ACD/Workflow Manager

Integration with ACD/Web Librarian and ACD/SpecManager Enterprise

ACD/Workflow Manager does not move a sample itself from state to state. It only facilitates the definition of a flowchart of states. To actually change a sample's state, integration with other software is required. For example, it may be linked to ACD/Web Librarian. During a workflow process, Web Librarian interrogates Workflow Manager's workflow definitions to check the next available states for a given sample and prompts for the next state. Also, ACD/Workflow Manager can automatically move the sample between the states in case of auto transitions.

Binding a Sample to a Workflow

What does this integration look like? Let us pretend that a Chemist intends to check the purity of a catechin specimen by NMR spectroscopy. With the help of a standard web browser, the Chemist logs on to ACD/Web Librarian and opens a SpecManager Enterprise database. A new record in the database will be automatically treated as a sample after it is bound to the associated workflow. In our example, the workflow is named Diagram. The creation of which is described above within Workflow Manager. According to the Chemist, they are offered to fill the Login Form with outgoing data and specify the analysis type:

As the form has been sent, the sample is considered as Logged In and becomes available for further operations provided by the current workflow. Right after the sample is submitted, the Analyst receives notification that the catechin specimen is ready to be analyzed:

By means of Web Librarian, Analyst opens the SpecManager Enterprise database in turn, finds the sample and changes its state to Under Analysis before taking it for spectroscopy. In the relative Analysis Form, the Analyst enters his name and comments. After the form is submitted, the sample is transferred to the next state:

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When the analysis has been performed, the Analyst opens the SpecManager Enterprise database, goes to the corresponding record, and then updates the database with the analytical data obtained. The spectral results are now available through the Web Librarian interface. The Analyst changes the sample state to Results Ready and fills the Results Form, confirming purity of the catechin specimen:

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After the sample is transferred to the Results Ready state, the Chemist is automatically notified that the results can be retrieved:

Within Web Librarian, the Chemist opens the database and checks the results. To finish the process of spectroscopic investigation, the Chemist changes the sample state to Logged Out. This final operation ends the workflow for the catechin specimen: