The vocabulary drifts on this one screen, so menus and screenshots will not agree. Your sidebar says Reagents & Inventory, the report catalogue calls it Reagents, and the screen itself is the general inventory screen — headed Inventory, subtitled “Stock, lots, and expiry across your rooms and devices.” Same place, three names.
What you’re looking at
A toolbar of stock actions — Receive, Dispense, Transfer, Reports, Import, Opening stock, Export and Add item — over a long row of tabs. A lab uses a handful of them daily and can ignore the rest.
Only Validation and Alerts carry a number, and only when there is something in them — a bare Validation means the queue is clear. Tabs for work a lab does not do, such as Fill Rx, sit alongside these and can be left alone.
The empty states. A new catalogue reads No items yet. and Stock reads No stock on hand. Receive a lot to get started. The queue you care about reads No reagent lots awaiting validation. New reagent lots arrive here quarantined until validated., and a clear alerts tab reads No open alerts. You’re all stocked up.
Add a reagent to the catalogue
1
Create the item
Select Add item and set its type to Reagent — or Kit, for something supplied as an assembled kit. Those two sit alongside Consumable, Supply, Device and the clinical types in the same list.
2
Turn on lot-to-lot validation
Switch on Lot-to-lot validation (lab reagent) — “New lots arrive quarantined until validated.” Leave it off only for something that genuinely needs no lot check. Leave Track by lot / expiry on, and Refrigerated on for anything with a cold chain.
3
Receive the stock
Use Receive to book it in against its lot number and expiry date. Lot and expiry are what every later alert, count and validation hangs off, so never receive a reagent without them.
Release a new lot through Validation
The Validation ({n}) tab lists Reagent, Lot, On hand and Expiry, with a Validate button on each row and a Search reagents… box above. A lot that has already failed once carries a failed badge beside its lot number.1
Open the sheet
Select Validate. Validate lot opens, stating its purpose: “Lot-to-lot validation before patient use. Pass releases the lot to active stock.” A banner names the lot and what is on hand.
2
Say what you compared it against
Choose the lot in service under Compared against (current in-use lot), or None / first lot if this is the first lot you have held.
3
Record what you did
Enter the Method — the placeholder suggests
parallel_testing — pick a Reviewer for sign-off, and summarise the outcome in Result summary (for example Within 2SD of in-use lot). Put observations and deviations in Notes.4
Pass or fail it
Pass & release puts the lot into active stock — the toast reads Lot validated — released to active stock. Fail records the failure and the toast reads Validation recorded as failed — lot stays quarantined.
Attach reagents to a test
A catalogue test carries a Reagents consumed card, which explains itself: “Drawn from inventory each time this test is completed — linked to the order & patient.” Each row is a Reagent, a Qty and an Opt. flag for something not always used. Use Add reagent for rows and Save reagents to save — the toast reads Reagents saved. An empty card reads No reagents yet. Add the items this test consumes. Completing that test then draws its reagents down, so counts follow the bench without anyone counting bottles. See Add your tests and panels and Enter and verify results.The drawdown rides alongside the status change and can occasionally fall behind, so treat reagent counts as very good rather than perfect. A periodic stock count on the Counts tab is what keeps them honest.
Collection consumables are configured separately
The supplies a specimen collection uses — cups, split bottles, seals, temperature strips — are not on the test. They live in the Collection supplies sheet, which draws them “each time a specimen is collected … shortfalls warn, never block a collection”. Saving it toasts Collection kit saved. See DOT collection.Expiry and low stock
The Alerts ({n}) tab lists each alert as Type, Item, Location and When, with an Acknowledge button that keeps it quiet for 30 days. Above them the expiry-risk panel projects what is heading for the bin — Expiry risk — {amount} projected to expire unsold, from “your last 90 days of sales, per lot, first-expiry-first-out”.
Below Professional Lab the panel is replaced entirely by Expiry risk — predictive, Available on Professional and above. Batch and lot tracking, expiry monitoring, low-stock alerts and purchase orders are all included from Starter Lab. See Plans.
Movements made through the API
A receive, adjust or transfer made by a connected integration through Settings → API access shows a Via API marker naming the integration on its Ledger row, and API changes only narrows the list to just those.Who can do this
This screen is governed by role, not by the Diagnostics permission list, which has no slug for stock. A bench scientist therefore reaches it, deliberately — the person who runs out of a reagent should be able to see why.
Nothing here is gated by Enter results at the bench or Verify and authorise results. Your local procedure, and the Reviewer field on the validation sheet, are what enforce who may sign a lot into patient use — not the software.
Two behaviours surprise people:
- Enforcement is opt-in, per person. Somebody never saved in the permissions sheet is unrestricted, and the sheet warns “Saving starts enforcing”.
- A denied action is recorded; an allowed one is not. Where a figure is not yours to see it renders hidden or as a dash — never as a zero, which on a stock screen would read as “we have none”.
Check it worked
- The new lot leaves the Validation tab, the count in the tab label drops, and its quantity appears as usable stock.
- The Reagents consumed card on the test lists the items and quantities you saved.
- Completing a test moves the reagent’s on-hand figure on the Stock tab, and a matching row appears on Ledger.
- The Reagents at risk tile on Executive agrees with the expiry-risk panel — see The owner summary.
Common issues
Stock is on the shelf but the bench cannot use it
Stock is on the shelf but the bench cannot use it
It is quarantined. Open the Validation tab and validate the lot. This is the intended behaviour for anything flagged Lot-to-lot validation (lab reagent).
There is no Validation tab
There is no Validation tab
Nothing in your catalogue is flagged for lot-to-lot validation yet. Edit a reagent, switch the flag on, and the tab appears.
Reagent stock did not move after a test completed
Reagent stock did not move after a test completed
Either the test has no Reagents consumed rows, or the drawdown fell behind the status change. Check the card first, then reconcile with a stock count on Counts.
Save reagents refuses with “Pick a reagent for each row”
Save reagents refuses with “Pick a reagent for each row”
A row was added but left empty. Choose an item on it, or remove the row with its Remove button.
Expiry risk shows a number but no recommendations
Expiry risk shows a number but no recommendations
The figures are a Professional Lab capability; the recommendations — discount-to-clear, supplier returns and branch transfers — are a Business Lab one. The panel says so itself. See Change your plan.
A validated lot shows a “failed” badge
A validated lot shows a “failed” badge
It failed a previous validation attempt and stayed quarantined. Investigate the cause, then validate again — the sheet keeps a record of both attempts.
Collection supplies are not being drawn down
Collection supplies are not being drawn down
They are configured in the Collection supplies sheet, not on the test’s Reagents consumed card — see DOT collection.
FAQ
Do reagent counts update themselves?
Do reagent counts update themselves?
Yes — completing a test draws down whatever is on its Reagents consumed card, and receiving, dispensing or transferring stock writes to the ledger. The drawdown is best-effort alongside the status change, so run a periodic count rather than trusting the figure indefinitely.
Should every reagent have lot-to-lot validation switched on?
Should every reagent have lot-to-lot validation switched on?
Only where a lot change can shift results — most assay reagents and kits. Buffers, tips and general consumables do not need it, and switching it on for them just fills the queue with work nobody will do.
What happens to a lot I fail?
What happens to a lot I fail?
It stays quarantined and unusable, carries a failed badge, and remains in the queue. Nothing is discarded for you — dispose of it or return it to the supplier under your own procedure.
Can I validate the first lot of a brand-new reagent?
Can I validate the first lot of a brand-new reagent?
Yes. Choose None / first lot under Compared against (current in-use lot) and record what you did in Method and Result summary instead.
Why does this screen say “clinic” and show tabs we never use?
Why does this screen say “clinic” and show tabs we never use?
It is the general inventory screen, shared with the other editions. The vocabulary and the extra tabs come with it; everything a lab needs is on Catalog, Stock, Validation, Counts and Alerts.