Frequently Asked Questions
2) Iam trying to generate reports but all I get is the Importing Records screen. What should I do?
3) There are blank engtries in my companies list. Why.
4) How do I add to the Locations list?
5) How do I add to the shelf, rack or box list?
6) why is there no popup for the position list?
7) What is the Receive Items screen all about?
9) Whys is Stock Room a special company?
10) How do I edit a company, requisitioner, or storage location?
11) what is the difference between process orders and call in orders?
12) why are process and call in separate steps?
13) Do I need to print out a form when an order is called in?
14) I have nothing in my archive.
15) How do I get out of the Setup screen?
16) I am stuck on a screen with no buttons. What do I do?
17) the inventory appears doubled in the Reports.
18) There is a massive charge for an item that should be cheap.
20) Can I move an item from Inventory back to Orders?
21) What is a serial key or what is activation? Why can't I enter more records?
22) What are the monthly fees?
25) Can I get a physical copy of the software?
26) Can I use Labmanager on several computers? Can I network LabManager?
FAQ Answers:
1) The initial screen is different. Sometimes it has yellow buttons with Menu/Order, Setup and Help, and sometimes it does not. Why?
Different opening screens are used for managers and users. If you have logged in as a user, you will not see the yellow button screen.
2) I am trying to generate reports but all I get is the Importing Records screen. What should I do?
Make sure you click OK on the dialog box. Labmanager combines records from ordering, inventory and archive for this function. It may take some time. Be patient. If it is not complete after 5 minutes (on a pentium duo or better) quit LabManager with forcequit.Try reports again and click on done immediatelhy to flush the table. You may need to return to a backup copy if the record is corrupted.
3) There are blank entries in my companies list. Why?
If Companies was not exited using the onscrren buttons, a record with no contents may be saved. Go to companies from the main menu. In the list view, click on the company. In the edit view, click on delete.
4) How do I add to the Locations list?
On the order screen or from the mangement functions screen click of (edit locations) or (storage locations). In the Storage Locations screen, click on the add locations button. To edit or delete a location, click on (view) in the list screen and edit innt he details screen.
5) How do I add to the shelf, rack or box list?
These popup lists are edited while you use them. You will see (edit) at the bottom of the list. Click on edit and you can add to, remove, re-order or otherwise edit the list.
6) why is there no popup for the position list?
There are many positions within a box. They may be 1-200 or labeled A1-J20. Because of this variability, a popup menu would be rather slow and inconvenient. Instread type the location by code or by position number into the box.
7) What is the Receive Items screen all about?
Receive Items is a very useful screen for the manager. When yhou dop receive an item, you can click on the radio button that marks it as received. Clicking on the add received items to inventoryt button will move that item into the inventory and out of the order list. You can use the other radio buttons to see the status of an order or to move it back to an earlier state. Suppose an item is marked as called in when in fact th3e call was interrupted. In receive items you can move it back to item processed. To move the status forward (except for item has been received) you must go through the process items and call in items screens. This is to avoid moving forward when the information has not been properly entered.
8) What is the meaning of order not placed, order processed, order placed and Item(s) have been received?
Order not placed - the order has been submitted by a lab member (user) and not yet acted upon by the laboratory manager. Item precessed - a spending account and means of payment has been assigned but the order has not been called in. Called in - indicates that the order has been called in to the vendor, or that the order form has been given to the departmentla secretary for ordering. Received - the individual item has arrived in the lab. Different items in an order are received separately. When an item is marked as received it can be moved to the inventory and will then be assigned a serial number.
9) Why is Stock Room a special company?
Most institutins and companies have internal stock rooms that typically provide common disposables. These items, like eppendorf tubes or glassware, are frequently not reported as used up by lab members. Therefore, items from the stock room are automatically marked as used up 1 month after entering the inventory. This may be changed by deleting the (expiration date) in the details view for the item while in the inventory.
10) How do I edit a company, requisitioner, or storage location?
These items are in lists reached frrom the management functions menu. Click on the appropriate button in management functions to reach the list view. In the list view for locations or requisitioners click on (view) to edit details or delete them. In the companies list, click on the company name.
11) what is the difference between process orders and call in orders?
Precess orders assigns spending account (grant) information and payment card or PO information to the order. Frequently this is the same for many items and may be done for much of the list together and rapidly. Calling in takes the account information and combines it with company information to give yhou all the information to call an order in to the company. You can also place it on the web at this point, or print out the order sheet (click on mark order as placed print form). SInce calling in make take time, you can exit the call in orders screen at any time by clicking on Done. If a vendor cannot be reached at the moment, you click on skip this vendor. When you next enter the call in orders screen, that vendor will come up again.
12) When I click on call in orders or process orders nothing happens.
You have no orders queued to be processed or called in. Submit an order and work through the process again.
13) Do I need to print out a form when an order is called in?
No. You may need to pass an order on to a departmental or section secretary or manager who actually calls in the orders. If so, give this sheet to them. It has the ordering information on it. You may also use this sheet for your records. It can be filed and then re3ceipts can be clipped to the order for reconciliation of the budget.
14) I have nothing in my archive.
Most pdeople do not even for several years. This is used to remove items that have been out of stock for a long time (3 years) to keep the inventory size manageable. Archive items will be included in reports.
15) How do I get out of the Setup screen?
Click on the green start using LabManager... button.
16) I am stuck on a screen with no buttons. What do I do?
Quit LabManager using the options at the top left (Mac) or top right (PC) of the screen. Restart LabManager.
17) the inventory appears doubled in the Reports.
Reports was exited improperly (not using a Done or Exit button on the screen). Exit properly now to flush the reports table and perform the reports function again.
18) There is a massive charge for an item that should be cheap.
Typically this occurs when a user submits an order for a box (or crate or bag) of something (for example a box of 25 pens) and then lists the price per unit as the price for the box (crate or bag) and the number ordered as how many were in the box. In this example the cost of a box of 25 pens may be $10. If the quantity ordered is listed as 1, you see the cost as $10, but if the quantity ordered is listed as 25 you will see the total cost as $250. Change the quantity ordered to the number of units (boxes, etc.) in the view details screen of Receive Items.
Done is roughly the same as cancel. It means you are finished looking at a screen and want to leave it without taking any further action. You will be taken back to a menu or list screen.
20) Can I move an item from Inventory back to Orders?
No. The best you can do is re-order the item, and delete it from the inventory. You will have to be a manager to do the delete step.
21) Why can't I enter more records? What is a serial key or what is activation?
Like most other software, LabManager has a copy protection system. After all, this is how we pay our bills and get food on the table. You can use a Trial Version of LAbManager for free, but it is limited to 10 records in the inventory. When you have exceeded that, you will need to purchase a license. Our licensing requires your name and a serial key that we provide when you purchase a copy of LabManager from this site. You will receive a confirmation e-mail. COpy and paste both your name and the serial key into the appropriate boxes in the derial kjey dialog box. You can get this dialog box by either clicking on the "Enter my serial key now" button on the Setup screen, or by selecting "Activate Labmanager" from the Help menu at the top of the screen.
22) What are the monthly fees?
There are none. When you buy LabManager you own your license.
From time to time, LabManager will issue bug-fixes and minor updates. These will be free and downloadable. We also provide an import utility to bring your old files into the newer one. There is no charge for these minor updates. When the next major version (LabManager 5.0) is released, there will be a fee for the new version. That pricing has yet to be determined.
Contact us on the support page. Provide your purchase date, name and other information and we may be able to send you a replacement key.
25) Can I get a physical copy of the software?
No. This is download only.
26) Can I use Labmanager on several computers? Can I network LabManager?
Yes. LabManager may be networked in at least two different ways. See the Networking link above. You can reach the hosted file from a number of computers. However, you can only run the database on the original computer where you installed it.
27) I keep getting copy violation errors. I put in my Serial key and name but the error comes up again when I sign in from a different computer.
Activating LabManager on a computer allows you to use LabManager on that computer. You may log into that copy of LabManager from other computers, but ONLY when the progrtam is running on the original computer. If you try to launch the same copy of LabManager from different computers, LabManager will require verification that you are the owner. If you wish to use multiple computers with LabManager, host the database on one machine, and leave it running. Then log in to the running database from your other computers.