Using Core Facilities

Learning to Use iLab  

iLab software defines multiple roles, one of which will apply to each person. Roles fall under three categories: Personnel Roles, Core Facilities Management Roles, and University-Wide Roles.  iLab training material is available for each of these roles below. 

Personnel Roles

The first role is a Research Core Facility (RCF) User.  Almost all students (undergraduate and graduate) and most postdocs will fit in this role.  Those acting in this role will need an account and will want to be able to log in and sign up for time on a machine or services from a facility. To get started, they will need support from a Lab Level Administrator. 

Training for iLab Users:

Registration Guide (DOCX)

 

The second role is as a Lab Level Administrator.  This role is intended for Principal Investigators (PIs) who are conducting research using their own source of funding. Examples include grants and department funds.  Sometimes PIs will have a Lab Manager who manages their lab. The Lab Manager will have the same access and permissions as the PI. 

Lab Administrators must grant Users working in that lab access to funds and will not be permitted to reserve equipment or access services until they have funds assigned to them.  

Lab Administrators have the following privileges and responsibilities: 

  • Manages lab memberships
  • Manages lab fund assignments
  • Manages lab budgets
  • Manages payment selections on services
  • Manges payment selections on equipment reservations
  • Reviews, approves, and manages all lab invoices 

Training for Lab administrators is available. 

If you are a principal investigator (PI) and have received funds and an account, we recommend reviewing the iLab PI User Training video, so you can set up your lab and enable those working for you to access and charge your accounts. 

If you are a PI and have funding through both the University of Pittsburgh and either UPMC or the Magee-Womens Research Institute and Foundation (MWRI), then you will have to create a special virtual lab to allow you to charge those accounts (training material coming soon). 

Joint Appointments MAnual (DOCX)

Approvers for Use of Non-Sponsored Accounts (e.g., 02 and 04 accounts)  

The first time a Principal Investigator (PI) requests access to an 02 or an 04 account, administrators in charge of those accounts will receive an email requesting administrator’s approval.  In the email, iLab will provide you with a link to our pitt.ilab.agilent.com site.  When you click on the embedded link, the system will tell you who is requesting permission to use which accounts.  Please click on the link to approve or reject access to the account.  iLab will take you directly to the approve/reject page.  If the person should have access, then approve its use.  If the person is not supposed to have access, then reject the approval. 

  1. Pending access requests to Non-Sponsored Account Numbers will appear in the first section.
  2. Use the action buttons to the right to ‘Approve’ or ‘Reject’ the request.  For those organizations that allocate funding by reference codes, users will be required to select their code(s) within the system. 

Lab Administrators can communicate with other Pitt Lab administrators via rcf-lab-admin@pitt.edu. This is a large mailing list; please use this thoughtfully. 

Some Departments at Pitt leverage an additional role – the Department Financial Manager.  Department Financial Managers manage a group of Laboratories, and have the following privileges and responsibilities: 

  • Manages department level research groups
  • Accesses all department level invoices
  • Runs department level reporting 

As of the Fall of 2024, only the Hillman Cancer Center is using this role.  If your department or school would like to have someone act in this role, email cores@pitt.edu. 

Department Financial Managers can ask questions and share answers with others at this level through the rcf-faculty-directors@pitt.edu mailing list. 

Core Facility Management Roles

The next set of roles are for those managing a core or group of cores.   Pitt uses a couple of core-level roles for those overseeing work in a single core facility.

The Core Administrator has the following privileges and responsibilities:  

  • Full access to core’s site and members
  • Manages all administrative settings
  • Accesses all editing functions
  • Runs billing and reporting 

Training Material for this Role:

Core admin centralized bilLing manual (DOCX)

Custom Billing fields instructions (DOCX)

Core to core business Instructions (DOCX)

External Standing PO manual (DOCX)

The Core Manager role is typically filled by those are serve as an assistant to someone using the Core Administrator role.  Someone in this role has the following privileges and responsibilities:

  • Edits content on the About Our Core, Request Services, and Schedule Equipment tabs
  • Manages requests and calendars
  • Runs billing and reporting capabilities

Pitt has found it useful to group the management of shared research core facilities into three Organization Level Administrative Roles – one for Lower Campus, one for Upper Campus, and one for the Hillman Cancer Center. Each of the organizations has an administrator.

The Organization Administrator, who has the following privileges and responsibilities:  

  • Runs organization wide reporting
  • Controls organization level settings
  • Views organization level core statistics
  • Views all organization memberships including research groups
  • Reviews organization wide billing list and details
  • Views organization wide invoices
  • Wires all users that are active with the organization
  • Manages all organization research groups 

University-Wide Roles

Finally, iLab is managed by a small team with institution level administrative roles. Pitt uses the following roles. 

The Institutional Administrator has the following privileges and responsibilities: 

  • Runs Institution wide reporting 

  • Controls Institution level settings 

  • Views Institution level settings 

  • Views Institution level core statistics 

  • Views all institution memberships and organizational levels (including departments, organizations, centers, and research groups) 

  • Reviews Institution wide billing list and details 

  • Views Institution wide invoices 

  • Views all users that are active with the institution 

  • Manages all institution research groups 

Training Material for this Role:

 iLab institution manual (DOCX)

 

The Institution Financial Manager has the following privileges and responsibilities: 

  • Runs Institution wide reporting 

  • Views Institution level core statistics 

  • Reviews institution wide billing list and details 

  • Manages all institution billing; ability to view and run billing events on all cores within the institution 

  • Views institution wide invoices 

  • Views all users that are active with the institution 

  • Manages all institution research groups

Training Material for this role:

 Organization centralized billing Manual (DOCX)