Efficiency & Productivity in Scientific Laboratories
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Save time
Experiment templates, workflow modules, automatic reports, and standard protocols from SciNote and Protocols.io repository have one thing in common – they save you a bunch of time.
Work smarter (not harder)
Work smarter by keeping your data organized in a three-layered structure, assigning tasks to people, connecting the data using annotations and applying mobile devices in your lab.
Boost your productivity
There’s no better way to boost productivity than check-marking protocol steps, meeting deadlines, exchanging advice among peers via comments, and archiving completed projects.
Stay on top of things
Monitor your work progress in the dashboard, engage with your colleagues by tagging them, use the powerful search function, and follow notifications to stay on top of things.
See the best practice examples of SciNote functionalities in action.
See the best practice examples of SciNote functionalities in action.
Using templates
In SciNote, you can create different templates, starting with your protocols and tasks, and even reuse a bigger piece of work, such as workflow composed out of a set of tasks. If you would like to store templates for future use and share them, one hint is to store them into a dedicated Project that serves as a template repository.
Using protocol repository for repetitive protocols
Protocols repository in SciNote is the home to your protocols, SOPs, or any set of instructions that you or your colleagues will likely re-use.
Managing protocols in Protocols repository instead of saving them to Tasks or as pdf attachments will enable you to re-use them easier and to record their execution properly as well as increase your efficiency and traceability.
You can either keep protocols only to yourself and store it under MY PROTOCOLS or have them available to your colleagues by storing them under TEAM PROTOCOLS.
Identifying reusable modules in your workflows
When you are working on standalone short tasks such as extracting DNA from samples you will spend less than a day on it, probably even less than an hour and you’ll use a relatively simple protocol or SOP. Such a piece of work fits nicely into a single SciNote Task.
Sometimes the work is more complex, involves different methods, several protocols, and may span several days or even weeks. Here is where SciNote workflows can really help you. You can think of workflows in SciNote as processes of how you get your work done. Workflows in SciNote are a series of connected Tasks that need to happen in a sequence.
Following these guidelines , you will be able to identify which part of the process, or what piece of work fits into individual Tasks. This will also help you to reuse them as templates in other processes.
Connecting and cross-referencing data
Utilize the digital tools and elevate your records to a whole new level by associating bits and pieces of data from different sources. Save time by using # or @ to tag and notify team members or link the relevant data.
Use # to link the information you want to mention. By using the # in SciNote, you can link your sample data, or other relevant data in your comments.
Tag and notify team members. Use the @ to tag the relevant team members of your progress, ask questions, delegate work etc.
Link existing data – add hyperlinks. You can save time by simply including a link to a piece of relevant information saved outside of SciNote.
Recording results and reporting
Effortlessly organize your results, compare them, comment on them, and discuss them with your team.
Keep your results linked to your protocol. As you work in SciNote, you are able to add protocols and results to your tasks, even link the samples, instruments or other inventory items that were used. This enables you to keep all data traceable, from the initial inventory item, to the final result.
Add file attachments to your results, upload and edit images. In SciNote, you can easily attach different files to your results. It is integrated with Microsoft Office and provides the image editing tool that allows you to edit your images as well.
Link your results to samples, reagents and inventory items. You can associate any item from your inventory to your results.
Export your results. With SciNote’s reporting function, you can easily export results in a pdf or docx form.
Opening, editing, and saving files using SciNote Edit
With the SciNote Edit desktop application installed on your computer, you will be able to open and edit a file attached in SciNote Task Protocol Steps or Results directly using the file’s native desktop application. Additionally, when you save these files, the changes will be saved directly back into SciNote, where you opened the files from.
This means:
- Better access to Windows Office desktop application features, as their corresponding cloud-based versions have fewer functionalities.
- Simplified editing process for files attached to SciNote.
- The ability to open, edit, and save files without additional integrations within SciNote, since many file types require specialized desktop programs to access.
Example: Opening a GraphPad Prism file after SciNote Edit installation
Handwriting and voice to text features on mobile devices
Mobile devices offer some additional modes of data input, so using SciNote on your tablet or smartphone can be fun, effective and productive.
Handwriting recognition. Virtual keyboard on your tablet or smartphone allows you to enter handwritten notes, which are directly converted into a digital format in any text field in SciNote. This way, you do not need to worry about the readability of your handwriting and your notes can easily be edited, stored and searched. Tablets and some smartphones come with the built-in handwriting recognition or you can simply download the app (e.g. Google Handwriting Input or Notes Plus) that will add an additional keyboard option to your mobile device. When opening a text field in SciNote, a blank field appears on your keyboard to take handwritten notes by using your finger or a stylus pen and your letters will automatically be converted into digital text.
Voice recognition. You can even dictate your notes that get converted into digital text using the keyboard that supports voice recognition. In some devices this is a built-in feature, otherwise there are several apps that you can download (e.g. Google Keyboard/Gboard). After opening a text field in SciNote, you can press the recording icon to dictate your notes. This is especially useful when performing an experiment in the lab, when you cannot type or write, so you can simply dictate your remarks, observations or anything that you would like to record and document.
Attaching photos. You can easily add a photo from your mobile device as an attachment to the Protocol or Results in SciNote. This way you can document any visual observations or results of your lab experiment (e.g. Western blot protein bands, colored ELISA reaction well-plate) or quickly attach your handwritten notes, sketches or doodles. To instantly add a photo, go to Files on a Step or add a File as a Result, tap the “Select to Upload” button and choose whether you would like to take a photo or upload a file from the device. Select the “camera” option, take a photo and it will be directly uploaded to SciNote.
Saving time with SciNote
SciNote’s 3 major functionalities: Powerful search, activities overview and comments – significantly reduce the time you currently spend on:
In this use case, a successful lab calculates that their time spent on lab notebook records dropped by 80%!
9h
Save 9 hours per week while doing the same amount of work!
Having a good overview of what is going on in the lab
To have an efficient team, a group needs to work together like one. SciNote offers you several different ways to tackle overview of your team’s productivity.
Project reports get created with one click. SciNote structures your reports, and includes all the protocols, results, and discussions. You can decide what content you want to see on your report, and SciNote will create just the report you need.
The navigation panel shows the project structure. Sometimes this is all you need in order to grasp the scope of the work done. From it, you can see the overall content and you can use it to navigate around.
Filtering data by date, researcher, project and much more. SciNote has a fast activity filter function that shows you only the chosen set of activities.
The overview tab shows the progress of the team’s work. SciNote displays progress bars of your tasks that show how many steps have been completed so far. The progress bars are colored according to the set due date. This makes it very easy to assess whether the work will be done in time.
Experiment cards show a graphical overview of the work done. By looking at the dot pattern on an experiment card, you can quickly see how many protocols were used, how many runs were done, and how many different tests were done on the topic.
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