Use Run fields to establish business rules for capturing biological data. These fields are defined at the Vault level and are used to complement the row level data captured in readout definitions (raw data, normalizations, variable conditions, plate control layouts). They can be used to describe a given experiment/run of an assay in a detailed and structured manner, ensuring all meta data is captured for each Run definition.
In this article, we go over how a Vault Administrator can add Protocol fields using the Settings > Vault > Run Fields tab.
When creating new Runs within CDD Vault, users have traditionally been able to define the Run date, Person, Lab, and Conditions. These top-level Run annotations can now be modified and/or expanded to include additional custom Run fields. The Vault Administrator must create these new fields (for example CRO, Assay Kit, Assay Target, etc.) that users can then populate when creating new Runs.
To edit or add Run fields, a Vault Administrator can navigate to the Settings > Vault > Run Fields tab and click the “Add/Edit Run Fields” link (the pencil icon) located in the top right of this panel.
Next, the Vault Administrator can:
- click the “Add/edit run fields” button
- click "Add a run field" at the bottom of the existing Run fields
- Type in a Name for the new Run field
- Choose the data type (Text, Long text, Pick List, File, or Number)
- Select if the field should be shown in the Dropdoen Display
- Select if the new Run field is optional, required or conditionally required
- Repeat above steps as needed for additional new Run fields
- Reorder the fields as desired using the icon on the far right
- When finished, click the green “Update run fields” button in the lower right corner
Users can then populate these new fields when creating their Runs using the form containing all of the available Run fields, as created by the Vault Administrator.
Once the values are filled in, and the Run definition is saved, the Run Details tab will show the full definition of the Protocol. Additionally, when clicking through on the name of a Protocol, the resulting Run Data tab can now be customized to display the exact Run Fields you wish to display.
Noteworthy tips:
- For “Text” versus “Long text” field types, the number of characters allowed in each are the same, this distinction only affects the size of the data input box and whether the special characters drop-down is displayed when creating a new Protocol definition. The “Long text” type will display a bigger text entry box that is resizable and the special characters drop-down is displayed so that users may insert symbols (e.g. Greek character or the degree symbol).