Skip to main content
A new reagent lot arrives quarantined. It is received, it is on the shelf, it shows in your stock — and it cannot be used until someone validates it against the lot in service. Labs that do not know this spend a week wondering why good stock is unusable. It is waiting on the Validation tab.
The vocabulary drifts on this one screen, so screenshots and menus will not agree. Your sidebar says Reagents & Inventory, the report catalogue calls it Reagents, and the screen itself is the general inventory screen with general inventory wording. Same place, three names.

​
Add a reagent to the catalogue

1

Create the item

On the Catalog tab, add an item and set its type to Reagent — or Kit, for something supplied as an assembled kit.
2

Turn on lot-to-lot validation

Switch on Lot-to-lot validation (lab reagent). The field says what it does: “New lots arrive quarantined until validated.” Leave it off only for something that genuinely needs no lot check.
3

Receive the stock

Receive it against its lot number and expiry date on the Stock tab. 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 holds quarantined reagent lots waiting for lot-to-lot validation. It lists Reagent, Lot, On hand and Expiry, and each row carries a Validate button. When there is nothing waiting it reads No reagent lots awaiting validation. New reagent lots arrive here quarantined until validated.
1

Open the sheet

Select Validate. The Validate lot sheet opens, stating its purpose: “Lot-to-lot validation before patient use. Pass releases the lot to active stock.”
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, 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.
Pass & release puts that lot into patient use. Do it only when you have actually run the comparison and the reviewer has seen the result — a lot released on a guess produces patient results nobody will question until a clinician acts on one.

​
What each tab is for

The Validation tab only appears once at least one item is flagged for lot-to-lot validation — before that there is nothing for it to show.

​
Attach reagents to a test

A catalogue test carries a Reagents consumed card. 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, seals, tamper tape — are not on the test. They live in the Collection supplies sheet, which “Configure the inventory supplies one specimen collection consumes”; saving it toasts Collection kit saved. See DOT collection.

​
Expiry and low stock

The Alerts ({n}) tab carries both expiry and low-stock alerts. Alongside them the Expiry risk panel projects what is heading for the bin, reading Expiry risk — {amount} projected to expire unsold with the number of lots at risk beside it. The projection uses your last 90 days of consumption, per lot, oldest expiry first, and an acknowledged alert stays quiet for 30 days. Batch and lot tracking, expiry monitoring, low-stock alerts and purchase orders are all included from Starter Lab. See Plans.

​
Check it worked

  • The new lot leaves the Validation tab 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.
  • The Reagents at risk tile on Executive reflects what the expiry panel shows — see Reports, Lab Analytics and the owner summary.

​
If something goes wrong

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).
Nothing in your catalogue is flagged for lot-to-lot validation yet. Edit a reagent, switch the flag on, and the tab appears.
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.
A row was added but left empty. Choose an item on it, or remove the row.
The figures are a Professional Lab capability and the recommendations — supplier returns and transfers — are a Business Lab one. The panel says so itself. See Change your plan.
They are configured in the Collection supplies sheet, not on the test’s Reagents consumed card — see DOT collection.