Lab Managers and users with certain ordering privileges can quickly communicate the status of orders using LabArchives Inventory. The Orders page is where orders can be viewed by all users to see the status of an order. Users can sort the list by various columns such as Date Requested or Status, as well as use the Inventory Type, Status or Order Date Range filters to find specific items.
Note: At this time, it is not possible to directly request items from a vendor using LabArchives Inventory. Orders can be exported and placed via the lab’s preferred ordering system
The Orders page is where Lab Managers and users with ordering privileges can manage and update order requests and keep requesters updated. They can also edit the details and add notes to an Order Request. They can click on "Approve" to approve the order. To view more information about the order, click "View" for a specific item.
For more information on creating custom roles with ordering privileges, please see the article on Creating Custom Roles.
The Order Request Workflow follows orders through the following stages:
After an Item has been requested, Lab Managers receive an email as well as in-application notification to alert them to the new request. Order requests will display the current status as Requested, the name of the requester, and the date of the request. The Order Request page displays the options to Approve or Cancel Order as well as all the information about the requested item.
Lab Managers can click on the Approve button on the Orders page or click “View” to see the Order Request page, where they will see the Approve and Cancel Order action buttons (see below for information on cancelling orders).
Note: If the Inventory has set up an automatic approval level for orders below a certain price, requested items that are below the threshold will be automatically approved and will skip the “Requested” state and display the “Approved” status. To learn more about Automatic Approval see How to Create Settings.
After clicking the Approve button, the Lab Manager sees the Approve confirmation box where they see information on the item requested and can enter a note for the requester. Click on Approve to approve the request. Click on Cancel or the “X” in the box to return the prior screen. Note: This cancel is different from the Cancel Order option described below.
To approve multiple Order Requests at once:
‘Requested’ must be checked (under the Status filter). Once this is selected, check boxes will appear to the left of Order Request names. You can select multiple check boxes at one time and select all by clicking the top most check box. After you choose at least one item, you will see an ‘Update Orders’ option appear.
When you click ‘Update Orders’, this window will appear where you can Add Notes and select ‘Approve All’ or ‘Cancel’.
Once an item has been approved, the status will show as Approved and Lab Managers will see the next action option: Mark Ordered. This option will be displayed on the Orders page itself and on the Order Request page, along with the date of the status update.
Lab Managers can use the Approved filter to see the list of all items that are ready to be ordered and can use the Export Orders option to create a “shopping list” to place the order in lab’s ordering or procurement system. Once items have been ordered in the external ordering system, the status can be updated in Inventory.
After clicking the Mark Ordered button, the Lab Manager sees the Mark Ordered confirmation box where they see information on the approved item and can update information on the amount ordered and price and enter a note for the requester.
Click on Mark Ordered to update the status of the request. Click on Cancel or the “X” in the box to return the prior screen. Note: this cancel is different from the Cancel Order option described below.
Orders with the Approved status can also be cancelled using the Cancel Order Option on the Order Request page.
To mark multiple Order Requests as Ordered:
‘Approved’ must be checked (under the Status filter). Once this is selected, check boxes will appear to the left of Order Request names. You can select multiple check boxes at one time and select all by clicking the top most check box. After you choose at least one item, you will see an ‘Update Orders’ option appear.
When you click ‘Update Orders’, this window will appear where you can Add Notes and select ‘Mark All as Ordered’ or ‘Cancel’.
Order requests can be cancelled by Lab Managers at either the Requested, Approved, or Ordered status. Lab Members can view and cancel their own orders, but only before the order status is Approved. To cancel an Order Request, click on the "Cancel Order" button.
After clicking on the Cancel Order, the Cancel Order confirmation box opens where the name of the item is listed along with an option to enter a note for the requester. This can used to provide information on why the ordered was cancelled.
Once the status of an item has been updated as Ordered, this will display on the Orders page along with the date of status update. Lab Managers will see the next action option: Mark Received. This option will be displayed on the Orders page itself and on the Order Request page.
Note: An ordered item does not become an item in Inventory until it’s been received.
When an ordered item arrives in the lab, the order workflow can be used to notify the requester of its arrival and indicate who is going to be putting the item away. Once an item has been ordered, the status will show as Ordered and both Lab Managers and Lab Members will see the next action option: Mark Received. Aside from making a request, cancelling an order request before it’s approved, this is the next time in the process when a Lab Member can take action.
Lab Managers and Lab Members can click on Mark Received on the Orders page itself, or they can click on View to open the Order Request and can click on the Mark Received button displayed at the top of the page.
After clicking the Mark Received button, the Mark Received confirmation box is displayed. There are two options:
“I will add this item to inventory” - when person viewing will be adding the item to inventory and updating its information.
“[Requester’s Name] will add this item to inventory – when the Lab Manager assigns the updating to the requester who will be putting the item away.
When the “I will add this item to inventory” option is selected, the user can add information on the amount received (Quantity and Units) and to set the location. This will be used on the new item being added to inventory.
When the Requester is going to add the item to inventory, a notes fields is displayed to include a note with the status update for the requester.
After clicking on Mark Received, a new record for the item is created and the amount and location are updated if set.
All order requests, including cancelled and received orders, remain in the Order history. To make it easy to see current requests, use the Status filters to view Requested, Approved, and Ordered items that are progressing through the workflow. These filters will stay selected after logging out.
In addition to the history on all order requests, each Order Request has its own history. Click on View link for any item to open the Order Request details. At the bottom of the page you will see Notes that were added during the various stages of the process along with the History of when the item was requested, approved (or cancelled), ordered, and received.
This history is separate from the history of inventory item itself, which can be viewed by clicking on the name of the item received.