Adding laboratory equipment
Let’s review adding equipment to the R18LabQMS application for a better understanding of the process, please note a more detailed description can be found by going to the knowledge base by clicking on help in the upper right hand corner.
There are two basic inventory types within the application on the “Manage Lab” tab, equipment (global listing) and lab equipment inventory (your inventory).
Global listing
Global listing is a general listing of equipment that most labs will choose from when adding equipment for their laboratory. All equipment on the global list has all basic information including procedures for both maintenance and cal/check/standard, frequency (as listed in AASHTO R18).
Lab equipment inventory
This is where users will add and maintain all equipment within the application. When selecting from the global list, information is then added to that equipment record that is specific to that piece of equipment, i.e. serial number.
Adding equipment
This was designed to be an easy and intuitive process with generic information already at your fingertips. Simply go to “Manage Lab” / View inventory / +Lab Equipment. If the equipment you are looking for is not in the global list simply click add new equipment.
Global equipment has procedures attached
When adding equipment from the global list there are procedures included that were created within the application that can be edited. These procedures are also listed in the “Manage Lab” area and can be added to other similar types of equipment when adding equipment.
Important note on procedures
Creating procedures can be a long and daunting task when creating from scratch, so we have made this process as flexible as possible to accommodate labs looking toward accreditation and labs that have established procedures that would rather continue using their current process and forms. R18LabQMS procedure forms will provide all equipment information with the option of adding your lab specific procedures through Excel, Word or PDF files.
Procedure frequency
All procedure frequencies in the application are set at the maximum as outlined in AASHTO R18. It’s important to note that all procedure frequencies can be edited within the application by going to Manage Lab/View Inventory/actions/ – edit maintenance or cal/check/standard procedure.
Next cal/check/standard date
This is a very important part of setting up new equipment, as it will effect when procedures will appear on your dashboard. This is the “next” procedure date (not the initial or original procedure date going back in time). Example, if you started using R18LabQMS in March and you completed a procedure in January, your “next procedure date” would June on a 6-month frequency.
History
You can add history, procedures that were previously completed before implementing R18LabQMS by going to Manage Lab/View Inventory/actions/ – maintenance or cal/check/standard procedure, equipment info section. Select the date the procedure was completed and upload the file. Please note: uploading completed procedures does not affect the dashboard or initial “next procedure dates”.
Please note more details on adding equipment into your inventory can found in the help area, upper right hand corner of the application.
Please contact us for any comments or questions.
– Gary Irvine