the approval analyte, and then query unapproved samples using the check box on the Additional tab of the query controls. In the Results by Analyte screen use the Sample Summary option to view all results for each unapproved sample. To approve the sample, enter a “Yes” for the approval analyte’s result type.

In many cases, limiting sample approval to only users in the Admins security role is sufficient. But what if you need to restrict approval to just specific users who may or may not be an Admin? In that case, you can use LIMS’ ability to limit results entry to users certified in the analyte’s method.

First, create a new “Sample Approval” method and add each user authorized to approve samples to the method’s certification section as shown below.

Next, add the method to the existing approval analyte and enable the analyte’s “Method certification required for results entry” option. If non-Admins will also be approving samples, disable the approval analyte’s “Admin privileges required for results entry” option.

Use this simple method certification technique to configure exactly which LIMS users can approve samples.