BSI User Group 2019 Conference

IMS has not identified operational expansion outside of the U.S. as a corporate priority. BSI can and does currently support users in the EU and Asia. IMS has the ability to deploy BSI as a local installation or to a third-party cloud service in the EU and Asia if required. If you have a business need for such a deployment please contact the BSI Team for additional information.

We do have customers that use BSI to track reagents, however they track them as specimens in BSI. Please let us know if you would like information on how BSI can be used to track reagents now.

We have added it to our internal list for future enhancements. No date has been set for this feature.

We would like to break this feedback into two parts: too many mouse clicks when vials are added to a requisition and rows within an editor not staying selected. For the first item, we would like to make sure that users know about the "don’t show this again" or "remember my decision" checkbox on dialogs. These checkboxes can limit the number of dialogs that may be unnecessary for your workflow. These checkboxes control user preferences and can be set for users in User Configuration templates. For the second item, we are continuing to look into areas in the system where specimens do not maintain highlighting and we will work to address those.

We have added it to our internal list for future enhancements. No date has been set for this feature.

To return to the default filter on a manager click View/Filter/Restore Default Filter. There is an option to return to the system default filter or to the user's saved default filter.

We recommend reviewing the ‘Location Favorites’ and ‘Location Groups’ features as these may be beneficial to your workflow (link below). In addition, users can set up a default sort using the Sort… editor located in the right mouse button menu from the column header. https://www.imsusersupport.com/bsi/specimen-management/locations/filtering

Thank you for this feedback. An enhancement for opening dialogs fully expanded and remembering dialog size has been approved to be added to the system, but a date has not yet been scheduled. Keep an eye out for the upcoming UAT release notifications to see when it is available for User Acceptance Testing.

We received a lot of feedback about the Importer Wizard and it being too “clicky”. For users that have similarly formatted files to import, we recommend setting up an Import Template to make the importing process more efficient. To learn more about import templates, see: https://www.imsusersupport.com/bsi/bsi-basics/common-windows-and-dialogs/import-export. However, if users do not have similarly formatted files and are not able to make an import template, we can understand how the existing wizard could take too many clicks to get data in. An enhancement to allow users to import “as is” has been approved to be added to the system in a future release. Keep an eye out for the UAT release notifications to see when it is available for User Acceptance Testing.

The simplest way to accomplish this goal would be to set up a monitor report that runs frequently to inform a manager if a requisition’s Expected Completion Date has passed, for example. Currently, monitor reports can only be run daily, but an enhancement to allow monitors to be run hourly has been approved to be added to the system in a future release. Keep an eye out for the UAT release notifications to see when it is available for User Acceptance Testing. With these small changes, we feel confident that monitors could work well for this need.

We agree that this would be a nice feature to provide our users. We have entered a Request for Enhancement (RFE) issue and are investigating the feasibility of adding this to BSI. Users can keep updated on what new features are added to BSI by updating the Opt-In to Receive BSI Release Notifications preference to True/Yes in their User Profile.

Fields can be hidden or shown using templates. A template can be applied in data entry batches. If there is already a template for the study that is used for adding samples, it can also be used for modifying samples. Upon batch creation, select the template to use. Additionally the template can be selected within the batch. For users who only work in one study, there is a Default Modify Batch user preference (User Profile/Preferences/Data Entry). The template from the preference will automatically be selected for each new Modify batch.

Thanks for this feedback. For your workflow, do you need to have the batches set to “Batch Owner Only”? We are able to change the default to batches to “Anyone in my Repository/Institution” instead and this will allow users within your repository and with the appropriate permissions to update the batch. Please let us know if this would work for you.

Thank you for the feedback. We can look into the feasibility of this. You can also check out the View Specimen History tool which is also located in the Right Mouse Button menu. This will display what data entry batches a specimen has been included in. https://www.imsusersupport.com/bsi/bsi-basics/common-windows-and-dialogs/specimen-viewer

The Comments field was designed to be a field that stored a conversation between different users about a specimen. The existing Comments field is not a vial level field, so it cannot be mass changed. We recommend adding a new character field via Customization that you can store comments in. The new field will then be able to be mass changed. In addition to the recommendation above, we are going to look into ways for the BSI editor to have more excel-like features including copy & paste multiple and easier ways to highlight all specimens within the editor.

Thank you for this feedback as we can see how this could be very helpful to some workflows. This enhancement has been approved to be added to the system in a future release. Keep an eye out for the UAT release notifications to see when it is available for User Acceptance Testing.

Currently, discrepancy alerts are pushed upon save. If you don’t want the discrepancy emails to be sent out as discrepancies are added, the current method to accomplish this is to turn off notifications for discrepancies, and then send out an email with the discrepancies when ready. Then send the errors (or discrepancies) from the shipment editor or a user defined report output to the collection center. Discrepancy notifications can be turned off via User Preferences and preferences can be set for users in User Configuration templates.

An update to functionality would be required to have a setting or review of discrepancies built into a shipment before the email notifications are sent out.

Discrepancy notifications currently go to the person that created the shipment/requisition and also the repository contact (i.e., the email on the Destination code list value associated with the repository) for that shipment/requisition. We have added it to our internal list for future enhancements. No date has been set for this feature.

Scanners can be programmed to have a carriage return. There is usually a manual that comes with the scanner (or is available online) that will contain the programming barcodes. Scanning these will set up the scanner to move to the next spot; it will likely be called a carriage return.

In the Templates, Labels, and Reports managers folders can be created for study or repository (or any other category). These items can be saved in the proper folders. Additionally there is a default template path user preference for data entry and shipments. Users can also select a preferred printer and default label specification. As for all user preferences, preferences can be set for users in User Configuration templates.

Data Entry batches – For new Add and Modify batches that are created from a RMB (locations or reports) the default template from your user preferences is what we use. If there are any required fields, the batch properties will open before proceeding to the data entry editor.

Requisitions – If there are any Requisition Property Templates (RPT), the user will be presented with those options and then see the requisition properties that are displayed based on the template. There is a system preference to turn on the display of RPT when creating a requisition from a RMB click, if you would like to check if this is turned on for your database please contact BSI Tech Support.

If no Requisition Property Templates are defined but there are required fields, those required fields will be displayed.

Without using RPTs we would need to explore new functionality to display the requisition properties when using a shortcut to create a requisition.

There is a system preference that determines the session timeout time. Contact BSI Tech Support to update this setting.

If the launcher is taking too long to download, please contact Tech Support so that we can acquire more details and look into the issue.

We have noticed that moving to the BSI Launcher has helped reduce mouse clicks when launching BSI from a Mac for our SSO customers. If this does not help limit the clicks for your database, please reach out so we can discuss more.

We currently have the ability to transition all date fields to a different format, like one specified above. However, we do not have the ability to change the date format for some fields but not others. Please let us know if you would like more information on how to change the default date format for your database.

We recently added Import Templates to lessen the mouse-clicks when importing a file. If you import a file with the same format often, you can go through the wizard once, make selections, and then on the Summary page, you can press the Save as Template button. The next time you import, you can select the Select Template button on the first wizard page, choose a template, and skip all the set up pages. For more information please see: https://www.imsusersupport.com/bsi/bsi-basics/common-windows-and-dialogs/import-export. We are also working on defining functionality that would lessen mouse clicks even more.

We would like to hear more information about this request. In addition, there are many workflow resources and how to videos on the BSI Support Site which can be found here: https://www.imsusersupport.com/bsi/home. We are also working on defining functionality that would lessen mouse clicks even more.

Thank you for this feedback. We recommend that templates be saved in the Institution folder instead of the user’s folders. Also, to help limit mouse clicks when trying to locate a template stored in an institution folder, users can set up the Default Data Entry Template Path User Preference and specify the institution folder that stores the templates they may frequently use.

Vial and Sample fields can be displayed in the Box Layout and Box Contents.

Box Layout — the fields displayed in the box layout can be updated in user preferences: User preferences/Locations/Data Displayed in Box Layout Cells.

Box Contents — on the locations manager while viewing Box Contents, right-click on a column header and select Hide/Show Columns. Move columns to the Displayed Fields section and press OK. Right-click on Box Contents to save the view.

Favoriting and grouping locations may be of interest to you. Please see the BSI Support Site article located here: https://www.imsusersupport.com/bsi/specimen-management/locations/filtering.

Thank you for this feedback as we were unaware of this issue prior to the User Conference. We will be implementing a change in the 20.2.1 release (scheduled for Saturday, February 22nd) that will allow users to delete more than one location container at a time.

BSI uses a number of standard Java libraries for our tables which have a limited set of selection functionality. We have researched alternative table libraries and extensions of the cell selection model classes in order to update the selection functionality. In our research to date we haven’t been able to find a compatible library that allows this type of selection functionality. Additionally, as the table functionality is at the core of many of the BSI client side elements, we need to consider the potential impact and risk to the system. At this point, we haven’t found a feasible solution in terms of cost or risk but we will continue to investigate. Users are able to select noncontiguous locations within the Box Contents tab instead of the Box Layout tab. We hope this may work for your workflow.

We recommend users that need to print box labels to right-click on the parent container, select Edit Sub-containers, and then select Print Labels for all of the boxes from that editor. Another option for users is to run a report with the all of the containers listed and print labels from the Interactive Table editor. We hope one of these scenarios may be suitable for your workflow.

We can understand that it would be helpful for users to see additional information about available locations, similar to what is seen when reserving locations. We have added it to our internal list for future consideration. No date has been set for this feature.

We need some more information about this request. How would the tasks be split? Is this based on users who should complete the tasks, actions that should be completed for some vials and not others, or a more granular tracking of completed tasks?

Requisition Task Templates can assign the tasks based on specified criteria. Additionally, a Generic task can be used to represent part of an action. In practice, a task called “Prepare for Shipment” (a renamed “Generic” type task) can be completed before a “Ship” task is completed.

https://www.imsusersupport.com/bsi/administration-and-set-up/requisition-templates/requisition-task-templates

There is a user preference in the Requisitions section called “Show Requisition Task Data Details”. This will show the task order next to the task status.

Currently this can be handled through a simple Request for Enhancement. Please let us know if you would like to move forward with this request.

Thanks for this recommendation. In the meantime, we recommend selecting the Parent specimen and choosing Select Alternative Vial tool. To learn more about the Select Alternative Vial tool, see: https://www.imsusersupport.com/bsi/specimen-management/requisitions/requisition-menus-and-tools

We have added it to our internal list for future enhancements. No date has been set for this feature.

Thanks for the feedback. We would like to recommend that you can rename the ‘Discrepancy’ task to ‘Investigate’ if that works better for your workflow. Otherwise, we would like to know more information about this request so we can suggest additional workflow advice.

We would like to break this feedback into two parts: too many mouse clicks when vials are added to a requisition and rows within an editor not staying selected. For the first item, we would like to make sure that users know about the "don’t show this again" or "remember my decision" checkbox on dialogs. These checkboxes can limit the number of dialogs that may be unnecessary for your workflow. These checkboxes control user preferences and can be set for users in User Configuration templates. For the second item, we are continuing to look into areas in the system where specimens do not maintain highlighting and we will work to address those.

Thank you for this feedback and we have added it to our internal list for future enhancements. We recommend looking into the Assign To feature as well. Requisition batches can be assigned to a specific user and that user can sort/filter on requisitions assigned to them. Users could assign their “favorite” requisitions to themselves and this may help save time when looking through a long list of requisitions.

Thank you for this feedback as we also agree this option could be helpful. We have added it to our internal list for future enhancements. No date has been set for this feature.

Thank you for this feedback. We are looking into ways to make the column headers the same in Shipments and Requisitions.

Thank you for this feedback and we can understand that this could be a pain point. We will look into what we can do to help users experiencing this issue. In related feedback received at the User Group meeting, we will be adding an enhancement to the system for users to have the ability to order Requisition Property templates so Requisition Property Templates are displayed to the user in a logical order.

We are investigating this feedback. In the meantime, we do recommend creating multiple aliquot tasks.

Thank you for reporting this place in your workflow where BSI is too “clicky”. We will look into ways to expedite the process of adding result data to specimens via the Procedure task. No date has been set for this feature.

We are going to look into the feasibility of updating the existing Box Transfer task to make transferring MSC specimens more streamlined.

When both the task status icon and task order are displayed in the requisition editor and users sort by ascending or descending values, the requisition will be sorted based on task status. Currently the workaround would be to right click on the task column header and select View/View Task Order and then sort ascending/descending on task order. Then, the user could right click on the task column header and select View/Task Icon to return to seeing the icon and the task order together and the task will still be sorted by the task order. We are going to add the option to sort on task order to our internal list for future consideration. No date has been set for this feature.

On Engage there are a few places where fields begin populating as the user is typing. First, a character field (such as the keyword or any user-entered text field) will often remember previously typed text strings; this is common on web pages.

Another place where values begin to filter out as the user is typing is in a choice field. As a user is entering data for a new requisition, study, or shipment, they can type into the field and the drop down values begin to filter. The user can continue to type their value or select from the shortening list of values.

In the client search editor, the list of values will filter out as the user types. This only applies to choice fields.

Please let us know if there are other places it would be nice to see the values filter as the user is typing in text.

A semi-colon can be used to separate ranges. An example is to search for specimens collected in January or July of 2019 add criteria or Date Drawn = 01/01/2019-01/31/2019; 06/01/2019-06/30/2019. If there are additional criteria, then using an OR search is best (for example, serum samples collected in January OR DNA samples collected in June). Separate the ‘or’ criteria by adding multiple Search panes/tabs in the report editor.

If a field is normalized or linked to a code list, then any text case can be used while searching. For text fields that are not normalized, there is a search operator that can be used to ignore case. It is shown as =^ (equals ignore case). To use this, simply select the operator and then enter your text. For example, searching for Current Label =^ ABC123 will return a specimen with Current Label of AbC13, abc123, ABC123, and so on.

Relative date searches can be used to search on a general time frame (e.g. Last Month or in the last n days), or date ranges can be used to search for a window of time (e.g. 10/10/19-10/14/19).

In order to stay HIPPA compliant and adhere to our policies on PHI/PII, we have to record any user that is viewing subject data stored in BSI. Since subject data can be included in a monitor report which are sent via e-mail (and to possibly non-BSI users), this has the potential to violate these policies. This is why we have limited monitor reports to be created only by IMS personnel who can ensure subject data is not included in the report.

We recommend using the new View Specimen History tool as it will show specimen history information across all modules in the system. If this is not what you are looking for, please reach out so we can see if BSI can currently provide the information you are looking for.

https://www.imsusersupport.com/bsi/bsi-basics/common-windows-and-dialogs/specimen-viewer.

We recommend saving a report to your user folder that includes all of the fields you would like to search on. If this is a report that you would like users from your entire database to access, we can also set it up so that report is available within the list of Standard Reports. Also, remember that reporting is available via the Right Mouse Button (RMB) menu anywhere that BSI ID is displayed.

Users can create a report on the Customization Fields table to provide them with a good head start on creating a Data Dictionary for your database. We will keep it in mind that users would like for this report to be expanded to include more information.

Thank you for this feedback and we also think this is an excellent idea for an enhancement to the system. This enhancement has been approved to be added to the system and it is tentatively scheduled for the 20.4.1 release scheduled for April 20, 2020. Keep an eye out for the upcoming UAT release notifications to see when it is available for User Acceptance Testing.

We received this feedback multiple times at the Users Group meeting and we are thankful for the feedback. This enhancement has been approved to be added to the system in a future release. Keep an eye out for the UAT release notifications to see when it is available for User Acceptance Testing.

We received this feedback multiple times at the Users Group meeting and we are thankful for the feedback. This enhancement has been approved to be added to the system in a future release. Keep an eye out for the UAT release notifications to see when it is available for User Acceptance Testing.

This is a great idea for an enhancement to the system. We are going to investigate the feasibility of allowing users to run their saved reports via the Report On right mouse button option.

Data entry templates can be created to accomplish this task. In the template, set a field’s value to “N/A” and then hide the field. The value will be applied to specimens created using that template. The templates can also be named and organized by Study.

This feature is workflow specific so we would like to meet to discuss these specific requirements to see if BSI can meet your needs.

For wild card searching, we recommend using the Advanced Quick Search and selecting the “like” operator. This method will return the results you are looking for.

We are in the process of adding Brady I5100 to the list of available printers. Keep an eye on the release notes for more information about when this will be released.

In the meantime, you can still select Brady IP300 as the printer type to print with the I5100. Selecting IP300 will allow for printing on either Brady printer (IP300 or I5100).

Correct – the data must be visible in the table, so you should use a template that displays the fields that need to be printed on the labels.

This was an interesting idea that we have not heard before. Currently, database owners can send us the information that they would want displayed on their news and we are happy to add it for that database.

Thank you for this recommendation and we will keep it in mind for the future.

Thanks for the feedback. Our biggest concern with this feature would be how reporting would work across the database. We have added custom location fields for customers and then those users set up data entry templates to only display the location fields that are appropriate for that template.

To ensure standardization, we recommend that templates be saved in the Institution folder instead of user’s folders. Also, to help limit mouse clicks when trying to locate a template stored in an institution folder, users can set up the Default Data Entry Template Path User Preference and specify the institution folder that stores the templates they should be using.

Thank you for this feedback. Currently, attachments are sorted in order that they were attached (newly added attachments are at the bottom of the list). We will investigate the feasibility of sorting attachments in a different way.

We will look into the feasibility of allowing the Tracking ID field to allow multiple values separated by semi-colon.