TABLE OF CONTENTS


Introduction

Many facilities already have a concept of a ‘project’ or ‘study’, whether that be based on a funding source, a PI group, or a specific area of research.  If this is the case for you, then this will highlight some of the additional functionality that this core feature of Calpendo can provide.


If you don’t currently use projects as part of your equipment booking process then using the structure provided by this feature at a simplified level may give you some useful flexibility and control over your booking and reporting processes.

 

Why use projects?

Projects provide additional features in three key areas

  • Storing top level information
  • Controlling bookings and booking costs
  • Reporting


Storing Information Securely

Project fields and the layout of the project screen are fully configurable and this allows a large amount of information to be stored on the project.  This can include details such as ethics approval, risk assessments, or sensitive data such as human subjects attached to a project.  Permissions can be set so that sensitive information is hidden to non-members, or even so that the project itself and attached data is completely invisible to anyone not directly associated with that project.  


Projects are by default subject to an approval process so that they cannot be used to make bookings until approved by an authorised person.


Automated processes can also be set up against projects so that they cannot be submitted for approval unless certain fields have been completed or documents uploaded, or to send out reminders for example when expiry dates are coming up.


Controlling Bookings

Resources can be set up so that a user can only book time on them if they are a member of a project with an ‘approved’ status.  A higher level of restriction can also be configured where a project must be given specific permission to book on a particular resource.  


A more refined level of control can be applied using templates, so for example a particular project might be given priority booking in a timeslot one week before everyone else.   Or all internal projects might have their bookings automatically approved during core hours while external ones have bookings go in as ‘requests’.


Fields held at project level can be used by workflows to calculate booking costs, or bespoke costs can be set up using the Project Resource Settings tab found on each Project.


Project requirements can be set up differently for each resource, so within one facility you can have resources that do not require a project (often used for meeting rooms), some which can be booked with any project, and some on which only specifically authorised projects can book.


Reporting

A project provides a structure to help you analyse how your resources are being used.  Reports can use information on the project to break down usage by type of project, funding source, or any other field stored at that level.  


They can also be used to send out bespoke reports, eg to a PI giving details of the bookings on only their projects.  The scheduling feature available to reports will ensure that users receive their reports on a regular basis structured with exactly the data relevant to their projects which have been booked against.