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After accessing Glossary:
Click Metadata to see an overview of seven different sections:
Study
Groups
Animals
Cages
Samples
Attachments
Treatments
Metadata is used to allow you to standardize the terminology used across your team.
Each of the entities represented above have some set fields that are provided and so do not need to be created as custom metadata fields, these are summarized in the table below:
Entity | Provided fields |
Study | Name, description, team members |
Groups | Name, capacity, display color, treatments (link) |
Animals | Name, alternative identifiers (tail, tag, ear, donor ID), DOB, Sex, Age, Species, Strain |
Cages | Name, population |
Samples | Sample type, Unique sample ID, details (volume, weight, length, width, depth), Comments |
Attachments | File name, Link name, Link description |
Treatments | Name, Volume, Dose, Stock concentration |
To add a new metadata field, click the Add category button which will show a menu with four options:
Select: Use this to show a list of options, but only one can be chosen
Multi-select: Use this to show a list of options to the user with the ability to chose multiple
Date: Use this for inputing a date, for example an inoculation date.
Text: A text field can be used to enter information without any constraints
Number: Use this to input integers, decimals and exponential numbers as metadata.
After selecting from one of the above options, your field will be created. You can now enter the field name.
If you created a Select or Multi-select category, you can also list the associated options which appear.
Click Save to confirm.
Once saved, your meta-data categories can be assigned to either the study, groups, animals or cages.
Note: Samples, attachments and treatment metadata fields will be displayed automatically as optional fields.
Adding Metadata to a Study
To add metadata to a study Ensure that the appropriate fields have been added to a metadata section of the relevant Study Form prior to creating the Study.
A new section will appear when making a study using this form to allow you to capture this information.
Adding Metadata to Cages and Animals
When creating cages and animals from The Colony or through the Cages section of your study you will have the ability to add metadata fields created in the team glossary to your Cages and animals.
From your colony click "Add new"
Use the "add metadata" button to reveal the list of field options from the glossary
Select the relevant fields to add new columns to the Table
Add the information to the cages/animals using dropdowns, date pickers or free text typed or pasted into the table.
click "next"
Adding Metadata to Groups
Adding metadata to your Treatment groups can be done ad-hoc using the pattern described above for Cages and animals or a set arrangement and validation of fields can be determined by administrators in the manage teams section called "groups". This will determine which fields are displayed by default and which are required when designing a Study.
