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Specimens are considered ‘distributed’ when they are shared with collaborators on campus or externally. This is slightly different from the term ‘shipped’ in OpenSpecimen, in which the samples still remain as available in the system, they might simply be located in a different laboratory.

In most cases, labs on campus will be ‘distributing’ samples unless the laboratory receiving the samples will also have access to your OpenSpecimen collection protocol to continue to track and process those samples and their derivatives and aliquots.

Distribution Protocols are created to capture important information regarding the distribution of samples. Creating a Distribution Protocol with the details below not only serves to ensure that all necessary information is captured for future reference, but also allows for multiple shipments over time to the same project without having to reenter all of the information.

Prerequisites

1. To use requests and approvals, you should have a Specimen Catalog: this will allow you or your collaborators (with permissions) to select the samples that they would like to request. Specimens can be distributed directly from any specimen screen, but the requests and approvals will not be tracked using this method.

2. Order Custom Fields (optional): If you want to collect additional information (fields like ‘shipping address’ or MTA) you need to create these as a custom form and they should be attached to your DP. (link to KB).

3. Order Report Query (optional): To specify the data to include along with the specimens, you can create a query with the columns to include when distributing specimens. (link to KB)

4. To create a DP, your user role must include Create/Edit Distribution Protocol rights.

5. The receiving Institute, Principal Investigator, and receiving Site (optional) need to be added to OpenSpecimen by an Administrator.

Creating a Distribution Protocol

What information will you need to create the DP?

Create the DP

Expand
title Expand to learn how to create a DP
Select ‘Distribution Protocols’ from the navigation bar. Choose ‘Create’. Image Added Complete the fields with the information gathered in the first section. Required Fields: Title: descriptive of the DP: “Dr. Smith’s specimen request for Project XYZ” Short Title: recognizable acronym or shortened discription, “Smith XYZ” Receiving Institute: (Institute to which requestor belongs; ‘USC’) Principal Investigator: Requesting PI (must belong to the Institute specified above). Distributing Site(s): Sites allowed to send samples to the above PI. (Note that sometimes a PI will request specimens from multiple projects. So this DP can be used by multiple users and CPs.) Optional Fields Receiving Site: if there is a division, dept, or lab associated with the receiving PI, you can optionally specify this. It would have to be added to OpenSpecimen by an Administrator. Coordinators: these are the actual members of teh receiving site lab who will be receiving or handling the samples and need to be notified of the shipment and will receive any attachments, like the sample metadata. Ethics ID: This is the IRB number associated with the project belonging to the receiving site. Start and End Dates can be added for DPs that will have shipments sent over time. For instance, some DPs request samples that meet specific criteria to be shipped on a weekly or monthly basis. Label format: this can be specified if samples are being relabeled upon distribution. Order Custom Fields: These are your custom fields that can be added to any distribution. Order Report Query: These are the specific data fields that will be sent to the investigator along with the specimens. If no custom query is defined, the manifest will include the standard fields (what are these?). Order attachment: this specifies whether the email notifications will include sample data as .csv, .pdf, or both types. Email notifications: if enabled, all users specified in the above fields will receive a notification of sample shipment once the samples are distributed.

Process to Distribute Specimens using a catalog:

1. Create a Distribution Protocol, if one does not yet exist.

2. Coordinators or the collaborator can request the specimens of interest using the catalog

3. A specimen request is sent to the Request Manager

4. The Request Manager will approve, edit, or deny the request.

5. Upon approval the Request manager can notify the biobank manager who will be pulling and shipping the samples.

6. The biobank manager will access the request, select the samples, and distribute them.

7. The fields in the ‘Order’, will be prefilled, but the manager can fill in the Tracking URL.

8. The shipment address will be part of the DP.

Process to Distribute Specimens directly (bypasses the catalog and requests)

1. Select samples to distribute using any specimen screen:

   1. Specimen list view

   2. Query interface

   3. Cart

2. Select the Distribution Protocol from the dropdown list of available distribution protocols.

3. Add any services to be billed to the person to whom the samples will be sent.

4. Choose ‘Distribute’.

5. The specimens will be marked as Distributed and can be found under ‘Orders’.

6. For auditing purposes, you can find any Orders you’ve created by navigating to ‘Orders’. Alternatively, you can find all orders processed under any specific Distribution Protocol.