Premium Editions of LabKey Server include the option to use the Sample Manager application within a project and integrate with LabKey Studies and other resources.
Sample Manager in a Project
Sample Manager is designed to be contained in a
project on LabKey Server. This provides advantages in scoping permissions specific to sample management. For instance, many studies in other projects may need to be linked to sample data, but a single group doing the actual sample administration and freezer management for all studies would have elevated permissions on the Sample Manager folder instead of needing them on all studies.
Resources including Sample Types and Assay Designs that should be usable in both the Sample Manager project and other containers on the server should be placed in the
Shared project.
Using Sample Manager in a Folder
Depending on where the Sample Types, Assays, and study data you hope to integrate with are housed, you can also use Sample Manager in a folder, with two options. In both cases, you will be able to use the
product selection menu to switch between Sample Manager and the traditional LabKey Server interface.
In a folder, you can still access resources from the
Shared project, but can also share Sample Types and Assay Designs that are defined at the project level with other folders in the project, without having them shared site wide.
Folder of "Sample Manager" Type
You can create a new folder and select the "Sample Manager" folder type. The application will launch every time you navigate to this folder, as if it were at the project level.
It is not possible to "promote" a folder to the project level within LabKey Server. You may use
folder export and import to relocate data, but some adjustment of permissions will likely be required.
Enable "SampleManagement" Module
If you want to use Sample Manager resources in a folder, but do not want to auto-navigate to the application, you can create a folder of another type (such as Study) and then enable the "SampleManagement" module via
(Admin) > Folder > Management > Folder Type.
You will
not be navigated directly to the application in this folder, but can still reach it by editing the URL to replace "project-begin.view?" with "sampleManager-app.view?".
Export and Import of Sample Manager
Export Sample Manager Archive
As with other projects and folders in LabKey, you can
export folder objects and data using the folder management tools.
- Switch to the LabKey Server interface in your Sample Manager project.
- Note that if your Sample Manager application is in a folder, you will need to use the navigation menu to reach it, then manually replace "sampleManager-app.view?#/" in the URL with "project-begin.view?".
- Select (Admin) > Folder > Management and click the Export tab.
- Select the folder objects you want to export; a list is below.
- Select whether to include any PHI columns, and whether export to the pipeline root or via the browser.
- Click Export.
Sample Manager Folder Objects
When exporting a project or folder containing Sample Manager, include these folder objects for the corresponding Sample Manager resources:
- Sample Status and QC State Settings
- Definitions of sample statuses
- Assignment of statuses to samples included in the export
- Experiments, Protocols, and Runs
- Assay definitions and data
- Workflow jobs, tasks, templates, assignments, and files
- Sample Types and Data Classes
- Samples and Sample Types, including their lineage
- Sources and Source Types, including their lineage
- Inventory locations and items
- Freezer configurations
- Storage locations for samples
Note that Picklists are not included in folder exports. They are intended as transient collections of samples, and the connection to the samples of interest will not be retained in a folder archive.
Import Sample Manager Archive
You can import an archive to create a
new Sample Manager project. Importing into a working project, i.e. one where there are already samples of the same Sample Types, is not recommended. Sample IDs in the archive may collide with those in the working project, particularly when aliquots are involved.
- Create a new project of type "Sample Manager".
- Select (Admin) > Folder > Management and click the Import tab.
- Browse to select the archive you exported and click Import.
Importing an archive containing sample statuses into an empty folder will create the exported sample status types and samples will end up with the same status. Assignment of status will be done as a separate timeline event in the audit log.
If you import an archive into a non-empty folder, any existing sample status types will be retained and any new ones added. If there are any name collisions, the incoming status type will replace the existing one.
- The current/initial status of any existing samples in the non-empty target folder will be used to determine whether updates will be made to that sample. For example, if the current status of a sample is locked, then the import will fail if it attempts to add assay data or aliquots for that sample.
- After the import, i.e. after the update decision has been made based on the current status, the sample's status will be updated to match that of the incoming sample.
Sample Management Users and Permission Roles
An administrator in the Sample Manager or LabKey Biologics applications can access a grid of active users using the
Administration option on the user avatar menu. You'll see all the users with any access to the container in which the application is enabled.
Sample Manager and Biologics both use a subset of LabKey's role-based permissions. The "Reader", "Editor", "Folder Administrator", and "Project Administrator" roles all map to the corresponding container-scoped roles. Learn more about those permissions in this topic:
Security Roles Reference In addition, "Storage Editor" and "Storage Designer" roles are added to the Sample Manager and Biologics applications and described
below.
Reader and Editor
- When a user is granted either the "Reader" or "Editor" role, either in the LabKey Server folder permissions interface or the Sample Manager > Administration > Permissions tab, they will have that role in both interfaces.
- Assigning a user to a role in either place, or revoking that role in either place will apply to both the Sample Manager and LabKey Server resources in that container.
Permission Inheritance Note:
- If Sample Manager is defined in a folder, and that folder inherits permissions from a parent container, you will not be able to change Editor and Reader assignments within the application.
Administrator Roles
In the stand-alone Sample Manager or application, a single "Administrator" role is provided that maps to the site role "App Admin". This also means that any "App Admin" on the site will appear in Sample Manager as an Administrator.
When using Sample Manager within LabKey Server, administrator permissions work differently. Users with the "Folder Administrator" or "Project Administrator" role on the project or folder containing Sample Manager have those roles carry into the application. These roles may also be assigned from within the application (by users with sufficient permission). The difference between these two roles in Sample Manager is that a Project Administrator can add new user accounts, but a Folder Administrator cannot. Both admin roles can assign the various roles to existing users and perform other administrative tasks. As in any LabKey Server Installation, "Site Admin" and "App Admin" roles are assigned at the site level and grant administrative permission to Sample Manager, but are not shown in the Administrator listing therein.
Most actions are available to an administrator, with the notable exception of the
storage editor role described below which must be granted in addition before an administrator can perform those functions.
Storage Roles for Freezer Management
Two roles specific to managing freezer storage of physical samples let Sample Manager and LabKey Biologics administrators independently grant users control over the physical storage details for samples.
Storage Editor: confers the ability to read, add, edit, and delete data related to items in storage, picklists, and jobs. These abilities are not included in any other role, including Administrator.
Storage Designer: confers the ability to read, add, edit, and delete data related to storage locations and storage units. These abilities are included for Administrators, but not for any lower role.
Learn more in this topic:
Freezer Storage Roles
Use Naming Prefixes
You can apply a container-specific naming prefix that will be added to naming patterns for all Sample Types and Source Types to assist integration of data from multiple locations while maintaining a clear association with the original source of that data.
When you have more than one Sample Manager project or folder, or are using both Sample Manager and
LabKey Biologics on the same LabKey Server, it can be helpful to assign unique prefixes to each container.
Learn more about using prefixes here:
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