Pooling Part 1 – Workflows

Introduction – 00:00

Hi there, welcome to the Freezerworks 2022 learning series, your visual guide to our sample management software. Today, we will begin our deep dive into an exciting, brand new Freezerworks feature: Pooling.

Intro to Pooling – 00:34

As you may already know, Pooling is the time- and money-saving practice of combining numerous aliquots from different sources to make a single new pooled sample. This pooled sample is then tested to see if it is positive or negative for whatever the study is looking for. Positive tests tell you to look deeper at the individual source aliquots, while negative tests mean you can ignore possibly hundreds of source aliquots and focus resources elsewhere. With Freezerworks, pooling is integrated with the existing time-saving Workflows, which allow you to standardize and speed up groups of tasks. In this video, we'll go over exactly what configuring a Pooling Workflow is like and then run one ourselves to create a Pooled Sample. Keep in mind that since Pooled Samples are only created through Workflows, it may be helpful to check out our Workflow video series and our Sub-Aliquot Workflow series for help with the general process.

Configure Pooling Workflow – 01:27

Okay, to configure a Pooling Workflow, open Configuration on the Desktop Client and select Configure Workflows. From the list of workflow templates, click “Add New”. On the new Workflow form, open the Select Workflow Type dropdown and click “Pooling”. For Pooling Workflows, everything in configuration remains the same: select a Status you'd like to assign to Aliquots this workflow is run on, determine the Fields where you would like to populate data for processed aliquots, modify Freezer Positions, etc. There is only one new page you need to worry about in a Pooling Workflow, and that is Pooled Sample Fields.

See, Workflows are traditionally all about the Aliquots you are running them on, but since Pooling Workflows create one brand new sample, you are able to manage the pre-population of data in those new records with the Pooled Sample Fields page. Click “Add Field” to begin adding Sample fields and values to the Workflow. Adding fields to the Pooled Sample Fields page is essentially the same as adding fields to the normal Update Fields page with a couple exceptions. Number one, only Samples Fields will be available here, as you are setting up data for any new Pooled Samples this Workflow creates. Number two, Unique Sample Fields can be added to the Workflow for creating IDs. Unique field values will only be modifiable during processing, so it would be smart to make their modification a required task to ensure all new Pooled Samples get an id.

Finally, there is a special Pooled Samples Field called Initial Volume Pooled for tracking how much material went into creating the Pooled Sample. This field can be added to entry forms and be entered or modified after the workflow is run, but it can also be preset through specific steps in a Pooling Workflow. When adding Fields to the standard Update Fields page for the Aliquots, you can add the field Current Amount, set it to “Decrease Current Value by”, and determine the desired amount you want to pull from each aliquot. The Workflow will add up all the reductions and apply the sum to the Initial Volume Pooled field for the new Pooled Sample. This will become clearer when we run the Workflow and look at the Pooled Sample after the fact.

Process Pooling Workflow – 03:50

Speaking of, let’s process that workflow we just created. First, find the Aliquots you’d like to Pool together. On the list view, select the desired Aliquots and click Workflows - Pool Aliquots. In Explore Freezers, select the desired Aliquots, open the Actions menu, and select Process Workflow – Pool Aliquots. Either way, select the Pooling Workflow template you want to use. Complete any tasks required by the workflow noted by any red you see on the form , including any on the new Pooled Sample Fields page. Take note that we are reducing current amount for the 10 Aliquots I initially selected by ‘5’, meaning the Initial Volume Pooled for the new Pooled Sample will be ’50’ (10 x 5). Don’t worry though, if any of your Aliquots have less than the desired amount to deplete, Freezerworks will properly calculate the volume. Once you finish modifying everything in the workflow you’d like, click “Process Workflow” to finalize the process.

Post-workflow – 05:00

After a Pooling Workflow is run, the new Pooled Sample it created will be opened immediately for review. All the Pooled Sample Field values that were set by the workflow will be visible here. For instance, I set the Sample ID, Owner Name, Sample Notes, and collection site, and they are all pre-filled appropriately here. I can now create new Aliquots and run tests. These new Aliquots will be separate from the Source Aliquots I used to create the Pooled Sample, though. The Source Aliquots are visible on the new Pool Details tab. This not only lists each Source Aliquot that was pooled to create this Sample, it also gives you the date that the pooling occurred, and the Initial Volume Pooled. Remember how I reduced the Current Amount of each of the 10 Source Aliquots by 5? Well my Initial Volume Pooled is set to ‘50’.

Conclusion – 05:55

There is much more about this tab to discuss, including ways to view any Source Aliquot’s Sample or Patient for traceability, but we will leave that for next time when we discuss how to effectively search for and view Pooling Data. I hope this video has been helpful, and I look forward to diving a little deeper next time. Remember to check the User’s guide or give us a call if you have any questions that aren’t answered here. As always, thank you for watching, and see ya next time!