Use Cases from AU, KU and DTU

Aarhus University (AU)

Use Case, Faculty of Science and Technology

describes the process of offering an ELN based solution on Confluence to all the departments at the faculty.

• Earlier versions of Confluence systems has been in use at AU since 2007. Now implemented at ST for all students and employees.
• Examination of the possibility of using tablets (iPads) in the lab to further improve the documentation in the ELN.

Use Case, Bioinformatics Research Centre (BiRC)

describes the experiences from introducing a Confluence based ELN system at BiRC.

• ​Not adopted as a common documentation system among researchers at BiRC.
• Other systems for of documenting and managing data already existed (Software development and large scale computational analysis). ELN functionalities appreciated by researchers but not substantial enough in order to substitute already established workflows (Genome data).

University of Copenhagen (KU)

​Use Case, Department of Biology

describes the implementation of LabGuru in two research groups at the department.

• Ability to look up (search) experiments and protocols in your own and all group members’ labbooks to get information, ideas, or just to know whom you can ask for help.
• Very nice organization of all your procedures and results in projects, folders and subfolders.
• Access to your labbook from wherever you are, which is very nice when you are currently working in two labs at the same time.
• Really nice with the inventory/storage that you can look up details about e.g. cell lines and have all information accessible to everyone rather than needing to find info in specific paper labbooks.

Technical University of Denmark (DTU)

Use Case, Centre for Oil & Gas

describes the selection process and implementation of Labguru as the documentation tool for research data at the Centre.

• When selecting an ELN solution at a university department is very relevant to consider the workflows of the different research groups.
• It is very relevant to involve all relevant stakeholders in the selection process (i.e. management, administration and researchers).
• It is necessary to think in advance about an implementation strategy and to create a group of super users that can promote the use of the ELN tool.

Use Case, The Polymer Research Group at Chemical Engineering

describes the test and implementation of the Biovia ELN in the research group.

• The positive experience of an initially reduced number of users allowed that more researchers got interested to use the software. Now 15 users.
• The use of the ELN has improved the quality of research documentation and allowed secured backup of the experimental data.
• It facilitates the collaborative work in a project and allows the group leader to have a better overview and accessibility to the experimental data.
• It is important to consider in advance the infrastructure (i.e. computers/tablets) needed to deploy an ELN in order to maximize usability.
• It is important to continuously provide demonstrations for all new employees/students (e.g. part of safety introduction).