The openBIS platform has three primary functionalities:
- Inventory management of laboratory samples and protocols
- Laboratory notebook, to document lab experiments
- Data management, to store all data related to lab experiments (raw, processed, analysed data, scripts, Jupyter notebooks, etc.)
It is possible to use all functionalities or only selected ones.
In the most general use-case, the Inventory is shared by all lab members, so everyone can access information about available lab materials and regularly used protocols. In addition, every lab member has a personal folder, where to organise projects and experiments. This folder can be shared with other lab members or collaborators with openBIS access.
Experimental steps described in the lab notebook can be linked to protocols and samples stored in the inventory. Experimental steps can also be linked to each other. Data of any sort can be attached to the corresponding Experimental step in different ways.
This allows to have the complete overview of workflows and information, from initial data generation to data analysis and publication.
The openBIS interface can be accessed via a URL of this type: https://openbis-xxx/openbis/webapp/eln-lims/
where openbis-xxx is the name of the server specified in the openBIS configuration file, during the installation by a system admin.