ULab Erfahrungen

makes your lab organized

Kommentare: Can't imagine working in lab without it. It heps you track who uses the instrument and when and keep work place organized

Vorteile:

Easy to set up, helps organize lab and booking

Nachteile:

The interface could be improved. and more features can be implemented

Ulab - review - lab manager

Kommentare: Very positive. I really like the software, and use it to manage my lab bookings.

Vorteile:

Calendar and booking system. Ease of setting up a resource.

Nachteile:

Sometimes finding an option you need can be a little difficult. Having all options e.g., as a dropdown could possibly enhance the product.

SMC ULab review after lockdown.

Kommentare: I had a very positive experience with ULab although I had to field user complaints and critisms on a daily basis. The technical support was excellent and I had the developers email address. As a customer I couldn't ask for anything more.

Vorteile:

At the time the software was very useful as it enabled us to rapidly input all of our equipment and users could quickly set themselves up on the system and start booking timeslots to use the equipment with the minimum of fuss. We never had a booking system before so it enabled us to get a good understanding of what we required.

Nachteile:

Only the lab owner could pull reports from the system. Took too many mouse clicks to achieve basic tasks. Sometimes bookings didn't show - occasional small glitches. Wasn't possible to view the calendar by tool location (so simialr tools were grouped). Maintenance wasn't integrated (or not so in a logical way). Didn't work great on mobile devices - which is a necessity in a cleanroom! Overall, the system felt too clunky / not polished and took too long to achieve basic tasks.

Instrument booking system

Kommentare: no cost to us and great for allowing users in other buildings to book remotely and I am notified that they have booked

Vorteile:

It is easy for our users to book themselves , they do not have to ask the manager to book for them. They have to register and so users are known they cannot book anonymously and/or ambiguously. It has to be a registered university address

Nachteile:

Entering the booking system can be clumsy , if you look at the lab diary you cannot book from there, you have to exit and go to bookings . When entering bookings sometimes the time cannot be altered . When you book a whole day it only shows at the top of the day rather than showing all the hours of that day as booked. would be helpful to access the booking on my phone , the lab that the instrument is in , currently does not have a pc which can easily connect to the internet and so check and view bookings

Great software

Kommentare: Very good, certainly better than manually booking everything out as before.

Vorteile:

ULab is very easy to implement and set up to record all of your equipment and the rooms they are in, assign owners and users of various levels, take bookings and implement outputs such as incident management. It's a great bit of kit if you run a technical facility and require any sort of booking or monitoring.

Nachteile:

It isn't the easiest to customise and the HTML editor doesn't seem to work completely, I think there is some sort of clash in the style sheets that removes any bullet points. There is also an issue that editing a piece of equipment that is owned by somebody else seems to transfer ownership to the person editing, which is very annoying.

Excellent facilities overview and management

Vorteile:

Universities are complex organisations, even within a single institution, there is often little awareness of what equipment is available. My work involves managing large multi-institution research projects and collaborations. ULab gives me a simple overview of what capabilities are available where, and who is responsible for them. This feature allows me to promote our facilities to both project researchers, as well as to the outside world. It also facilitates rapid response to grant calls or request for information from funders. I have also been able to use ULab to identify spikes in demand for particular capabilities before they become critical. ULab also offers features of value to the facility managers and equipment owners. These include a booking system, incident and document management features. These features make it easier to sell the system internally as there are clear advantages at both researcher and project levels.

Nachteile:

The search feature can be clunky. It can take some effort to ensure that facilities are easily discoverable.

Early adopter

Kommentare: I was introduced to ULab when it was in the Beta stage, the development team has been exceptional, offering support and implementing upgrades based on user feedback. ULab has allowed me to maximize and prioritise laboratory equipment based on user needs. I have moved from an admin heavy booking system to a one-stop booking, auditing, and training resource.

Vorteile:

This software feels like it has been designed by someone who will use it, it is very easy to use and administer. I use it to book equipment, schedule user time, and audit usage within a research laboratory.

Nachteile:

Some of the functionality can be simplistic.

Useful in normal times, great for working in the Pandemic

Vorteile:

The software provides a flexible solution, accessible by phone and computer. As it is cloud based the data is always up to date. The QR code allows the workplace to track who is in the building without using a communal notebook to sign in (as we did pre-pandemic). We can also book space, again important for managing staff numbers in each area (especially useful during the pandemic) and as previously we can book equipment. As a floor manager it allows me to see who else is on the floor and when they leave which is a great feature for safety reasons.

Nachteile:

It would be good if it would interface with calendars

Excellent Booking software

Kommentare: We've been able to move our old booking systems ( some other software, some shared excel documents, some paper) all to one coherent system, which has made life much easier.

Vorteile:

I like the ease with which ULab can be implemented. It is simple enough to allow quick and speedy bookings, whilst also having enough features to give a level of inventory management, related document storage (risk assessments), etc.

Nachteile:

It isn't particularly polished and could have the aesthetic improved a bit, but that's a minor criticism. It works well.

A complete solution to equipment booking

Kommentare: ULab has formed a core part of equipment usage strategy in the department as it has spread from team to team, and is now seen as the standard and expected option by our student community. We had looked at alternative software but it cost considerably more for the same functionality!

Vorteile:

My favourite aspect of using ULab is the ability to inform students of down time, both predicted and actual, on pieces of equipment. This is much quicker than trying to contact individuals and also eliminates the issue of people not checking their emails!

Nachteile:

In all honesty I don't think there's been any issue ion our time of using ULab, it's been pretty flawless and met our expectations in all aspects.

Carlos

Vorteile:

The equipment can be booked online. We can look if a certain equipment is available ether in our or other departments.

Nachteile:

Sometimes is difficult to find an specific item/equipment.

Convenience

Vorteile:

Help to arrange my work easily by booking for different labs and tools.

Nachteile:

The time slot cannot be edited when I accidently click on the past date.

Great way to track/keep record of company assets and equipment

Kommentare: Great. It was very useful at a time when we needed to show how we keep track of equipment for an ISO certification.

Vorteile:

The software was easy to use and the use of PR codes was useful

Nachteile:

Setting up all the different rooms. Using shape for the equipment didn't look right. I would have preferred just the name or drawing/picture of the item.

U Lab a tool for managing lab equipment utilisation and lab safety

Kommentare: Overall a very useful tool which compliments LIMS systems

Vorteile:

Designed to fit the lab environment Allows searching for equipment in other labs Integrates safety with other aspects of lab management Valuable repository to ensure equipment manuals, SOPs, risk assessments etc are readily available Good equipment scheduling tool

Nachteile:

Not a lot to dislike, there could be more flexibility in the set up for different organisational structures

Misses the mark

Vorteile:

The premise is good and the software has potential, however it would require teh full time attention of a programmer to bring the product up to even a minimum standard.

Nachteile:

The interface it very clunky and nothing is intuitive. It seems to take six clicks to do any task and I only the time or patience for two. The user "home" page over emphasis trivial info and the expense of useful features.

ULab

Kommentare: very positive experience.

Vorteile:

very user friendly software with clear and concise instructions for beginners.

Nachteile:

had one problem with logging in once but after speaking to the customer service team the issue was quickly resolved.

Good organisation

Vorteile:

Organisation is good and user friendly.

Nachteile:

Graphics on the lab layout is not so user friendly