RSpace Inventory Hub 🧪
RSpace Inventory is a sample and inventory management module that integrates fully with RSpace, and is currently in development.
The production (Beta) release of Inventory is scheduled for the 8th of September 2021. After this date, all Enterprise customer instances will be upgraded to include Inventory, at no extra charge. Inventory development will continue after the Beta release as per the development roadmap and user feedback.
This page contains details on how to access the alpha version, information on our development progress, and how to get involved in providing feedback and signing up to receive updates.
Access the Inventory Alpha
The most recent alpha release of Inventory is available at the link below. Use the sign-up code: inventory2020 when creating a new user, and you're good to start exploring, whether on a mobile or on a desktop device! The features currently implemented are documented in the roadmap and release summary down below.
Supporting materials
We've written up documentation on how the current Inventory features work:
The release section below summarises what workflows are supported and have been added to the most recent inventory alpha release.
ELN - Inventory Integration Demo
Watch the full "Supporting Reproducibility in a Connected Electronic Lab Notebook" RDA webinar on YouTube.
Provide Feedback & Get Notified
To provide feedback on Inventory Alpha, please fill in the following form:
To get updated on progress and feedback opportunities, fill in the following form:
If you have questions, bug reports, or have trouble accessing the alpha version, get in touch:
Development Progress
You can view our planned features and progress here:
Release #6 - June 2021
This release introduces our ELN - Inventory Integration! You can now add Lists of Materials to ELN document fields, enabling you to easily associate Inventory items to experiments, as well as update the quantities of items as you use them up from within the ELN. What is more, Lists of Materials are automatically included when printing ELN documents, and can also be printed out on their own!
5 minute overview video
Features
- ELN - Inventory Integration (Using Inventory Lists of Materials in the ELN 🧪):
- add one or multiple Lists of Materials to ELN document fields
- Give a custom name and description to a List
- Search and add/remove items from Inventory to a List
- Edit the used and remaining inventory quantities of an item (Edit Quantities in Lists of Materials)
- Include the Lists in the print version of a document
- Print a List on its own
- Enable users with view-only permissions to a document to open the Lists in view mode
- Filter items by specific owner, and enable advanced search everywhere: in containers, templates, Inventory Picker (Permissions and Sharing in Inventory)
- Samples can be expanded to easily browse subsamples in tree view
- Made visual container setup flow clearer
- Various bug fixes and loading improvements
Release #5 - May 2021
This release is focused on permissions & sharing! We've implemented the foundations of open lab-type sharing, where members of your LabGroup can view and edit each other's samples. Email us to set up a test LabGroup and check out these features! We have also made improvements to navigation and selection.
Also, did you know that Inventory is being developed with an API-first approach? This means you can already explore the API through our Inventory Alpha instance, and all the actions that can be performed through the user interface can also be performed through the API. See Inventory API Introduction for more!
2 minute overview video
Email us to set up a test LabGroup: vaida@researchspace.com
Features
- Permissions and sharing:
- All Inventory items belonging to LabGroup members are visible to everyone in the LabGroup (Permissions and Sharing in Inventory)
- Transfer ownership of items to another user (Permissions and Sharing in Inventory)
- Visual indicator of which items you own (Navigate Inventory)
- Filter the main search by items you own (Search Inventory)
- Filter container view by items you own (Select Items in Inventory)
- Edit lock to prevent users from accidentally modifying the same item simultaneously (Permissions and Sharing in Inventory)
- Breadcrumb trail for the left-hand panel, so it's easier to find your way around (Navigate Inventory)
- In-container search, so you can find relevant items quicker (Select Items in Inventory)
- Select menu with more selection options (Select Items in Inventory)
- Stable permalink for items (Link to a Sample or Container (Global ID))
Release #4 - April 2021
With this release, we bring out a major new feature: sample templates! We have made some general user experience improvements as well, see the video for more details.
What is more, our Inventory roadmap has been overhauled, and now includes detailed information on the exact dates that new releases will come out, as well as a date for the release of Inventory Beta: 8th September!
5 minute overview video
Features
Templates
- Create a template from a sample: reuse its fields, define which fields should have default values
- Edit a template: add new fields, add or remove default values for the fields, add additional radio/choice field options
- Template versions: update all samples to the latest version of a template, view the template version used on a sample, with the ability to update that specific sample to the latest version
- View all samples created from a template
- View and search templates
Detailed templates documentation is at Create and Use Sample Templates.
General
- Replaced the location and type columns by the global ID of the item across the interface, which can be clicked to open, or right-clicked to copy a link to the item (Link to a Sample or Container (Global ID))
- Further improved info popups: added global IDs of items, made more concise for containers (Navigate Inventory)
- Added links to a subsample's sample when viewing a subsample in the right-panel, in info popups, and card view
- Added an open button in the context menu when you click an item in grid or visual container view
We've also made performance improvements for image loading and uploading!
Release #3 - March 2021
In this release, we focused on improving navigation and the interface visuals!
2 minute overview video
Features
- A tree view, for easier navigation when you have a lot of nested items (Toggle Inventory and Container Views)
- A card view, which shows the thumbnail image and more item details (Toggle Inventory and Container Views)
- We added a splash of colour to the right-hand panel, to make different item types easily distinguishable (see video above!)
- Info popups have been reworked include more useful information such as item global ID, owner, quantity for samples and subsamples, and a contents summary for containers (Navigate Inventory)
- You can now specify and toggle the row and column labels for grid containers to be your preferred combination (Customise Axis Labels for Grid Containers)
- Clearer status indicators when creating, editing, or viewing a deleted item
Release #2 - January 2021
2 minute overview video
Features
- Import samples in bulk from a CSV file (Import Samples into Inventory)
- Added info icons that enable easier item previewing and opening items in grid/visual containers (Navigate Inventory)
- Improved moving of items, being able to specify exact location where each item will be placed (Move Samples and Containers)
- Improved visual container locations editing panel (Edit Locations in Visual Containers)
- Grid containers can now contain other containers (Create a Container)
- Selecting items in grid/visual view will select them in list view and vice-versa (Select Items in Inventory)
Other feature and interface improvements based on user feedback include:
- Split subsamples are now named equally (eg. subsample.08.1 and subsample.08.2)
- Improved visual separation of fields and form sections
- Character count is shown for text fields with limited length
- Columns are now sorted in ascending order
Release #1 - November 2020
Features
- Layout, navigation and mobile view (Navigate Inventory)
- Create samples (Create a Sample)
- Create list, grid, and visual containers (Create a Container)
- Add custom fields (Add a Custom Field to a Sample or Container)
- Edit, delete, duplicate and split items (Edit a Sample or Container)
- Move subsamples and containers into containers (Move Samples and Containers, Edit Locations in Visual Containers)
- Search, filter, and save search results (Search Inventory)
- Add notes to subsamples (Add a Note to a Subsample)
- Help Documentation (Get Started with Inventory)
