Manage lab data

This guide shows how to create a Lab Report, add its Lab Analyses, and record the individual Lab Results by hand. Use it when you are entering a small deliverable, fixing one record, or capturing data a lab sent outside a parsable file.

Most laboratory data does not arrive this way. A parsed deliverable creates the report, its samples, analyses, and results in a single pass through the Import pipeline — see Importing Data. Reach for manual entry only when an import does not fit.

Before you start

• Role required: add or edit access to the Project's data. Creating records uses add-data permission; editing and deleting use edit-or-grace permission.
• Prerequisites: the Project exists. To assign one on the report, the Laboratory must exist in the Directory and the Chain of Custody (CoC) must already belong to the same Project. Both are optional on the report.

How the records nest

You build lab data top-down: a report first, then an analysis on that report, then results on that analysis. Each step opens the next record's home.

Figure: the manual entry path. A report groups analyses; an analysis carries results; validation attaches to a field-sample result later.

Create a Lab Report

1. Go to Data Management → Projects, then select the Project.

2. In the Project's left subnav, select Lab Reports.

3. Select Add. The Create Lab Report dialog opens.

4. Enter the report fields:

   Field	What to enter
   Code	Required. The lab's report number, unique within this Project (max 50 characters).
   Laboratory	The lab that ran the work. Optional, but leaving it blank warns on save.
   Chain of Custody	The CoC that delivered the samples. Optional; only CoCs in this Project appear.
   Status	The starting status — Draft (the default) or Preliminary. The reviewed statuses are reached later through review, not set here. See Status values.
   Report Date	The date the lab issued the report. Optional.
   Sample Receipt Date	Optional. The date the lab received the samples. When set, must be on or before Report Date.
   Reported By	The signatory. Optional (max 100 characters).
   Notes	Free text. Optional (max 2000 characters).

5. Select Create. Erde opens the new report's Summary page.

Any warnings — a missing laboratory, a terminal status with no dates — appear after the save and do not block it.

Status values

A Lab Report carries one of exactly five Status values. When you create a report you set it to Draft (the default) or Preliminary; the reviewed statuses — Approved, Rejected, and Validated — are reached later through review, not chosen at creation.

Value	Meaning
Draft	Default for a new report; results are being entered or reviewed.
Preliminary	An early or partial issue from the lab, not yet final.
Approved	Reviewed and accepted; the only status from which results can be validated.
Rejected	Reviewed and rejected.
Validated	Final sign-off; reachable only from Approved.

A report becomes Validated only when it is currently Approved — any other move to Validated is refused. Moving backward out of a promoted status (out of Validated, Approved, or Rejected) is allowed but warns. Approve or reject the report from its Summary page; change other statuses on the report's Details tab. Promotion to Validated is done on the report's Validation page.

Add a Lab Analysis

A Lab Analysis is one analytical run on the report — a Method applied to one sample. Add it from the report's own door so it lands attached to the report. The Lab Report Sample requirement below is specific to this door; an analysis only needs a field Sample, a Lab Report Sample, or both.

1. From the report's Summary page, select Analyses in the left subnav.

2. Select Add. The Add Analysis dialog opens with the essentials only.

3. Enter the essential fields:

   Field	What to enter
   Lab Report Sample	Required. The report sample this run is for, including lab quality-control samples.
   Field Sample	Optional. Links a field Sample to the run; shown only when the report sample's origin is Field.
   Analysis Method	Required. The Method the lab ran. Only active methods appear.
   Run Type	Optional. Defaults to Initial.
   Fraction	Required. Defaults to Total.
   Matrix Type	Required. Defaults to Aqueous.
   Analysis Date	The date the lab analyzed the sample. Optional.
   Dilution Factor	Required. Must be greater than zero; a value below 1.0 warns (pre-concentration) but is allowed.

4. Select Create. Erde opens the new analysis's detail page on its Overview tab, where you fill in the rest — preparation and leachate dates, instrument, subsample and volume, and notes.

note

The dialog deliberately captures only the essentials. The full set of analysis fields — and the Lab Results themselves — live on the detail page Erde opens after a clean save.

Add Lab Results

Lab Results are the analyte-by-analyte values. Add them on the analysis you just created, not on the report's read-only Results tab.

1. From the Lab Analysis detail page, select the Results tab.

2. Select Add. The Add Result dialog opens.

3. Enter the result fields:

   Field	What to enter
   Analyte	The Analyte. Required for every result type except Tentatively Identified, where it is optional.
   Lab Analyte Name	The lab's literal name for the analyte. Defaults to the selected analyte's name when blank.
   Unit	Required. The measurement unit for the value.
   Result Type	Required. Defaults to Target.
   Detected	Required. Yes or No. Defaults to Yes.
   Reportable	Required. Yes or No. Defaults to Yes.
   Basis	Required. Defaults to As Received. The reporting basis belongs to the result — one analysis can carry the same analyte reported wet, dry, or lipid-normalized. Saving warns (without blocking) when the basis does not suit the sample's matrix — a dry or wet basis on an aqueous or gaseous matrix, or Lipid Weight on anything but a biota matrix.
   Result Value	The numeric value. Cannot be set together with Result Text.
   Result Text	A non-numeric result (for example TNTC, Present). Cannot be set together with Result Value.
   EMPC Value	Estimated Maximum Possible Concentration — a lab estimate for a detected-but-tentative signal. Optional and stored independent of value or text; in analysis it can substitute as the effective value. See EMPC.
   Lab Qualifier	The lab's qualifier flag. Optional.
   Significant Figures	Reporting precision, 1–20. Optional.
   Notes	Free text. Optional (max 500 characters).

4. Select Create. The result appears in the grid.

A detected result (other than a surrogate) needs at least one of Result Value, Result Text, or EMPC Value. Detection limits are not part of the Add Result dialog. After the result is created, open it from the grid and edit its Detection Limits section on the Lab Result detail page. When you record a method reporting limit and a method detection limit, the reporting limit must be greater than or equal to the detection limit. A non-detect with no limits recorded warns but is allowed.

Edit or delete

Open any record from its grid to its detail page, then select Edit to change fields in place. Editing uses the detail page's inline form, not the Add dialog — the full field set lives on the detail page. Deletes follow the dependency chain:

• A Lab Report will not delete while any Lab Analysis still points to it. Remove the analyses first.
• A Lab Analysis will not delete while any Lab Result still belongs to it. Remove the results first.
• Deleting a Lab Report cascades to its batches and report samples.

Delete several results at once

The Lab Analysis Results grid supports multi-select deletion, so you do not have to remove a long list of results one at a time. Tick the checkbox on each row you want (or use the header checkbox to select the whole page), then select Delete selected (N) above the grid and confirm.

warning

Bulk deletion is permanent and cannot be undone. Each removed result is recorded individually in the Audit Log.

The delete is best-effort: rows that can be removed are deleted together, and anything that cannot (for example a result another user just deleted) is reported back in the result message rather than failing the whole batch.

Result

The report now appears in the Project's Lab Reports list with its Code, Status, Laboratory, and turnaround. Its Analyses tab lists each run, and each run's Results tab lists its values. Field-sample results are ready to validate once the report reaches Approved — see Validate lab results.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause	Resolution
Save refused: the code already exists	A report with that Code already exists in this Project.	Codes are unique per Project — pick a different code or open the existing report.
The Results tab on the report has no Add button	That tab is a read-only roll-up across the report's analyses.	Add results on the Lab Analysis detail page's Results tab instead.
Save warns "Lab report has no laboratory assigned"	No Laboratory is set on the report.	Assign a laboratory, or accept the warning — it does not block the save.
Status change to Validated is refused	The report is not currently Approved.	Move the report to Approved first, then to Validated.
A CoC you expect is missing from the picker	The CoC belongs to a different Project.	Create the Chain of Custody in this Project, or choose one that is.
Save refused: value and text both set	A result cannot carry both a numeric value and a text value.	Clear one of Result Value or Result Text.
Deleting a report is blocked	Lab Analyses still reference it.	Delete the analyses first, then the report.
Deleting an analysis is blocked	Lab Results still belong to it.	Delete the results first, then the analysis.

Related

• Import lab and field data
• Validate lab results
• Lab analyses and results
• Lab reports