Copy Protocols

After you have added and configured a protocol, you can copy it and then modify the copy for use in other workflows. This is useful if you have multiple protocols with similar base configuration, as it saves you having to recreate each one from scratch.

To access the Lab Work tab and configure protocols, the Configuration:update permission is required. By default, only the Administrator role has this permission. For details, refer to User Roles and Configure Role-Based Permissions.

When you copy a protocol, all of its steps are also copied—along with any step-level fields, automations, reagents, controls, and instruments configured on those steps.

You can also create copies of the master steps, or you can reuse the same master steps.

• Copying master steps does copy step-level fields.
• Reusing master steps does not copy step-level fields.
• If a copied master step has custom field default values that refer to other steps within the protocol, update those values to refer to the copied steps. Refer to Update Custom Field Defaults on Copied Master Steps.
1. On the main menu, select Configuration.
2. On the LIMS configuration screen, select the Lab Work tab.
3. In the main navigation panel, in the Protocols list, select the protocol to copy.
4. Below the navigation panel, select Copy.
5. The Copy Protocol Options dialog opens. This dialog provides two options:
• Append name with—This option lets you specify text to be appended to the protocol name (default is _copy). This text also is appended to the copied step names, and to the master step names if you also choose to copy those. Note: Copied step-level field names do not have the text appended.
• Copy Master Steps?—This option lets you choose to reuse the same master steps (this is the default behavior), or create copies of the master steps.
• Selected an option and then select Continue to copy the protocol and steps.
6. The copied protocol displays in the Protocols list, and is selected along with its related steps and master steps.

Below the navigation panel, the protocol configuration form displays. You can work with the protocol and its steps just as you would with any other protocol/steps in the system.

If you have configured a custom field default on the master step you are copying, and the default value refers to the name of another step within the protocol, you must update that default value on the copied master step, so that it refers to the appropriate step in the copied protocol. The default values are not automatically updated to refer to the copied step names.

Similarly, if you have configured a script or logic that uses custom field defaults that refer to another step within the protocol, you must update those default values on the copied master step.

For example, in a QC protocol:

• The Aggregate QC step has various 'Copy Task' UDFs defined - eg, Copy Task 1 - Source Step and Copy Task 2 - Source Step.
• The values of these fields are determined by other QC steps within the protocol.
• The script that is configured on the QC Aggregate step references those QC step names, locates the specified custom field values from the steps, and uses them to determine QC results.

If the QC protocol is copied, the copy of the master step on which the Aggregate QC step is based must be updated so that the custom field default values refer to the appropriate steps within the protocol.