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Step 2 of the setup checklist, Add your first test or panel — “Define the tests and panels you offer so requests can be priced and billed.” There are two catalogues behind that sentence, and knowing which is which saves an afternoon: The checklist step opens Services and ticks as soon as one service exists. Do the bench definition straight afterwards — a test with no parameters produces a result form with nothing to type into.

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1. Price it under Services

1

Open the Services Dashboard

The page is headed Services Dashboard — “Manage your clinic’s services, prices, and categories”. It has a date range picker, Refresh, and New Service or New Category depending on the tab you are on.
2

Group your work first

On the categories tab, select New Category and create the groupings you will still be using at two hundred tests — Haematology, Chemistry, Microbiology, Serology.
3

Add the service

Select New Service. The sheet is titled New service — “Add a new service to your clinic’s catalogue”. Fill in Service Name*, Price* and Service Type*, choose a Service Category, and add a Procedure Code and Description if you bill against codes.
4

Leave it Active

Active controls whether the service can be charged. Turning it off later retires a test without breaking the invoices that already reference it.
Price is what requests bill from, so a test with no price produces an order with no charge.

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2. Define what the bench measures

1

Open the test catalogue

On the Lab Station, open the Test List tab — the catalogue, not your workload. Its toolbar carries Back to Lab Tests, Search lab tests, New Test Record and View Columns.
2

Start a test record

Select New Test Record. The form opens on Basic Information, with a Parameters tab beside it.
3

Name, price and categorise it

Enter the name as it should print on a report (“e.g., Complete Blood Count”), set the price, and choose a category — or select Create New Category and give it a name (“e.g., Blood Chemistry”), a department and a description.
4

Add one row per analyte

On Parameters, each analyte takes a name (“e.g., Hemoglobin”), a type, a unit (“e.g., g/dL”) and a reference range (“e.g., 12.0-15.5”). For a result that is a choice rather than a number, fill the option list — “Comma-separated values, e.g., Positive, Negative, Indeterminate”.
5

Set the critical limits

Enter the critical low and critical high wherever a value outside them means someone must be told today. Those limits raise the Critical badge on a result and feed Critical Results (“Requires immediate attention”) on the Lab Station.

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Let it fill the analytes in

For a well-known test, use the action that applies standard parameters for the test type — the toast reads Standard parameters applied successfully. If the type is not recognised you get No standard parameters available for this test type, which means “type them yourself”, not “something broke”.
Standard parameters are a starting point. Reference ranges vary by method, analyser, population and age. Check every range against your own SOP before you run a patient sample against it.

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Panels

A panel is one catalogue entry whose parameter list covers several analytes — a full blood count, a liver panel, a lipid profile. One entry, one price, ordered once, resulted once, reported as one document.

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Attach the reagents a test consumes

Each catalogue test carries a Reagents consumed card. Fill it in and completing a run draws that stock down, which is what makes your reagent levels mean anything without a daily count. See Reagents and consumables.

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Check it worked

  • The service is listed on the Services Dashboard with its price.
  • The test is found by Search lab tests on Test List, and by Search lab tests… on the ordering form, with its price in the Order Summary.
  • Opening a request for it shows one input per parameter, with the right unit.
  • The floating Setup checklist ticks Add your first test or panel.

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If something goes wrong

It ticks on the first service, not the first test record. Add one under Billing › Services.
The ordering form only offers catalogue tests. Check it saved, and that you are searching the name you actually entered.
Change the parameter’s type and fill its option list with comma-separated values. The result form follows the parameter definition.
An analyte with no critical low and high cannot flag. Set both on the Parameters tab.
Create two entries with distinct names — a routine and an urgent version. One entry carries one price.
Imaging has its own catalogue and request path. See Imaging requests.