Signing Result Sets in OpenLab CDS with Enforced Signature Order

Answer

This Information Applies to: Agilent OpenLab CDS

Issue

Use E-signatures for the Result set with enforced signatures and troubleshoot some issues that may arise throughout the process.

Background

Check out articles on how locking results affect the E-sign process, and what happens if you do not lock results nor enforce the signature order.

To define signatures and signature levels in the OpenLab Control Panel, see the article Define E-Signature Levels in OpenLab CDS.

Requirements

• Signatures can only be set up for an OpenLab CDS that requires username and password.
• E-signatures are only supported for Result Sets, they are not supported for single samples.
• To carry out the procedure as described, the privilege of Project Management > Edit content of project and E-Signature > E-Signature Sign Data Files are required. Privileges are configured in the Control Panel. For more information, read the article on how to create and edit roles in OpenLab chromatography data system. 

In this article, Users/Groups are defined as follows (Ignore the unchecked Enforced Signature order box for now) (Figure 1):

Figure 1: Example of Users/Groups 

Prerequisites:

1. Process the Result Set.
   If data is not processed, the E-sign option will be unavailable. Hover the mouse to the E-sign icon to see the message "Result set is not processed." (Figure 2)

   
   
   Figure 2: E-sign is unavailable if results are not processed

2. Save the results:
   If data is not saved, the Result Set cannot be signed. Trying to do so will prompt the message in Figure 3.

   
   
   Figure 3: Prompt shown if trying to sign without saving results
   
   

Steps to Follow

1. Define the signature order. See an example in Figure 4.
   

               
   
   Figure 4: Enforced signature order example
   
   

   • The signature order in this example is: Lab Manager à Technician à Shift Supervisor à Lab Manager again. 
   • Therefore, the order of users is: cazainea5 > cazainea > cazainea2 or cazainea3 > cazainea5.
     
     

     Caution: If there are pre-existing signatures with no enforcement, the signatures will still be there. This might affect the ability to sign even if the correct user is logged in. In Figure 5, despite cazainea5 being the Lab Manager, the pre-existing signatures do not allow for signing results. The only ways to clear those are: Reprocess the results, assuming the results are not locked. If they are locked, a user with the appropriate roles can unlock the results so they can be processed. Revoke signatures, assuming the users have the appropriate role and level. Therefore, the order of the users is: cazainea5 > cazainea > cazainea2 OR cazainea3 > cazainea5.

      

     
     
     Figure 5: Pre-existing signatures will interfere with the enforced sign order
     
     

2. Sign the Result set using the enforced order in step 1.
   1. Figure 6 shows that the Lab Manager (cazainea5) can E-sign the first level in the signing process.
   2. Figure 7 shows that the Technician (cazainea) cannot E-sign the first level in the signing process. 
      

                
      
      Figure 6: Lab Manager can E-sign the first level
      
      

               
      
      Figure 7: Lab Technician cannot E-sign the first level
      
      

   3. Unlike in the non-enforced signature scenario, the Meanings associated with the signature levels matter. When a user E-signs the document, the only Meaning available for selection is the one associated with that signature level defined in Figure 4. Figure 8 shows that the only Meaning that cazainea5 can add on the signature is the defined Meaning Ready for approval.
      

                         
      
      Figure 8: Available meaning for Lab Manager
      
      

      Learn how to effectively operate your Agilent OpenLab CDS:  Agilent 8890 GC with OpenLab CDS Agilent 1260 Infinity LC Systems with OpenLab CDS e-learning path available from Agilent education