Laboratories
A Laboratory marks an existing Organization as an analytical testing lab. It is the shared, installation-wide handle that a Chain of Custody (CoC) and a Lab Report point to when they record where samples were sent and which lab returned the results. A Laboratory (Laboratory) holds no data of its own beyond the link to its Organization — it is the Organization, flagged as a lab.
The marker, not a duplicate record
A Laboratory carries a single field: the link to its Organization (OrganizationId). Everything you would think of as the lab's details — its name, address, and contacts — lives on the Organization itself. The Laboratory designation says "this Organization tests samples", so the lab appears in the lab pickers on a Chain of Custody and a Lab Report.
Exactly one Laboratory may exist per Organization. A second attempt to designate the same Organization is rejected as already existing. There is also nothing to edit on a Laboratory: to change the lab's details you edit the underlying Organization on its own page, and to undo the designation you remove the Laboratory (which leaves the Organization intact).
The diagram shows how the marker connects an Organization to the records that reference it.
Figure: a Laboratory designates one Organization and can be referenced by many Chains of Custody and many Lab Reports.
Designate a Laboratory
You designate an existing, active Organization as a Laboratory from either of two places:
- From Data Management → Directory → Laboratories, select Create and choose the Organization.
- From an Organization's Laboratory tab, select Create Laboratory.
The Organization must already exist and be active. If it is inactive, or if it is already designated as a Laboratory, Erde refuses the request.
The Laboratories grid lists each lab by its Organization name and shows an Inactive marker that reflects the Organization's active state. Active labs are listed first, then ordered by organization name.
How a CoC and a Lab Report use it
Both a Chain of Custody and a Lab Report can reference a Laboratory through an optional link (LaboratoryId). One Laboratory can be referenced by many of each. The two records use the marker slightly differently, and a CoC adds a text snapshot alongside it.
| Aspect | Chain of Custody | Lab Report |
|---|---|---|
Laboratory link (LaboratoryId) | Optional | Optional |
| Lab name shown | The Laboratory's Organization name | Derived from the Laboratory's Organization name |
| Separate name snapshot | Laboratory Name (LaboratoryName), required free text | — |
| Inactive lab on assign | Rejected unless already assigned | Rejected unless already assigned |
The key distinction is the Laboratory Name snapshot on a Chain of Custody. The Laboratory link is the shared marker; the Laboratory Name is per-record free text captured when the CoC is created (and editable for corrections). It is the lab name printed on the manifest, so a CoC can record the receiving lab by name even when that lab is not a registered Organization. When a Laboratory is linked, the lab picker shows its Organization name.
A Lab Report has no such snapshot: its displayed laboratory name is derived from the linked Laboratory's Organization name. An inactive Laboratory is rejected on a Lab Report unless it was already assigned.
Remove a Laboratory
You cannot remove a Laboratory while any Lab Report or Chain of Custody still references it — Erde returns a "has dependents" conflict. Clear or reassign those references first.
Removing the Laboratory designation deletes only the marker. The underlying Organization, and every Sample and record tied to it, stay in place.
There is no separate edit action for a Laboratory, because it has nothing to edit. Manage the lab's details on its Organization, and add or remove the lab designation here.
Who can do what
| Action | Administrator | Data Manager | Manager | Staff |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Laboratories | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Designate a Laboratory | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Remove a Laboratory | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — |