This Manual consists of 5 chapters. In each chapter, you will find all explanations for using Alchemy. The document has structured subchapters, where the important parts of the text are highlighted in differently colored bubbles.
Red bubbles are the use cases that should always be implemented.
Please keep in mind that a password must contain a lowercase character, an uppercase character, a number and minimum 6 characters.
Purple bubbles represent the best practices that we recommend.
We recommend that you upload a profile photo where your face is clearly visible and where you have a plain background in the photo if possible. This will allow better recognition between coworkers and clear visual understanding of who is assigned to a task or who has posted a comment etc.
Blue bubbles represent examples.
Throughout the manual we will be using fictional personnel names to better demonstrate certain actions and functions available in Alchemy. For this chapter we used the log in credentials of a Lab Manager called Beth Cooper. If you see these credentials used later on, remember that it is a part of an example.
Different kinds of screenshots will help you understand the text better. Page Overview screenshots represent the whole web page of a certain section with an explanation of each element.Specific "How To" screenshots explain different functionalities.
Specific "How To" screenshots explain different functionalities.
Welcome to the Alchemy User Portal Manual!
This document will provide you with all the necessary information to use Alchemy.
Whether you’re working on new products, a new formula, or helping customers get the most from your current products, Alchemy accelerates your chemistry development, sales, and service processes so you can delight your customers and monetize more of your work.
Alchemy is customized according to your organization's needs. It will aid you in your everyday work on the operational level or allow reporting to middle and upper management. The data you are storing in Alchemy could easily be searched and compared allowing the most effective way of working. Delegation of work and proper workload distribution is facilitated through Alchemy as well.If you are our longtime user of the previous version, note that this document will be very valuable for you as well.
The new version has incorporated functionalities that allow more flexibility and better navigation. The User Interface has been created with our current and future customers in mind by listening to their feedback and comments.We believe that learning how to use Alchemy will be a walk in the park for you, so let's get started!
To start the Sign In process, first, check your email for the invitation link. It is represented in Figure 1.1. If you don't see the mail in your inbox try looking in the spam folder or contact your business process owner to get in touch with us to sort out any possible problems.
After clicking on the button "SET YOUR PASSWORD" you will land on the page shown in Figure 1.2. Here, you need to set up your password. Please keep in mind what the passwords must contain which is explained next to the input fields.
Please keep in mind that a password must contain a lowercase character, an uppercase character, a number and minimum 6 characters.
After entering the desired password according to all criteria you will land on the standard Sign In page which you will see every time you want to sign in. Enter your email and password (Figure 1.3).
Our advice is to bookmark the standard Sign In page so you will have easy access to it anytime.
If you forget your password, just click on the "Forgot password". You will be asked to enter your email for the reset link (Figure 1.4).
After entering your email, check your inbox again. You should receive an email with the link for the password change. Click on the hyperlinked text "Please request a password change over this link" (Figure 1.5).
After clicking on the link you will land again on the page for the password set up (Figure 1.2). Enter the new password and confirm it, then you will land again on the standard Sign In page (Figure 1.3).
Throughout the manual we will be using fictional personnel names to better demonstrate certain actions and functions available in Alchemy. For this chapter we used the log in credentials of a Lab Manager called Beth Cooper. If you see these credentials used later on, remember that it is a part of an example.
The Home page is the first page on which you will land after sign in. It's your starting point for using Alchemy. You can always easily return to the Home page by clicking the Alchemy logo or My Assignments in the left sidebar menu. In further chapters, all elements of the Home page will be explained.
1 - Left Sidebar Menu - contains all your Views and New button (explained below)
2 - New button - contains two options. You can choose to create a new process or a new view
3 - My Assignments - in this section you can see all your assignments
4 - Search Bar, Notification, and User Profile controls - On the upper right side after your user profile initials or image, that is for User Profile options:
The Comment Notifications icon is represented by a text bubble - shows if there are any new comment notifications for you
The Task Notifications icon is represented by the Task icon - shows if there are any new task notifications for you
The Process Notifications icon is represented by the circular Process arrow - shows if there are any new process notifications for you
The Search option by keyword is represented by a magnifying glass icon. All types of search options will be explained in detail further in this document.
As shown in Figure 2.1, under number 2 there is a New button control. When you click it, a dropdown will appear. Near the Process option, you can see a small arrow pointed right, which indicates a drop-down list of new process types you can create. In Figure 2.2 you can see how it looks for our Lab Manager, Beth Cooper. After clicking on any of the process types you would like to create, you will land on the Process page which will be explained in chapter 3. Process Page.
If you don't initiate processes within your organization, you will not see Process as an option, instead, you will just see the View as an option.The main part of the Homepage is My Assignments. It contains the list of processes for which there is a task assigned to you. More about tasks will be explained in chapter 3.6 Tasks. The list of these processes is sorted according to priority, from highest to lowest. The example of My Assignments card is shown in Figure 2.3. In case there is nothing assigned to you currently, you will see a message “You don't have new assignments.”
Each card represents a different project that is assigned to you. In the white circle, you can see the priority of the process out of all priorities regardless of who is assigned to it in the whole organization. You can also see the project name, Lab Work LWR-08-2020-003. Under the project name, you can see the type of process - Lab Work.
The other option behind New button (Number 2 on Figure 2.1) is View. By clicking that option you can create a new report. More about views will be explained in detail in chapter 5.Views. In the left sidebar menu, you can see items with specific names that represent the name of the view you have saved or is created for you. Depending on the starting point of your view, each view will have an appropriate icon. In Figure 2.4 you can see menu items - views.
The left sidebar menu will contain all the reports you have made. You can rearrange the menu items by drag and drop. When you hover over the view with your mouse, on the left end of the item you will find a "two dotted lines" icon you can use for drag and drop. Newly created views are added to the end of the list. You can also delete any view you have made. More details about deleting will be explained in detail in chapter 5.Views.
As introduced earlier in Figure 2.1 at the top part of the Home page, you can see a Magnifying Glass icon that represents Search. Search functionality has two options: Quick Search Results and Show All Results. In Figure 2.5 you can see quick search results for that keyword, but you can also search by expressions or combination of keywords.
You can see the results as titles that contain the keyword(s). You can also see the search result type, whether it is a Process, Task, or Record. More in-depth explanations will be covered in chapter 4. Search Options.
If you press enter in the search bar after writing the keyword, or if you click "Show all results" at the bottom of the quick search results, you will land on the results page. Here, you can see more details for each item of results. See the level of details in Figure 2.6.
All search details and options are explained in 4. Search Options chapter.
On this results page, you can narrow down the search results. First, you can select the type of search item. Check or uncheck the types Process, Record, or Task to control the search result. By default, all result types will be checked.
In the Created By control, you can select the user from the drop-down list. You will narrow the search results to only those created by the user you have selected.
In the From and To controls you can enter dates to indicate the interval that interests you. You will get results of items that were created only during the selected period.
To remove all filters, you can click on Clear All.
Notifications are a way to inform you about the changes that have occurred in Alchemy. You can be notified about the changes in two ways: In-app notifications and/or by email. The notification icons are located on the far upper right side of the Home page. If you have a new process notification, the icon, represented by the circular Process arrow, will have a red dot with a number indicating new notifications. If you click on the icon, a small menu with a scroller will appear. You can see the short information about notifications in this menu (Figure 2.7). The same can be applied for Task notifications and Comment notifications (see chapter 2.1 Home Page Overview)
Types of notifications are:
Built-In
- Task assigned to me - this happens when the system automatically assigns you a task or when another User assigns a task to you. The displayed message (subject) will be: "System / [User Name] assigned [Task Subject] to you.". If you click on this notification it will lead you to a Process page where you have a task to do, as seen in Figure 2.8. Task details will be displayed in the bottom right corner of your screen.
Configuration Defined
- Various notifications set up by the ADMIN - the subject of the notification is also set up by the ADMIN who will be configuring your organization's processes. If you click on the notification it will also lead you to a process page where more notification details can be seen.
The notification control is showing notifications for the signed-in user (Figure 2.7). The number of unread notifications is displayed inside the red dot on the process/task/comment icon, after clicking on the icon a control menu is opened showing the following:
• List of all notifications - New notifications come at the top of the menu. Unread notifications are highlighted gray and read notifications are highlighted white. You can scroll through all the notifications. An infinite scroll will allow you to find any notification you need, no matter how old it is. If you click on the notification, it will be marked as read. You also have an option to mark all notifications as read by clicking “Mark all as read”, or an option to “Mark as read” per notification.
• Mark all as read - marks all the notifications as read and removes the number from the icon.
When you click on the notification (outside mark as read/unread control area) notification details are shown as defined for each notification explained in chapter 2.5 Notifications.
In the User Profile icon (image or initials) you can find Notifications Settings for each notification type (see Figure 2.9).
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Settings will be on as a default and you can turn them off in each of these settings. Until you turn them off you will receive the notifications in the app (Process icon, Task icon, Comment Icon). See Figure 2.10, Figure 2.11, and Figure 2.12 for more details.
If you click on your initials next to the bell icon you will see options for your User Profile. This icon will be represented as your small profile photo after you've uploaded it. Click on the +Add photo to upload your profile photo (Figure 2.11). The formats for images which you can upload are: .jpg .jpeg or .png., and supported sizes are: small (16x16 pixels), medium (24x24 pixels), large (48x48 pixels). You can easily change your photo by uploading a new one. However, once a picture is uploaded, it can only be replaced by another image, it cannot be removed.
We recommend that you upload a profile photo where your face is clearly visible and where you have a plain background in the photo if possible. This will allow better recognition between coworkers and clear visual understanding of who is assigned to a task or who has posted a comment etc.
In the User Profile control, you can also see your name, surname, and email, this data cannot be changed on the user portal. However, if any of the mentioned information needs to be changed, please contact your designated ADMIN person.
In the User Portal control, you can also choose to Sign Out of Alchemy.
In Alchemy all data is stored and presented in a structured way. Every process consists of multiple stages between which different transitions are possible. Every stage consists of at least one record. At each stage, one or more tasks are assigned to users who need to finish some portion of the work to continue further in the process. The tasks are the means to progress in a certain process. The graphical representation of the data structure is represented in Figure 3.1.
The process page is easily reached if you click on any of the processes assigned to you in the My Assignments section. The Process page will probably be the one you use the most in Alchemy, therefore, it's really important to understand how it works. In Figure 3.2 you can see the sections of the Process page. In further chapters, all these sections will be explained one by one but always keep a clear overall image in mind.
In Alchemy all data is stored and presented in a structured way. Every process consists of multiple stages between which different transitions are possible. Every stage consists of at least one record. At each stage, one or more tasks are assigned to users who need to finish some portion of the work to continue further in the process. The tasks are the means to progress in a certain process. The graphical representation of the data structure is represented in Figure 3.1.
In the Process header, you can see the controls for the current process you are in. In Figure 3.3 see the controls which will be explained in-depth in this chapter.
To set the priority of a process, hover over the Priority number on the top left side of the screen (Figure 3.3 Process Header Overview), and click on the Change Priority option, as shown in Figure 3.4 a. This option will be shown on hover only if your priority set allows you to change the process priority for that type of process. Figure 3.4 b shows a list of all processes that will appear. You can drag and drop the processes to change the order by holding the process card on the right side (there is an icon for drag and drop available). Keep in mind that you can only change the priority if you have those specific privileges configured in the system by the Admin. With this control, you can change the priority of any process on the list and not just the current process you are in. When the priority of one process has changed, the priorities for the rest of the processes are recalculated.
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To go back to the process details click on the icon on the left-hand side in the header.
The yellow star next to the Process Information represents the follow or unfollow action (Figure 3.3 Process Header Overview). This action can be done manually by you, or automatically by the system.If you click on the star, you will be following that process. When you manually choose to follow or unfollow a process, it cannot be overridden by automatic follow/unfollow action. This option can be helpful in the Views. You can make a custom report that will contain all your followed processes, not only the ones you are/were assign(ed) to, so you will be able to reach them more quickly.
Here are the automatic follow/unfollow actions:
When you hover over on the Priority number on the top left side of the screen (Figure 3.3 Process Header Overview), a list of actions you can click on will appear based on your privilege set.
An on hold process means that the process is "paused". This option will be available if you have the appropriate process privilege and the possibility to put the process on hold.
When you select Put On Hold (Figure 3.4 c), a pop up will appear providing details about this action, see this in Figure 3.5.
The information about the on hold action is:
You will be able to resume the processWhen you click on the PUT ON HOLD BUTTON in the pop-up, the process header will change, as seen in Figure 3.6 a
1 - On hold status indicator When you hover over the status indicator, you will be able to see the process status and available actions (Figure 3.6 b)
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The priority of the on-hold process is changed to N/A and it is not visible in the Process header anymore.An on hold process can be restarted by selecting the Restart option. After clicking the RESTART button in the pop-up window (Figure 3.7), the process will be resumed and its status will again be In Progress with a visible Priority number. The priority will, however, be the last number on the priority list (the process will have the lowest priority, just as it would have if it is created at that point.
Processes that are in progress can be put on hold, however, processes that are voided or completed cannot be put on hold.
When you hover over the priority number in the process header, and if you have the appropriate process privileges, you can see the Void option (Figure 3.8 a). This means that you can "cancel" the process. The voided process cannot be reactivated. When you click on the void option, a pop up will appear explaining the details about the void action (Figure 3.8 b).
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The information about the void action is:
If you click on the void control the process header will also change, as seen in Figure 3.9.
After you've clicked on the void control, the status of the process is voided. The priority of the voided process is changed to N/A and it is not visible in the Process header anymore.When the process is voided, tasks on that process can still be edited, also the effort spent on a particular task. However, the task cannot be reactivated or reassigned. The name of the process and data inside records can also be edited.
Under the Process header, some additional controls for processes are available. They behave as tabs so when you click on them, you are switching between tabs on the Process page. The first tab, Details is the default one you are always in when you reach the Process page. Remember to always return to this tab when you want to continue your work on the process.
The next tab is Split View. The split view feature will allow you to work on 2 records simultaneously, or to enter data into one while looking at the data in another record. You can scroll through or select from the menu any two records placed in the current process. As you can see in Figure 3.10, on the left side you can see the Request for Lab Work LWR - 05-2020-002, and on the right side, you can see the record Characterization Benchwork. This is a useful tool for comparing 2 records that are far apart in the process. For example the Request with the Test Results etc.To exit the split view screen, click on any other tab on the process header (i.e. details). When the split view is turned on the task and navigation panel can't be opened. Furthermore, whatever you edit on either side of the record area will be saved.
The third tab is the Plan. This tab will enable you to see progress relative to the plan, visually in a Gantt chart. (Figure 3.11) It is an easy, universally understood way to communicate status without having to type up an essay. It is an automated, and therefore effortless, project management for the project managers, all involved in the project, and for upper management.See Figure 3.11 below where a project manager can enter a Target Stage Completion Date for each stage of a project. This is the date by when all work for this stage should be completed. You can see the target completion date and the end of the stage, targets are highlighted with yellow boxes below.
The Target Stage Duration is how long you expect the work to take during the stage. In this case, the project manager expects 14 days as shown in the screenshot. The system will automatically set the start date for the duration to be 14 days before the expected completion date of March 5th which you can also see in the screenshot below.
Finally, you can see four different stage statuses (or outcomes) in the screenshots below.
Completed On Time
Marked in the screenshot below you can see:
Not Executed
Marked in the screenshot below you can see:
Completed, But Late (relative to the target completion date)
Marked in the screenshot below you can see:
Not Yet Started
Marked in the screenshot below you can see:
The next tab is Flow. In this tab, you can see the process flow with all stages and transitions (Figure 3.17).
If you click on the Team tab you can see all the contributors for that process. Currently, in Figure 3.18 Beth and Chad, who are both Lab Managers, are on the team. Contributors that are automatically added to the team are those users who do any kind of action on the current process. Some examples of actions are: create/void/put on hold/restart/set priority for a process, and also all task assignees are considered contributors. If you get unassigned from a task(s) on a particular process (and you did not do any other actions), you will be removed from the team list.
In the Files tab, you can see all the files that were uploaded to the current process. It's a summary of all files in one place, with additional details. A list with all the file names is shown. When you click on a file, a side panel opens with this information: File Name, Record, Stage, Updated By, Updated On, and File Preview (Figure 3.19). From this panel, you can preview the files or download them. The preview of any image is opened in a modal window. A preview of all other files is opened in a new tab window.Users can see only the files attached to records on stages for which they have at least view privilege. If a file is attached to a record on a stage, which content is not visible to a user, that file will not be visible in the files tab.
The main idea behind navigating through processes in Alchemy is to be more effective and efficient. To spend less time on sequential operations that are standardized and to have good traceability of all projects your team (and you) are doing. In Alchemy every process is designed to follow a specific workflow constructed from stages as building blocks. Stages have different transitions between them, and those transitions follow a certain logic. You will be progressing through the process by completing tasks on each of these stages. With the task completion, you are announcing that a portion of the work is finished and that it can progress to the next stage. All processes and stages are custom made according to your organization's needs. The processes are designed by mirroring your actual processes and procedures your company is complying with.
Records that are inside stages are representing forms or reports that you were either filling in electronically or on pieces of paper and then storing in archives.
By entering data in Alchemy you are enabling better usage of the valuable information that you are saving and allowing better analysis and continuous improvement capabilities.
As mentioned in chapter 3. Process Page, and shown in Figure 3.2 Process Page Overview, you can see 3 distinct vertical areas, Stages (left-hand side - navigation), Record and Task if you click on the task. In this chapter, the focus will be on explaining the navigation through Stages. For easy navigating through the process, a left side panel is available. In Figure 3.20 you can see a detailed overview. Different icons and colors indicating statuses will help you understand where you are in the process and what is left to be done.
Navigation retract and expand
The navigation panel can be retracted by pressing the arrow in a folder shown in Figure 3.20, under number 1.
This is useful if you would like to have more working space for the task or record areas. When the panel is retracted you can see the folder icon in the upper left corner.
If you click this icon, the panel will expand again.
Records are digital models of documents, spreadsheets, data input forms, and images your organization might collect in its natural flow of work. In a record, information is stored in a structured way, within a certain context.
The Records area is the largest area on the Process page. This will be your most used working area. In this area, records that belong to different stages are below each other, by clicking on their names in the left navigation you can easily move through the records in different stages. In Figure 3.2 Process Page Overview you can see the Records area under number 5. To get a better working area, both the left sidebar and left navigation area can be retracted as shown in Figure 3.21 a).
See the other details of the records area in Figure 3.21 b).
In Figure 3.22 you can see two different records. They are distinguishable by the folder label, with the stage name on it, followed by the record header which is visible for each record. You can see two sections that represent the two records.
Record header - provides information about the record name and the stage in which the record is.
If you open the left navigation panel, while scrolling through records, they will be highlighted light blue indicating where you are in the process. This is demonstrated in Figures 3.23 a) and b).
In Figure 3.23 a) also take notice of the record Request LWR-03-2020-002 in the navigation panel and records area, the record has the green icon:
This means the record is valid and correctly completed.
When you hover over the green icon this info will appear:
The record LWR - 03-2020-002/2 in Figure 3.23 b) has the red icon:
As opposed to the Valid status, there is an Invalid status too:
This means the record is invalid. In this record, there are marked fields with the red asterisk and frame, which indicate that the fields are required, and as shown in the picture they are not filled out, so that's why the record is invalid. When these fields are filled, the record will become valid.
On the far right of the record area, you can see some additional icons and three dots that will have a drop-down menu with more actions as seen in Figure 3.24.
These additional options will be explained in a separate chapter (3.5.2 Additional Record Options).
Record Name
The Record name is automatically generating when you reach a certain stage and the records roll out. In many cases, the Record name will be pulled from the value of the field in the record, after that value is entered, or generated by adding that value to some pattern. In any case, the naming behavior is configured by the Admin as a naming pattern applicable for records. This pattern is formed according to your business owner's proposal and what is the most logical for your processes. However, this record name is editable by users with appropriate privileges.
You can edit the record name in these instances:
All of the above instances in which you can change the record name are possible if you have the appropriate view and edit privileges.
You cannot change the record name when:
You cannot change the record name if you only have view privileges.
Every record needs to have at least some name. If a record name is deleted, that record becomes invalid and when the user hovers over the placeholder for the record name there will be a message Record name is required.
The maximum number of characters for the record name is 80 with spaces.
When you are naming a record in a process remember that the record name needs to be unique on the process level. This means that there cannot be two records with the same name in one process.
When you change the name of the record it will be updated in the left navigation panel as well.
Record Fields
Record fields are making the content of one record. The input fields can have different characteristics:
All of the aforementioned characteristics are customized in the Configuration Portal by the Admin. There is a lot of flexibility in the design of the records. Usually, the look and content of records will be agreed upon between the Business Owner and the Admin or the SME. The idea is that records closely resemble forms or the flow of your work and make it more user friendly.
Fields that have a red border around them are required and need to be filled in in order to proceed with the process.
When you are entering numbers in fields, they have a defined number of decimal places, and remember that the dot is used for indication of a decimal place.
Comments - Collaboration Feature
On every Record, users can leave comments on any of the fields. By right-clicking on the field, a dropdown will appear. In the screenshot below, the CAS # field is selected and the user has right-clicked on it opening the comments pop-up, as seen in Figure 25.
If you select 'Insert Comment' the field will get a light yellow highlight with a pop up for entering your comment as seen in the screenshot below (Figure 3.26).In this comment section, you can @mention or +mention a fellow Alchemy user and he/she will get a notification that you've left him/her a comment.
Immediately in the upper right corner of the Record, the Comments icon will have a red dot that indicates the number of unresolved Comments in that record (Figure 3.28).
By clicking on this Comments icon, the list of all Comments is visible in chronological order.
Comments can be Resolved and Re-Opened. Fields with active (unresolved) Comments are visually marked in yellow, so you can easily identify in which Fields there are comments. Specifically, when you move away from the Field with the Comment, you will notice a yellow highlight line on the right side of the field visually indicating that there are one or more Comments on that field.
Add New Record
Records that are dedicated to a stage can be set to open automatically when you reach the stage. This is set by the Admin in the configuration. Usually, these records are somewhat mandatory in terms that they represent the standard way of working for you. However, some records, which may provide more relevant information for that stage, can be added manually. You can also add records manually if you need more versions of the same record template, already created automatically or manually. See the blue bubble for a relevant example.
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The drop-down list from Figure 3.29 represents all the different kinds of records (from record templates) that you can add to a stage. When you add records they will be added to the bottom of the list in the left navigation panel and a new record will be visible in the record area.
When the Admin is configuring Alchemy according to your organization's needs, he has to define the minimum and maximum number of records for each stage. Records can be in different templates which we call Record Templates. For example the Formulation record has the same layout (template) of fields whenever it is added. For each of those templates the admin needs to define the minimum and maximum number for each stage. These minimum and maximum values can be calculated as formulas. You don't have to think about it too much, because if you haven't done something correctly, warning messages will appear.
You can add records when:
Logically, in these situations, you can't add records:
Share Record
In order to be able to share records with external users, please contact your Admin to enable this feature for the records needed. This is not enabled by default.
To share a record, click on the “Share” icon in the far right corner which is marked with the "forward" icon, shown in Figure 3.31.
A pop-up window will appear with details for this shared record. To invite people, just enter their email addresses in the “Invite people” field which we denoted in the yellow box in the screenshot below. With the “pencil” icon selected, you can set the recipient(s) privilege. The recipient can “edit” the record directly themselves or can only view the shared record, based on the privilege you selected. Below that, you can type a short note to the recipient(s) to accompany the information just like you would in an email.
When you've added the email addresses, they will appear in the 'Shared with' section which is seen in Figure 3.33.Please note that a shared, editable record can have an expiration date so that the link doesn’t stay open and changeable indefinitely. If you hover over the email you can see additional options: to set an expiration date, change edit/view rights, and/or remove an email. To set the expiration date click on the clock icon and select the date when the link to this shared record will expire.
People you have shared the record with will get an email with the link to that record. They can click on the record name or the “OPEN IN ALCHEMY” button to view or edit the shared record, as shown in Figure 3.34.
The icon that looks like a text bubble indicates the information about comments on that record. This icon has three versions depending on the status of the comment in the record.
An empty comment icon means that there are no comments on this record:
A comment icon with a red dot means there are un-resolved comments in this record:
A comment icon with a checkmark means all comments in this record are resolved:
If you click on the clone icon:
a replica of that record will be created. The possibility to clone a record will sometimes vary depending on the configuration done by the Admin.
You do not always need to enter all the data from scratch. If you have a record that you can use as a starting point (i.e. a formulation table, where you only want to change a few of the ingredient amounts) you can import the data from an existing record to another.
You can do so by clicking on the Additional Record Options (the three dots) next to the record name, and selecting the Import From Existing Record option (Figure 3.35). You will then be able to select from a list of matching records (from the same template). You can find the record searching by its name (1), and by clicking on it (2) you will be able to preview the data (3) as shown in Figure 3.35.
After you find the record, you can import it by clicking on the import button (4) in Figure 3.35. You will be able to choose between two options:
1. Overwrite existing fields
2. Do not overwrite existing fields
By checking the box in the dialog that opens (figure 3.36).
Overwriting the data will result in all of the editable fields in your record to be replaced with the data from the same fields of the record you are importing. This means that the data the user has entered so far will be overwritten.Choosing not to overwrite the data (by leaving the box unchecked) means that the data from the imported record will only be written in empty fields, where there is no data. If you choose not to overwrite when importing from an existing record, all checkboxes in your record will keep their previous value, even though they have a different value in the record you chose for import.
Import From File
You can also import the data from a .csv file (comma-separated values file), stored on your computer. You can do so by selecting the Import From File option from Figure 3.30. This will open the dialog shown in Figure 3.37 where you can:
1. Download the .csv file template
2. Select the .csv file to import from
The imported file needs to be in the right format. Then can be ensured by downloading it from the import dialog (1) on figure 3.37 first. The first row of the file contains field identifiers, which are used by the system to find each field. Keep in mind that some of the fields cannot be imported from a file, such as record references, calculated fields, etc. These fields will not be in the columns in the created import file template. You can enter (or paste) your data in row 2 and below.
For fields that are single (i.e not part of a table) you should enter only data in the second row of the file. For fields in tables, you can enter data in multiple rows (row 2 and above), each row entered will correspond to one row of data that will be imported in Alchemy.
When the file is downloaded as .csv and then opened in excel for entering data, all data in the first row of the downloaded file must remain unchanged. Labels that are presented in the first row are field identifiers and are used for the system to know in which fields to import the values you enter. You can, however, reorder columns, or delete the ones that you do not want to fill in from the file.
The COMPARE feature is something that needs to be set up in Alchemy’s configuration portal by the Admin. We will be reaching out to Business Owners and SMEs to discuss how COMPARE might be applied to your configuration. Compare can be enabled for each record template individually. When clicking on the compare option, you will see the list of record templates for which compare is enabled.Once set up, the COMPARE feature is accessed by clicking the NEW button next to the stage name. You will get a drop-down of records that can be viewed in the COMPARE feature. In this example, in the Formulation stage, Formulation records can be compared. To use COMPARE, go to the Formulation stage in the left nav and click New > Compare > Formulation to start a comparison of Formulations as shown in the image below:
Once clicked, you will notice in the left navigation bar a new COMPARE section with an icon and name of a new COMPARE view. Additionally, in the main pane you will see the initial COMPARE table for creating a compare view as shown in the image below:
To start importing Formulation records, click on the blue highlighted text 'Add Records' link in the COMPARE table and from the drop-down select 'Existing' as shown in the image below:
A new window will pop up for selecting which previously created Formulation records you want to pull into the COMPARE view. This window is the same one you get when you select 'Import from existing record'. After selecting the Formulation Record you want to import it will be highlighted in bright blue. Then click the ADD button on the bottom right side as shown in the image below:
Repeat this action until you pull all relevant records that you wish to compare.
In this next image, 4 Formulations from the current project were selected:
Records from different processes can be pulled into a COMPARE view as well. By choosing to pull in an 'Existing' record from the drop-down when clicking on Add Records (explained in chapter 'Adding Records from the current process'). In the pop-up window, you can select records from other processes too.
When you pull them into the Compare view, the columns will appear gray with a lock icon at the top as shown in the image below:
The lock prevents you from changing historical records. You can compare records like this or if you want to make a change to a previous formulation, you can clone the Formulation record and edit the data contained within if you need to. (See the section below called 'Clone Record' for more detail and pictures showing how to do this.)
The lock feature together with clone and edit will keep your superset of formulation records clean, searchable, and reusable in subsequent projects.
To start building out a COMPARE view for a project, specific fields from the selected records can be chosen to line up side by side. Click on the blue highlighted text 'Add Fields' as shown in the image below:
A drop-down with all the fields from the record will appear. In this example we selected the Material and Added Material [g] fields as shown below:
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After making these selections, the result when lined up looks like this in the image below:
By default, the COMPARE view is grouped by Rows. By clicking the blue highlighted text 'Grouped By (Row)' some other options can be chosen. In the image below, the other options listed in the turquoise box are Material and Added Material [g]:
Depending on which fields were selected to be compared, grouping can be done by any of those fields.In the screenshot below, the data were grouped by Material:
Fields can be hidden to get a more streamlined simple view, by clicking on the eye icon on the right side of the ‘Fields / Records’ box in the image below:
Fewer rows of data will be displayed as shown in the image below, but they can be brought back easily by clicking the closed eye.
Records that are in the COMPARE view can be cloned. This means that a clone (i.e a copy) of the original record will be made and be visible both in the navigation on the left-hand side and in a new column in the COMPARE view. The new version will have its name to be distinct from the original.
To clone, click on the light blue/dark blue double square clone icon next to the record name as shown in the image below:
In this case, we cloned formulation record LWR-001-04/2020. A new record with the next number in this particular naming sequence, LWR-001-05/2020, was created and added into the next column after the current record in that stage. As seen in the screenshot below, the new formulation record is listed in the navigation and is a new column in the COMPARE view.
In COMPARE view, data in records can be edited. All the information that is changed in the Compare view is immediately changed in the underlying individual record too (in this case, values of Blue B 354 were changed in the COMPARE view so each to Formulation record was changed accordingly) as shown in the before/after images below:
Any of the records in COMPARE view can be highlighted with a color to be more easily identified visually
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Sometimes it is important to be able to reorder your columns of data. Records can be reordered by simply dragging them across columns.
Our standard collaboration features in the form of comments, @mentions, and comment resolution are also available in the COMPARE view as shown below:
A comment is a particularly useful way to highlight to yourself or a colleague something specific that you notice in a particular field.
By finishing tasks in Alchemy you are progressing through any started process/project. Each stage needs to have at least one task related to the relevant work in that stage. When this task is finished you can continue to the next stage. If there are multiple tasks on that particular stage it is necessary to finish all of them to proceed to the next stage. In figure 3.57 you can see a detailed look at one of the tasks.
The tasks management area is located between the stages navigation panel and the records area, as seen in chapter 3. Process Page, Figure 3.2 Process Page Overview. This area will be collapsed by default to get a better overview of the records area but you can open it by clicking on the task name in the left navigation.
Collapsing the Task Area
If you would like to collapse the task area to get more overview of the records area you can just click the "x" control illustrated in figure 3.57 under number 1. The task will not be deleted, the area will just be retracted. To reopen the task area you can just click on the task subject in the navigation, stages panel on the left side.
Task Subject and Task Description
The task subject and task description can be generated automatically. Depending on what will best suit you during your work, the Admin can configure the subject and task description for the mandatory tasks at every stage. The subject and description of tasks can contain patterns, information from different fields inside records, or any other information that will be logical to you, they are not generic and the same as in the previous version. Of course, with the appropriate privileges, you can change the subjects and descriptions of tasks (again, mandatory tasks generated by the system).
Tasks that you make through the control Add Task are determined solely by the user, which will be explained later in chapter 3.6.2 Creating and Editing Tasks. The task subject can contain 80 characters, including the spaces. If you exceed the number of allowed characters a warning message will be displayed. For the task description, the maximum number of allowed characters is 3000, otherwise, a warning message will appear.
Score
The task Score field can represent the complexity of the task but it can have other meanings depending on your organization's needs, it is not a required field. It can't be a negative number and the values can be from 0 to 1000 without any decimal places. In Figure 3.58 an explanation for the score entering is shown.
In the Assign To area, you can see the current users that are assigned to a task. Also, there is a drop-down list with users that can be assigned to the task (Figure 3.59). If you have the appropriate privileges, you can assign one or more users to the task by clicking on the button 'Add Assignee'
To remove the assigned user from a task, hover over the name or the profile icon and an "x" control will appear. By clicking it you will remove the user from the task.
Task dates are important for keeping track of deadlines. Date and time that are included are: Planned Start, Completion Target, Started, and Completed.
The Planned Start date marks the expected start of work on the task. By default, this date and time are set to when the task was created. It can also be set as in the future or the past (it can be before the stage activation date), but it cannot be after the Completion Target.
Planned Completion marks the expected deadline of the task. If the task is created during stage duration, then by default Planned Completion is set as the end of the expected stage duration. Stage durations are set up by the Admin in the configuration user interface. If the task is created after stage duration has passed, then by default the Planned Completion field is empty and needs to be set manually. Planned Completion cannot be before the Planned Start. In Figure 3.60 you can see the setting of the Planned Start date.
When setting up the Planned Start date, if you try to set it up as a date after the Planned Completion (which is already defined), you will not be able to do it. First you will need to change the Planned Completion date and push it further and only then go back and change the Planned Start date.
If the Planned Completion date is missed, it will turn red to indicate that the deadline is missed for that task. You can choose to change the target date and complete your task after that or to complete the task without changing the date. In any case, you will be able to move forward in the process.
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Started and Completed dates are calculated and cannot be set manually. The Started date will be the exact date when you press the I'm working on this button and change the task status. At the moment you press the I'm Done button the Completed field will be filled with the exact date and time when you've finished the task.
If you skip the I'm working on this status of the task and just click I'm done, the Started date will not be calculated, it will be left blank and the Completed date will just be shown.
When you begin to work on a task in the particular stage of the process, click the I'm working on this button on that task. That way the Started date will be shown. After you've finished that portion of work, click on the DONE button and the Completed date will be shown. If you skip the I'm working on this status and just click DONE, the Started date will be left blank. Follow this recommendation to have good traceability of the work and when it was started and completed.
The Effort Spent on a task represents the number of hours spent on that particular task. By default, it is not a required field but it can be set as required by the Admin in the configuration user interface based on your organization's needs. The effort logging is explained in figure 3.61
If the effort spent is configured as required, the task and stage cannot be completed if the effort is not logged and the effort must be larger than zero. The Effort can be added, edited, or deleted on tasks in any status on both, automatically generated, or manually created tasks.Effort Spent can be entered, edited, and deleted by users who are assigned to the task but also by users who are not assigned to the task and have the appropriate view and edit privileges for that stage. Keep in mind that you can add, edit, and delete only your efforts and not those of other users. Users with the stage privilege view cannot log effort or delete the Effort Spent.
The progress icons are located before the task subject in the left navigation and when the task management area is open. They can be changed depending on these controls:
• I'm working on this - when checked, it changes the status of the task from TO DO to DOING
• CANCEL - when you want to cancel the task
• I'm Done- when the task is finished
These controls dictate some of the task statuses but not all of them. The task icon in the navigation panel will change according to the task status. Here are all the possible task statuses and their explanations.
1. Tasks that have the status TO DO and have not passed Completion Target
2. Tasks that have the status DOING and have not passed Completion Target
3.Tasks that have the status TO DO and their Planned Start is in the future
4. Tasks with the status TO DO or DOING and have passed Completion Target
5. Tasks that were CANCELED have the icon
Besides the tasks that are automatically created when you reach a certain stage, additional tasks can be added manually. In Figure 3.62 the process of creating a new task is demonstrated.
All the fields that have an asterisk are required to be filled out.
After you've made a task you also can edit it. Both, manually and automatically created tasks can be edited. Click on the desired task in the left navigation panel which you would like to change, the task will appear in the task area from which you can edit it.
Task subject and description can be changed by clicking on the text and writing the necessary changes. SAVE button is not needed, everything is automatically saved which is also indicated by this ribbon close to the top right of the screen:
This applies to all changes made throughout Alchemy. Task subjects and descriptions can always be changed, even if the task is canceled.
Progress controls (I'm working on this, I'm Done, CANCEL) can be changed by clicking on them. When the tasks are DONE or CANCELED no other controls are available.
Assigned users can be removed by hovering over their name and pressing the "x" control. Users can be added by pressing the Add Assignee, explained in chapter Assign To. This cannot be changed if the task is DONE or CANCELED.
Task dates can also be changed, explained in the chapter Task Dates. They cannot be changed if the task is DONE or CANCELED.
Remember that you can create additional tasks and edit them only if you have the appropriate privileges set in the configuration by the admin, these are view and edit stage privileges.
Task Score and Effort Spent can be changed in any case, no matter the task status.
Sometimes, it might happen that the tasks will not be able to be marked as DONE, usually, there will be a valid reason for that and a warning message will be displayed.
Some situations that may prevent the finishing of the task are:
These situations need to be avoided for the tasks on stages to be completed. In case you try to complete a task if any of the 4 are true, you would get an error message like in Figure 3.63 (or a combination of them)
When you have a task assigned to you, the My Tasks button on that process page will appear in the bottom right corner (Figure 3.64).
By clicking on it, all Tasks that are assigned to you on that stage will become visible (Figure 3.65). From the My Tasks pop up window you can:
Users can attach multiple files by selecting the files that he/she wants to attach in Alchemy. The files can be selected and then dragged and dropped into the pop up window (as you will see in the demonstrations below). This will allow much faster manipulation of files and speed up your work. Upload of multiple files needs to be configured on the Configuration UI. Please contact your Customer Success Manager if you'd like to attach multiple files.Editing of photos can be easily performed. Now there will be no need to crop or rotate images and photos before attaching them to Alchemy, it can all be done while uploading files.
In the Lab Work process, the first record is a Request Form. A part of the form is dedicated to attaching Request documents. As shown in the image below, there is a square with a '+' icon inside. By pressing that button a pop up window will appear.
Files can be pasted in this pop up window, dragged and dropped or imported from a folder.
If you select 'My Device' a dialogue will appear where you can choose from which folder to select files. You can select multiple files by holding the Ctrl key and selecting by clicking on files. The second option 'Camera' is possible if your device has a camera. In that case you have the possibility to take a photo on the spot or record a video.
When you select the files and click 'Open' the pop up window will look as in the image below. Click the blue 'Upload 3 files' button.
When the files are uploaded they are stacked next to each other:
Dragging and dropping files is demonstrated below:
Check out this video: https://share.vidyard.com/watch/9ZZc3iDvmctwj93BRhWHaJ?
When you're attaching files, before clicking the blue button for upload if you hover over a file there is a small edit icon as seen in figure 3.71.
In this next dialogue you have the possibility to change the file name or to click on the 'Edit' button to get more options.
When you click on the Edit button the dialogue below will appear. You have the options to rotate, flip the image, crop, zoom in or out. An important note is that the changes need to be saved before uploading. You can save the edited image by clicking on the checkmark icon highlighted in the screenshot below:
On each page in Alchemy, you can search the content with keywords in the search bar. The search bar is located on the right side of the header when you click on the magnifying glass icon. Wherever you find yourself in the process, either on the additional information tabs on the Process page or the Reports page, you can search for anything you'd like. The search option is not case sensitive.The search bar option was briefly explained in chapter 2.4 Search. In this chapter, we will dive into more details and explain this functionality more in-depth.
As mentioned in the previous chapter 2.4 Search, there are two options for the search results: Quick Search Results and Show All Results. When you start writing the desired keyword(s) in the search bar a drop-down with the quick search results will be visible. Results can be a:
• Process
• Record
• Task
For the Records and Processes search, Alchemy is matching the keyword with their Names and for the Tasks, the keywords are matched with the Task Subject or Task Description.
Result items will be shown as titles, Process Name, Record Name, or Task Name, and they will have a colored "tag" at the end of the line representing the type of the search result, also the color will represent the status of the search item. See Figure 4.1 for more details, the searched keyword is "lab".
Process tags can have four different statuses and colors of icons:
1. Completed process
2. In progress process
3. Voided process
4. On hold process
If you click on any of the search items for processes, you will land on the Process page.
Record tags can have two statuses and colors of icons:
1. Valid records
2. Invalid records
When you click on any of the search items for records, you will land on the page with just that record. Here you will have options to edit it (if you have appropriate privileges), to go back in the top right corner, and a button "View In Process" in the top right corner if you want to jump to the process where the record you have selected is.
Task tags can have 6 different colors of icons:
1. Tasks that are DONE
2.Tasks that have the status TO DO and have not passed Completion Target
3. Tasks that have the status DOING and have not passed Completion Target
4. Tasks that have the status TO DO and their Planned Start is in the future
5. Tasks with the status TO DO or DOING and have passed Completion Target
6. Tasks that were CANCELED have the icon
When you click on any of the search items for tasks, you will land on the page with just that task. Here you will have options to edit it (if you have appropriate privileges), to go back in the top left corner, and a button "View In Process" in the top right corner if you want to jump to the process where the task you have selected is.
If you press enter in the search bar after writing the keyword, or if you click "Show all results" at the bottom of the quick search results, you will land on the results page. Here, you can see more details for each item of results. See the level of details in Figure 4.2.
For each search item, more details are available. Depending on the type of the search item, different information is available.
For Process search results, the details contain: the process name, process template (type), Created By, Date Created, and the status tag (Figure 4.3)
Record search results details will contain: record name, record template, matching field name and value, Date Created, User who created the record, and the status tag, see Figure 4.4.
For Task search results, the details contain: task subject, stage, task description (optional, shown only if a match of the keyword is also found in the description), Date Created, User who created the task, and the status tag, see Figure 4.5.
Status tag icons and colors are explained in 4.1 Quick Search
On this results page, you can narrow down the search results. First, you can select the type of search item. Check or uncheck the types Process, Record, or Task to control the search result. By default, all result types will be checked.
In the Created By control, you can select the user from the drop-down list. You will narrow the search results to only those created by the user you selected.
In the From and To controls you can enter dates to indicate the interval that interests you. You will get results of items that were created only during the selected period.
Each user in Alchemy can access and analyze the data by creating custom Views. The views are unique for each user, and each user can set up as many views as needed.
In Alchemy all data is stored and presented in a structured way. Every process consists of multiple stages between which different transitions are possible. Every stage consists of at least one record (with related fields of different types) but can also have multiple records. Records have fields that contain data filled in by the users and/or the system. Fields can also be used to create a relation (or a connection) between two records, using references, as shown in Figure 5.1 represented by blue fields and the relevant connections to records. They serve as connection points that allow the data in Alchemy to be interconnected.
Furthermore, on each stage, one or more tasks are assigned to users who need to finish some portion of the work to continue further in the process, which can also be accessed in the views.
Data in Alchemy can be divided into two main groups: system data and user data.
System data Data generated by Alchemy automatically, which may or may not be immediately visible to the user. Examples are the dates when a process is created and completed, who created the process etc.
User DataThis is what the users in Alchemy enter while using the system. In most cases, these are the values entered in fields on records, (i.e. formulation composition), created records (i.e. raw materials), details of a task, etc.
The data in Views is organized in 'Nodes'. It's easy to access different "Nodes", one for each aspect of data. You can add multiple connected nodes, thus combining the data and creating complex views that let you analyze every aspect of your business and lab data. An example of the 4 different nodes in Alchemy is shown in the screenshot below.
To make your view, you will use Alchemy's graphical interface which allows you to quickly and easily pull the data from Alchemy database. To start, click on the New button from the sidebar and select View. See below:
The initial View setup page will appear as shown in Figure 5.3 below.
In this initial View setup page you can:
To choose which Nodes to connect click on the Data Composition from the drop-down:
A pop-up window will appear (Figure 5.5):
The View can start with any of the first four Nodes. When you select the desired node and connect it to other ones you can close off the pop-up. In this example we will click on the Records node and select the record Formulation:
Each new view will initially be named "Untitled". You can rename the View at any time by clicking on the name and typing a new one, this way you will be able to find your data more easily later on.
You can see the Data tab when you selected one of the records in data composition, the information about the record template, and some initial columns (Figure 5.7):
Accessing your Views is easy since they are represented as Menu Items in the left sidebar menu, they can be rearranged by drag-n-drop along the sidebar. In the image below, you can see the Formulations view that we've just made, and we moved the view up, in the first place below the My Assignments item. We have selected columns Created On, Batch Size, Solids Content, Pigment Filler Volume, and the details will be explained in further screenshots.
As you can see in the image below, the data in the View listed under each column header can be searched by typing keywords in the search bar. This way the data showed is narrowed according to the search criteria. Furthermore, it's noted how many results are available in the upper right corner, in our case 228.
The specific columns of data that are visible in your view can be selected by clicking on the columns icon in the far right corner which looks like this:
Users can select from applicable options in the drop-down list which data they want to be visible in the View. In the example below PVC data is selected in Step 1.
In Step 2, you can see the selected PVC data appear in a column in the View:
Step 3 is to refine or filter down the data further an Advanced Search Option is available next to the search bar.
When the highlighted text ‘Advanced Search’ is clicked, a pop-up dialog box will appear where the filtering can be continued. To select more criteria for filtering, click on the ‘More Filters’ text, and select the criteria according to which you want to refine the View.
With Advanced Search, all the existing columns can be filtered according to desired values, ranges, etc. After the filtering is done, users click the ‘Apply’ button and the View will be filtered down according to the entered criteria.
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At the top of the View, you will notice green chips that are giving the user information about the filtering criteria which you have applied to filter down your data set. If you want to delete some of the criteria and expand the data set back up, you can click the small ‘x’ on the green chip.
There are numerous other options available in Views, from making grids, pivot tables to graphical representations with different charting capabilities. Please get in touch with your CS Manager to learn more.
If you have any questions or suggestions, our Customer Success team is always available to assist you.
Write to us at cs@alchemy.cloud or contact your designated Customer Success Manager!