This section focuses on the Protocol module. Here you'll learn everything you need to know to use protocols, improve reproducibility, and streamline your workflow. Protocols are a great way to enforce data collection in a consistent and structured manner.

Protocols are a key part of the Labstep workflow. This is where you'll write up methods or SOPs that you'll then use in your experiments. They interconnect all of the other modules of the platform.

Depending on your permissions, you can create, share and edit protocols easily.

If you need to update a protocol but want to prevent people from using this version until it's ready, you can keep it in "Draft" mode until it's ready to use and change to live mode. Please note that only someone with the appropriate permissions can set a protocol live.

In your protocol, you can add Interactive Elements. Interactive Elements are tools added to protocols (and experiments) to help streamline your workflow and make it easier to record data. These elements will then be clickable and fillable once you run your protocol and start your experiments. Here's a list of all the elements you can add, including standard document ones:

For details on how each of these elements works, click here.

Additionally, you have a selection of headings, fonts and formatting options available when editing the entry:

Labstep team tip: Please note that if you update a shared protocol in one workspace, it'll update it in the other workspace, too. If that's not what you want, then click Duplicate>select a Workspace>Duplicate. It'll prevent any edits from mirroring across.

Protocols have powerful version control to help create an audit trail of when, who and how things are changed and allow to revert back if necessary with the Time Machine feature (premium). Previous protocol versions can be restored at all times without the Time Machine feature. However, only the Time Machine feature can give you access to edits made between official protocol versions.

Locking a protocol version is another advantage, as it ensures that everyone is using the same one. This helps to avoid discrepancies in data. Protocol versions are automatically locked when first used in an Experiment to ensure consistency and avoid inaccuracies by potentially using different versions of the same Protocol. You can create new versions to track changes or updates to your processes:

When running your Protocol, if you make edits, you have the option of saving this iteration as a new version or a completely new Protocol to reuse later on.

Collections are like folders on your desktop. They enable you to organise your protocols in a quick and efficient way. You can create collections based on a specific project or a method, for example. You can even have sub-collections too!

Just like collections, tags help you organise your work. These become essential as you have more people in your workspace or generate a lot of content. Tags add granularity and help you narrow the content you're looking for. It's especially useful if someone has to review protocols before they get used.

You can use filters to search through the Protocol Library. Here's a list of the filters available:

On top of these, you can also click on Sort By to sort protocols by:

Protocols are an important part of the Labstep platform. Writing them up in Labstep has its advantages, like safety, security, collaboration, version control and interactive elements. Following the above tips and advice will help you get the most out of using Protocols for your workflow and ensure that data is collected with consistency and structure.

This lesson is part of the "Labstep 101: Everything You Need to Know to Get Started" course. View all lessons here.