Generating Job Status Reports

• Generating Job Status Reports
  • Use of Job Status Reports
  • Laboratory Management, Productivity and Production Control
  • Scheduling Job Status Reports
  • Primary Search Criteria
  • Job Dates Criteria

A job status report contains a summary of jobs, showing, for example, the total number of samples, number of samples started, number of samples completed, and the number of schemes to be performed.

Once defined, a job status report is scheduled for execution via the system batch queue.

Report Engines supported include Crystal Reports and Chunk Text reports.

Use of Job Status Reports

A Laboratory Manager wants to know how the work is progressing with respects to throughput over a period of time. Various reporting mechanisms is required to query jobs to create job status reports.

Some job status reports need to be re-generated on a regular basis (for example, the current work-in-progress in the laboratory or within a section). Other job status reports are ad-hoc and assist the Laboratory Manager to get a bird’s eyes view of the laboratory over a longer time period, or for specific samples or schemes.

To produce a report, first search for jobs:

• Jobs can be searched based on the job's Workflow Status and dates and other criteria, in a nominated sort order, and included in the report.
• Jobs can be searched by Job Type (for example, Production, Lab Batch).
• Sort parameters can be specified so that the records returned from the search are sorted as required.

Then create the job status report:

• The search result set is used to populate the report.
• If the report template contains a DSC, it can be use parameters to perform custom logic, for example, to display related or aggregated data for each job included in the report.

The supported report engines are Crystal Reports and Text. Mechanisms are available that allow result sets to be processed and manipulated at various points along the reporting process using scripts. This facilitates the inclusion of additional logic and utilisation of external services and report engines.

Laboratory Management, Productivity and Production Control

Key process indicators of laboratory function include reports based upon the current state of jobs undergoing analysis within the laboratory.

Like any business or process line, there are several dimensions that require management. The challenge for the laboratory is to process the samples in the agreed (with the client) time-frames, in the most economical fashion with the least number of mistakes or delays.

To assist with this process, various reports can assist the laboratory managers and supervisors. There are not hard and fast rules on the types and styles of management reports that might be required. Some of these reports need to be generated automatically on a time frequency, while others might be requested to be produced on an ad hoc basis.

Typically these management reports involve a series of search criteria, as well as a reporting format/criteria/template. The search criteria could be multi-object criteria (for example, find the jobs where …, which have schemes where …, which have samples where … )

Examples of these production control management reports could include:

• The list of jobs that were received today, to assist with determining which work needs to be checked or placed into process.
• The list of jobs that are not completed but due within a short period of time, to assist with determining which work needs to be prioritised to complete it in the agreed timeframe.
• The list of job schemes that are assigned to section, instrument or operator, but are not started as yet for the scheme, to assist with prioritising work within a section or department.
• The list of job schemes that might have a QC problem, to assist with determining which work needs to be prioritised to finalise it or creating checks.

Examples of these productivity management reports could include:

• The list or a count of jobs that were received and completed in a particular period, to assist with assessing whether turnaround targets are being achieved as expected.
• The list or a count of QC samples that have failed and need remedial action, to assist with the understanding of the impacts on QC failures.
• The list or a count of jobs received in a particular period, to assist with load balancing of the instruments and staff.
• The list or a count of jobs or samples that were not reported within the agreed timeframes, to assist with ensuring actions are undertaken to complete work on time.

Examples of these management reports could include:

• The list of jobs that were completed in a particular period, to assist with assessing whether sample storage or disposal mechanisms need to be activated.
• The list of clients who submitted work within a particular period, accompanied with counts of jobs and samples, to assist with client management and the determination of sale actions.

Scheduling Job Status Reports

Job status reports are used to provide overviews of job status within the laboratory (for example, workload, backlog).

Job status reports can be configured and generated immediately or scheduled by the system scheduler for execution on the system batch queue.

The task scheduler provided in the CCINSH—Instrument Scheduler application allows for the scheduling of tasks other than instrument scheduling tasks, where the task executes a script that contains logic to produce a job status report.

• Create on demand production status reports for requested criteria.
• Use scheduled reports and scripts to automate the scheduled (daily, weekly, monthly) reports using the task scheduler.

For example, a job status report could be generated to show jobs or samples that were received in a date window, have not been reported, and it could be scheduled to execute every 12 hours.

Primary Search Criteria

Primary search criteria used to filter jobs returned from the search by:

• Job names, job types and job categories
• Client names, client group codes, cost centre codes and stakeholder client names
• Section codes and section group codes
• Scheme codes and scheme group codes
• Job workflow status
• Sample scheme analyte workflow status, user workflow status and composite QC status
• Product codes
• Owners
• Whether the job has an invoice
• Whether to include cancelled jobs.

The sort order allows the records to be returned sorted by a selected column.

Job Dates Criteria

Job dates search criteria used to filter jobs returned from the search by various job-level dates.