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101.1 Access OpenSpecimen

101.1 Access OpenSpecimen

OpenSpecimen Environment and Links:

There are three separate instances of OpenSpecimen: Training, Test and Production

Training Environment is used to learn how to navigate the system, do basic data entry and perform operations on specimens. No PHI is to be entered in this environment.

image dipicting the blue header with a red box reading Training to the right of the UofU logo

  • ‘Training’ is not a HIPAA compliant environment, but Test and Production do meet HIPAA standards of data security.

  • To access the ‘Test’ or ‘Production’ environments, you must be directly connected to the University network or connected to the VPN. For instructions on how to connect to the University of Utah VPN, see the knowledge article here.

Test Environment is used once a proposed workflow is established for a specific protocol. Protocol specific laboratory workflows and data entry/upload are tested here prior to launching a CP in the Production environment.

image dipicting the blue header with a red box reading Test to the right of the UofU logo

Production Environment is used only when the final workflow has been approved and is used only for real participant data entry.

image dipicting the blue header with a red box reading PROD to the right of the UofU logo

For purposes of this 101 training, all screenshots will be from the training environment and may look slightly different in the Test or Production environments.

Logging In:

Once you’ve navigated to one of the environments in the OpenSpecimen Links, you will see some data-at-a-glance statistics.

Note that the environment you’ve logged into is displayed in RED in the banner.

image dipicting the blue header with a red box reading Training to the right of the UofU logo and a double-ended green arrow pointing at the Sign In button on the right side of the header

  • Log in by clicking “Sign In” in the upper right corner .

pop-up screen with Domain Name highlighted as utah.edu, the Login Name field below with a unid, and the password field with a hidden value. The Sign In button is below in blue.
Pop-up box with fields to sign-in

In the sign-in pop-up window, you will log in using your University uNID and password as the Login Name and Password, respectively. For the Domain Name dropdown menu, select “utah.edu” and then click “Sign In”.

Home Page Navigation:

Upon logging in, you will land on the Home page. From here, you can see widgets such as Collection Protocols, Carts, Containers, Queries, etc.

You may also access these functions by clicking on the left hand menu (also called the “hamburger” menu), and selecting a card.

Screenshot of the home page of OpenSpecimen with the three vertical line icon highlighted in the upper left corner under the header.

 

The cards shown on the home page may be customized by clicking on the Widgets gear button in the right hand corner.

image showing the widgets button highlighted on the right side of the screen under the blue header
Widgets Customization Button

 

If you wish to learn more about the available features within the hamburger menu, view the OpenSpecimen User Guides

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