JAX Colony Management System

USER GUIDE
Release 4.0.0

JAX Colony Management System (JCMS)

User Guide
JCMS Release 4.0.0
Prepared by: Beth Sundberg, Scientific Software Engineer Charles Donnelly, Scientific Software Engineer Michael McFarland, Scientific Software Engineer Abigail Ames, Scientific Software Engineer Dave Springer, Scientific Software Engineer Kavitha Rama, Scientific Software Engineer Peter Blauth, Software QA Engineer
Computational Sciences The Jackson Laboratory

The development and distribution of this software is made possible by generous grants from The National Institute for General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)[Grant number:1RO1GM072863-01] The National Cancer Institute (NCI) [Grant number: P30 CA034196-20] and The Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Document modification history

Revision number 1 10 11 13 14 15 16 17 Date 10/14/05 11/19/07 11/23/07 9/18/08 9/19/08 12/10/08 10/23/09 1/12/10 Who bas dsj aames mmm BAS BAS aames BAS Comments Document started Add sample tracking Add sample tracking guide Added colony report and MLV Added experimental data import, updated experimental data section, cage cards Added plug dates Release 3.4.0 updates Release 4.0.0 updates

About this document

This User Guide is now available from the JCMS Colony Management System Web site (colonymanagement.jax.org) as a separate download from the installation files for those who only need a copy of the documentation.

Document Purpose

This document provides a user manual for the JAX Colony Management System database (JCMS).

Related Documents
JAX-CMS_UserStartupForm.doc JCMS_4.0.0_ReleaseNotes.pdf ReadMe.html

Audience
Users and Database Administrator.

Table of contents
1 Overview................................................................................................................................... 9 1.1 What is JCMS? ...................................................................................................................... 9 1.2 Types of Information Collected by JCMS ............................................................................ 11 2 Getting Started ....................................................................................................................... 12 2.1 Quick Start ........................................................................................................................... 12 2.1.1 Administrator ................................................................................................................. 12 2.1.2 Regular Users: Owners and Secretaries....................................................................... 12 2.2 Installation ............................................................................................................................ 12 2.2.1 System Requirements ................................................................................................... 12 2.2.2 Download the JCMS Files ............................................................................................. 13 2.2.3 Required Configuration Steps ....................................................................................... 13 2.2.4 ReadMe Files ................................................................................................................ 14 2.3 Configuration ........................................................................................................................ 14 2.3.1 MS Access 2007 Configuration ..................................................................................... 14 2.3.2 Removing Security Alerts and Warnings....................................................................... 17 2.3.3 Configure some Database Options ............................................................................... 18 2.3.4 Creating a Multi-User Environment ............................................................................... 19 2.3.5 Moving JCMS to a New Location .................................................................................. 19 2.3.6 Re-linking the Tables..................................................................................................... 19 2.3.7 System.mdw File ........................................................................................................... 20 2.3.8 Installing a Multi-User Client ......................................................................................... 20 2.3.9 Backing up ..................................................................................................................... 21 2.3.10 Installing the Bar Code 128 Font ................................................................................. 22 2.3.11 Configuration Issues and Answers to Common Problems.......................................... 22 3 Administrator Setup ................................................................................................................ 24 3.1 Owner and Secretary Accounts ........................................................................................... 24 3.1.1 Rule 1: Every User of JCMS Must Have a Logon to MS Access. ................................. 24 3.1.2 Rule 2: Each logon name that JCMS uses must be defined as either an owner (of mice) or a secretary. ........................................................................................................................ 24 3.2 Changing the Forms Used by Secretaries and Owners ...................................................... 26 3.3 Initializing Controlled Value (CV) Tables ............................................................................. 26 3.3.1 Simple Controlled Value Tables .................................................................................... 27 3.3.2 Strain Table ................................................................................................................... 29 3.3.3 Mouse Line Viability ...................................................................................................... 31 3.3.4 Ear Tag Ranges ............................................................................................................ 32 3.3.5 Approved Strains for Matings ........................................................................................ 33 3.3.6 Life Status ..................................................................................................................... 34 3.3.7 Gene, Allele, and Gene Class Tables ........................................................................... 34 3.3.8 Rooms, Health Level, and Pens .................................................................................... 36 3.4 Setup Variables Table (DbSetup) for Customizing the Installation ...................................... 37 3.5 Cage Card Setup ................................................................................................................. 40 3.5.1 Printing Cage Cards ...................................................................................................... 40 3.5.2 Blank Cage Cards ......................................................................................................... 41

4 5

3.5.3 JCMS-Provided Cage Card Formats ............................................................................ 41 3.5.4 Creating Custom Cage Cards ....................................................................................... 52 3.5.5 User-designed Cage Cards ........................................................................................... 53 3.6 Setting up an Experimental Plan.......................................................................................... 53 User Setup.............................................................................................................................. 53 4.1 Logging On and Passwords ................................................................................................. 54 Basics on Using JCMS ........................................................................................................... 54 5.1 What are Owners and Secretaries? ..................................................................................... 54 5.2 Changing Passwords ........................................................................................................... 55 5.3 Button Bars .......................................................................................................................... 55 5.4 Using the Forms ................................................................................................................... 56 5.4.1 Special Features of Some Forms .................................................................................. 56 5.5 Navigation Buttons ............................................................................................................... 57 5.6 Session Reports ................................................................................................................... 57 5.7 Printing ................................................................................................................................. 57 5.8 Statistics ............................................................................................................................... 58 Mice ........................................................................................................................................ 58 6.1 Mouse IDs ............................................................................................................................ 58 6.1.1 Automatically Incrementing Mouse IDs ......................................................................... 58 6.1.2 Base Mouse Numbers ................................................................................................... 58 6.2 Adding Mice ......................................................................................................................... 59 6.3 Editing Mice.......................................................................................................................... 60 6.3.1 Changing the ID of a Mouse ......................................................................................... 60 6.4 Importing or Bulk Adding Mice ............................................................................................. 62 6.5 Adding Mice at Weaning ...................................................................................................... 62 6.6 Changing Life Status or Diet of a Group of Mice ................................................................. 64 6.7 Changing Life Status using the Handheld Forms ................................................................ 64 6.8 Change Life Status of an Individual Mouse using Handheld ............................................... 64 Pens and Cage Cards ............................................................................................................ 66 7.1 Manage Pen Configuration Form ......................................................................................... 66 7.2 Rooms and Health Level...................................................................................................... 68 7.3 Adding Pens ......................................................................................................................... 68 7.3.1 Pen Info Form ................................................................................................................ 69 7.3.2 Add Pen Form ............................................................................................................... 69 7.4 Editing and Retiring Pens .................................................................................................... 70 7.5 Moving Mice between Pens ................................................................................................. 70 7.6 Moving Mice Using Handheld .............................................................................................. 71 7.7 Printing Blank Cage Cards................................................................................................... 71 7.8 Retiring Pens Automatically ................................................................................................. 71 7.9 Bulk Retire Pens .................................................................................................................. 72 7.10 Correcting Pen Status and Date Errors ............................................................................. 72 7.11 Cage Use Reports ............................................................................................................. 73 7.11.1 Cage Use Report......................................................................................................... 73 7.11.2 Cage Use Summary .................................................................................................... 74 Matings ................................................................................................................................... 75 8.1.1 Automatic Litter Number Generation............................................................................. 75 8.2 Which Mating Forms to Use?............................................................................................... 75 8.3 Approved Mating Strains...................................................................................................... 76 8.4 Designing a New Mating ...................................................................................................... 77 8.5 Activating a Mating ............................................................................................................... 78 8.6 Add a Mating ........................................................................................................................ 79 8.7 Edit a Mating ........................................................................................................................ 79 8.8 Design Matings to be Retired............................................................................................... 80 8.9 Retire a Mating ..................................................................................................................... 80 8.10 Working with Matings using a Handheld ............................................................................ 81 8.11 Automatic Retiring of Matings ............................................................................................ 81

Litters ...................................................................................................................................... 82 9.1 Automatic Litter Number Generation ................................................................................... 82 9.1.1 Turning Automatic Litter Numbering On or Off ............................................................. 82 9.1.2 Setting the Number of Litter Numbers that are Generated for Each Mating ................. 82 9.2 Which Litter Forms to Use? ................................................................................................. 82 9.3 Adding Litters ....................................................................................................................... 83 9.4 Wean Report ........................................................................................................................ 83 9.5 Editing Litters ....................................................................................................................... 84 9.6 Wean Litters ......................................................................................................................... 85 9.7 Adding Litters with Pups at Weaning ................................................................................... 85 9.8 Weaning Mice using a Handheld ......................................................................................... 87 10 Plug Dates and Pregnancy Checking ............................................................................... 87 10.1 Add Plug Date .................................................................................................................... 88 10.2 Edit Plug Date .................................................................................................................... 88 10.3 Plug Date and Pregnancy Check Work Reports................................................................ 89 10.3.1 Plug Date / Pregnancy Stage Report .......................................................................... 90 10.3.2 Plug Check Work Report ............................................................................................. 90 10.3.3 Pregnancy Check Work Report ................................................................................... 91 10.3.4 Plug Date History ........................................................................................................ 91 11 Genotyping ....................................................................................................................... 92 11.1 How Does Genotyping Work?............................................................................................ 92 11.2 Adding a Genotype to a Mouse ......................................................................................... 92 11.3 Editing a Mouses Genotype .............................................................................................. 93 11.4 Adding a Genotype to a Group of Mice ............................................................................. 94 11.5 Genotype String Format..................................................................................................... 94 12 Genotype Loader .............................................................................................................. 95 12.1 Input File Format ................................................................................................................ 95 12.1.1 Alleles .......................................................................................................................... 97 12.1.2 Import File Integrity Checks ........................................................................................ 97 12.2 The User Interface ............................................................................................................. 99 12.2.1 Import Genotype.......................................................................................................... 99 12.2.2 Verification ................................................................................................................. 100 12.2.3 Genotype Load Report .............................................................................................. 101 13 Scheduling Procedures (Uses) ....................................................................................... 103 13.1 How do Mouse Uses Work? ............................................................................................ 103 13.2 Adding a Use to a Mouse................................................................................................. 103 13.2.1 Mouse Use Report .................................................................................................... 104 13.3 Editing a Mouse Use ........................................................................................................ 104 13.4 Adding or Editing a Mouse Use for a Group of Mice ....................................................... 105 14 Queries ........................................................................................................................... 106 14.1 Colony Summary Report.................................................................................................. 106 14.2 What are Queries used for? or How to Search the Database ...................................... 106 14.2.1 Basics on using the Query Forms ............................................................................. 107 14.2.2 How to Select Query Criteria ..................................................................................... 108 14.2.3 Like Criteria for Mouse ID ......................................................................................... 109 14.3 Mouse Query ................................................................................................................... 109 14.3.1 Query by Genotype (QGT) ........................................................................................ 110 14.3.2 Interpreting the Genotype Output .............................................................................. 110 14.3.3 Restricting Genotypes in the Query Output .............................................................. 111 14.3.4 Query by Mouse Use................................................................................................. 111 14.4 Mating Query ................................................................................................................... 112 14.5 Experimental Plan Query ................................................................................................. 113 14.6 Microsoft Query ................................................................................................................ 114 15 Experimental Plans ......................................................................................................... 115 15.1 How to use an Experimental Plan .................................................................................... 116 15.2 How to Create Experimental Data without using an Experimental Plan .......................... 116

15.3 Setting up Test Types (Data Descriptions) ...................................................................... 118 15.4 Editing a Test Type .......................................................................................................... 119 15.5 Setting up Default Data for Experiments ......................................................................... 119 15.6 Editing Default Data ......................................................................................................... 120 15.7 Adding an Experimental Plan........................................................................................... 120 15.8 Adding an Experimental Test ........................................................................................... 121 15.9 Editing an Experimental Test ........................................................................................... 122 15.10 Selecting Mice for an Experimental Plan ....................................................................... 122 15.11 Adding Mice to a Plan using the Mouse Complex Query Form ..................................... 123 15.12 Managing an Experimental Plan .................................................................................... 124 15.12.1 Choosing Mice for Experimental Tests ................................................................... 125 15.12.2 Removing Mice from an Experimental Plan ............................................................ 126 15.12.3 Editing Experimental Plan Fields ............................................................................ 126 15.12.4 Deleting an Experimental Plan ................................................................................ 126 15.12.5 Deleting an Experimental Test ................................................................................ 127 15.13 Adding or Editing Experimental Data for a Mouse ......................................................... 128 15.14 Editing Experimental Data ............................................................................................. 129 15.15 Adding Experimental Data to Several Mice at Once ..................................................... 130 15.16 Experiment Work Reports for Scheduling Procedures .................................................. 130 15.17 Experimental Plan Query ............................................................................................... 131 15.18 Importing Experimental Data ......................................................................................... 131 15.18.1 Input File Format ..................................................................................................... 132 15.18.2 Create a Test Type.................................................................................................. 133 15.18.3 User Interface .......................................................................................................... 134 15.18.4 Troubleshooting Notes ............................................................................................ 140 16 Samples .......................................................................................................................... 141 16.1 Set up Controlled Vocabulary for Sample Tracking ......................................................... 142 16.2 Add Samples .................................................................................................................... 146 16.3 Edit Samples .................................................................................................................... 148 16.4 Bulk Change Samples ..................................................................................................... 149 16.5 Query Samples ................................................................................................................ 150 16.6 Browse Sample Storage Locations .................................................................................. 151 16.7 Print Sample Labels ......................................................................................................... 152 17 FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) ............................................................................. 153 17.1.1 JCMS starts up and shows the database, but no welcome window appears. .......... 153 17.1.2 Every time I add, edit, or delete a record in JCMS Im prompted with a dialog box. 153 17.1.3 What to do about an end/debug error message ..................................................... 153 17.1.4 Error messages when editing date fields .................................................................. 153 17.1.5 Error message: user Admin does not have permission to use this form ................ 153 17.1.6 Error message about could not find file .................................................................. 154 17.1.7 A note about session boxes ...................................................................................... 154 17.1.8 List boxes of mice information are scrambled! .......................................................... 154 17.1.9 Warning message about not saving a record. .......................................................... 154 17.1.10 Other FAQs ............................................................................................................. 154 18 Technical Guide .............................................................................................................. 155 18.1 Security ............................................................................................................................ 155 18.2 Changing Security Access to Forms ................................................................................ 155 18.3 Data Integrity .................................................................................................................... 156 18.4 Back up the Database ...................................................................................................... 156 18.5 The Dbinfo Table ............................................................................................................. 156 18.6 Access to the Primary Data Tables ................................................................................. 156 18.6.1 Editing Records in Datasheet View ........................................................................... 156 18.7 Temporary Tables ............................................................................................................ 157 18.8 Temporary Queries .......................................................................................................... 157 18.9 Screen Resolution ............................................................................................................ 157 18.10 Printer Notes .................................................................................................................. 157

Table of Figures and Tables

Figure 1-1 Database Overview Diagram ....................................................................................... 11 Figure 2-1 Logon Password .......................................................................................................... 14 Figure 2-2 Link to the database source ......................................................................................... 16 Figure 2-3 Link Tables dialog box ................................................................................................. 16 Figure 2-4 Access 2007 Trust Center............................................................................................ 17 Figure 2-5 Access 2007 Confirm Options ..................................................................................... 18 Figure 2-6 Access 2007 configure record-level locking................................................................. 18 Figure 2-7 Could not find JCMS_db.mdb ...................................................................................... 19 Figure 2-8 Office 2007 Linked Table Manager .............................................................................. 20 Figure 2-9 JCMS client shortcut .................................................................................................... 21 Figure 2-10 Sample of a bar code for the pen ID number ............................................................. 22 Figure 2-11 Error: This client is not compatible with the current database ................................... 22 Figure 3-1 Dialog Box: Personal ID ............................................................................................... 24 Figure 3-2 Form: Administrator Buttons ........................................................................................ 25 Figure 3-3 Form: Owner and Secretary Accounts ......................................................................... 25 Figure 3-4 Form: Edit Form Privileges........................................................................................... 26 Figure 3-5 Sample Simple CV Table ............................................................................................. 27 Figure 3-6 Forms: Default Strain Types and Generations ............................................................ 28 Figure 3-7 Form: Add or Edit Strains ............................................................................................. 29 Figure 3-8 Open Mouse Line Viability Report ............................................................................... 31 Figure 3-9 Example mouse line viability report ............................................................................. 32 Figure 3-10 Ear tag ranges ............................................................................................................ 33 Figure 3-11 Form: Add Approved Strain ....................................................................................... 34 Figure 3-12 Form: Add or Edit Gene ............................................................................................. 35 Figure 3-13 Form: Add or Delete an Allele .................................................................................... 36 Table 3.1 JCMS Setup Variables .................................................................................................. 40 Figure 3-14 Form: Print blank cage cards ..................................................................................... 41 Figure 3-15 OS_2PWeanCageCard .............................................................................................. 41 Figure 3-16 TS_1PWeanCageCard or TS_1PWeanCageCardWithBarCode .............................. 43 Figure 3-17 CC_JCMS_WeanCageCardUsingPenNames ........................................................... 45 Figure 3-18 TS_MatingCAgeCard or TS_MatingCageCardStyle1With BarCode ......................... 46 Figure 3-19 TS_MatingCageCardStyle2With BarCode ................................................................. 46 Figure 3-20 OS_MatingCageCard ................................................................................................. 46 Figure 3-21 MW_MatingCageCardLandscape .............................................................................. 46 Figure 3-22 CC_JCMS_MatingCageCardUsingPenNames .......................................................... 46 Figure 3-23 TS_DetailCageCard ................................................................................................... 49 Figure 3-24 TS_DetailCageCardWithBarCode ............................................................................. 49 Figure 3-25 MW_DetailCageCardLandscape ............................................................................... 50 Figure 3-26 CC_JCMS_DetailCageCardUsingPenNames ........................................................... 50 Figure 3-27 Office 2007 reports list shown using F11 key ............................................................ 52 Figure 4-1 User Logon Screen ...................................................................................................... 54 Figure 5-1 Dialog Box: Change Password .................................................................................... 55 Figure 5-2 Main Button Bar ........................................................................................................... 55 Figure 6-1 Add Mouse Form.......................................................................................................... 59 Figure 6-2 Add mouse form after a successful submit .................................................................. 60 Figure 6-3 Change Mouse ID Form ............................................................................................... 60 Figure 6-4 Edit Mouse With Browser Functions ............................................................................ 61 Figure 6-5 Bulk Add Mice Form ..................................................................................................... 62 Figure 6-6 Add Mice at Wean Form .............................................................................................. 63 Figure 6-7 Form: Bulk Change Life Status or Diet ........................................................................ 64 Figure 6-8 Individual Mouse Change Life Status Handheld Form ................................................ 65 Figure 6-9 Bulk Exit Handheld Form ............................................................................................. 65 Figure 7-1 Manage Pen Configuration Form ................................................................................. 66

Figure 7-2 Administrator Forms for Managing Room and Health Level ........................................ 68 Figure 7-3 Pen Info Form .............................................................................................................. 69 Figure 7-4 Add Pen Form .............................................................................................................. 69 Figure 7-5 Edit Pen Form .............................................................................................................. 70 Figure 7-6 Move Mouse Form ....................................................................................................... 70 Figure 7-7 Handheld Move Mice Form .......................................................................................... 71 Figure 7-9 Edit Pen Status/Location Form .................................................................................... 72 Figure 7-8 Pen Maintenance Form ................................................................................................ 72 Figure 7-10 Cage Use Report ....................................................................................................... 73 Figure 7-11 Cage Use Summary Report ....................................................................................... 74 Figure 7-12 Cage Use Summary (bottom) vs. Cage Use Report (top) ......................................... 74 Figure 8-1 Mating to Weaning Diagram ........................................................................................ 75 Figure 8-2 Add Approved Strains Form ......................................................................................... 76 Figure 8-3 Design Mating Form ..................................................................................................... 77 Figure 8-4 Activate Mating Form ................................................................................................... 78 Figure 8-5 Add Mating Form.......................................................................................................... 79 Figure 8-6 Retire Matings Form..................................................................................................... 80 Figure 8-7 Handheld Form: Pair Mating ........................................................................................ 81 Figure 8-8 Add Litter Form ............................................................................................................ 83 Figure 8-9 Wean Work Report....................................................................................................... 83 Figure 8-10 Edit Litter Form ........................................................................................................... 84 Figure 8-11 Add Litter w/Pups Form.............................................................................................. 85 Figure 8-12 Handheld Forms: Weaning and Add litter and mice .................................................. 87 Figure 9-1 Add Plug Date Form..................................................................................................... 88 Figure 9-3 Form: Request plug date or pregnancy reports ........................................................... 89 Figure 9-2 Edit Plug Date Form ..................................................................................................... 89 Figure 9-4 Sample plug date / pregnancy stage report ................................................................. 90 Figure 9-5 Sample tabular spreadsheet format plug date / pregnancy stage report ..................... 90 Figure 9-6 Plug Check Report ....................................................................................................... 90 Figure 9-7 Sample pregnancy check work report.......................................................................... 91 Figure 10-1 Form: Add Genotype .................................................................................................. 92 Figure 10-2 Form: Edit Genotype .................................................................................................. 93 Figure 10-3 Form: Bulk Add Genotype .......................................................................................... 94 Table 11.1 Examples of genotype strings ..................................................................................... 95 Figure 11-1 Spreadsheet: the input file as seen in MS Excel ....................................................... 96 Table 12.1 The mapping of the input fields to the data tables. ..................................................... 97 Table 12.2 Genotype loader allele representations ....................................................................... 97 Table 12.3 Genotype loader error messages ................................................................................ 98 Figure 11-2 Form: The main button bar with the "Import Genotype" button visible ...................... 99 Figure 11-3 The file open dialog .................................................................................................... 99 Figure 11-4 The user notification screen during validation ......................................................... 100 Figure 11-5 The user notification after validation ........................................................................ 100 Figure 11-6 The user notification after import ............................................................................. 101 Figure 11-7 Genotype Load Report ............................................................................................. 101 Figure 12-1 Form: Add Use ......................................................................................................... 103 Figure 12-2 Form: Edit Use ......................................................................................................... 104 Figure 12-3 Bulk Add or Edit Use Form ...................................................................................... 105 Figure 13-1 Colony Summary Report .......................................................................................... 106 Figure 13-2 Mouse Query Form .................................................................................................. 107 Figure 13-3 Datasheet: Mouse Query Results ............................................................................ 107 Figure 13-4 Query: Do you want to save changes to Form? ...................................................... 108 Figure 13-5 Query Form: List Box Criteria .................................................................................. 108 Figure 13-6 Query Form: Range Criteria ..................................................................................... 108 Figure 13-7 Query Form: Check Box Criteria .............................................................................. 108 Figure 13-8 Query Form: Like Criteria ......................................................................................... 109 Figure 13-9 Query Form: Genotype ............................................................................................ 110

Figure 13-10 Query Datasheet: Restricted Genotype Output ..................................................... 111 Figure 13-11 Query Form: Mouse Use ........................................................................................ 111 Figure 13-12 Query Datasheet: Mouse Uses .............................................................................. 111 Figure 13-13 Query Mating Form ................................................................................................ 112 Figure 13-14 Query Datasheet: Mating ....................................................................................... 112 Figure 13-15 Query Experiment Form ......................................................................................... 113 Figure 14-1 Diagram: Experimental Plan Tables ........................................................................ 115 Figure 14-2 Diagram: Experimental Plan .................................................................................... 116 Figure 14-3 Form: Add Test Type ............................................................................................... 118 Figure 14-4 Form: Add Test Type Defaults ................................................................................. 119 Figure 14-5 Form: Add Experimental Plan .................................................................................. 120 Figure 14-6 Form: Add Experimental Test .................................................................................. 121 Figure 14-7 Form: Bulk Add Mice from Query............................................................................. 123 Figure 14-8 Report: Add Mice to Plan ......................................................................................... 124 Figure 14-9 Form: Manage Experimental Plan ........................................................................... 125 Figure 14-10 Report: Edit/Mange Experimental Plan .................................................................. 126 Figure 14-11 Form: Add Experimental Data ................................................................................ 128 Figure 14-12 Form: Bulk Add Experimental Data ........................................................................ 130 Figure 14-13 Experiment Work To Do Report ............................................................................. 131 Figure 14-14 Process for importing experimental data from a user file ...................................... 131 Figure 14-15 Create a test type to match the input fields ........................................................... 133 Figure 14-16 Import Exp Data button .......................................................................................... 134 Figure 14-17 Import Experimental Data with no experimental plan ............................................ 134 Figure 14-18 Validate input ......................................................................................................... 135 Figure 14-19 Sample validation report ........................................................................................ 136 Figure 14-20 Maximum number of validation errors.................................................................... 136 Figure 14-21 Import Experimental Data using an Experimental Test ......................................... 137 Figure 14-22 Data validation failure............................................................................................. 138 Figure 14-23 Allow experimental data to be imported to an experimental test without preselecting the mice ....................................................................................................................................... 138 Figure 14-24 Enabled load data button ....................................................................................... 139 Figure 14-25 Final load report ..................................................................................................... 139 Figure 14-26 Changing the experimental test status................................................................... 140 Figure 15-1: Simple controlled vocabulary buttons for sample tracking...................................... 142 Figure 15-2: Example of editing simple controlled vocabulary .................................................... 142 Figure 15-3: Complex controlled vocabulary buttons for sample tracking .................................. 143 Figure 15-4: Manage sample types screen ................................................................................. 143 Figure 15-5: Manage preservation vocabularies screen ............................................................. 144 Figure 15-6: Manage sample locations screen ........................................................................... 145 Figure 15-7: Add Sample form .................................................................................................... 146 Figure 15-8: Edit Sample Form ................................................................................................... 148 Figure 15-9: Bulk Sample Update Form ...................................................................................... 149 Figure 15-10: Query Samples Form ............................................................................................ 150 Figure 15-11 Browse Sample Storage Locations Form .............................................................. 151 Figure 15-1215-12 Print Sample Labels ...................................................................................... 152 Figure 16-1 Could Not Find File Error ......................................................................................... 154 Figure 16-2 Error: You can't save this record at this time ........................................................... 154 Figure 17-1 Administrator - Owner - Secretary Security Relationship ........................................ 155

1 Overview
1.1 What is JCMS?
The Jackson Laboratorys Colony Management System (JCMS) is a multi-user relational database for managing mouse colonies in a research environment. It was developed in response

to increased demand within The Jackson Laboratory for a system that would execute the core functionality of colony management from an intuitive, easy-to-use interface. Since its initial release in 1998 it has been widely used within The Jackson Laboratory and adopted by a number of outside institutions. Some of the salient features that JCMS offers are: Tracking individual mice o Genotype o Uses and status o Pedigrees o Breeding performance Mating records Litter records Animal cage/pen management o Preformatted or user-designed cage cards with optional bar codes Experiment setup and tracking o Schedule mice o User designed metadata Track biological samples relating to mice, matings, or litters Bulk data entry Sophisticated query capabilities Data export to Excel Hard copy reports Handheld computer support User configurable JCMS has an underlying data model that is independent of any specific database management system technology. The software engineers of Computational Sciences worked closely with the scientific research staff to derive a data model that was comprehensive yet flexible enough to fully satisfy the requirements of multiple research labs.

10

1.2 Types of Information Collected by JCMS

Mating

Sire Dam 1 Dam 2

Strain

Sample

Litter

Mouse

Pen

Storage

Gene

Genotype

Uses

Experimental Plans

Figure 1-1 Database Overview Diagram The above diagram shows the main types of information stored by the JCMS database. The mouse is the central entity. A mouse will have a specific strain and multiple genotypes associated with it. Two or three mice are set up in a mating. Each mating can be tracked individually from pre-design to retirement based on a particular laboratorys workflow. Matings have their own strain, which may be different from the strains of the sire and dams. Each mating produces one or more litters. These litters will become individual mice in the database at weaning/tagging. Each mouse is also associated with its current pen (cage). Two methods are provided for keeping track of experimental workflow (procedures, tests, routine activities, etc.) that may be scheduled. 1. The simple method is called Mouse uses and provides a method of assigning various uses, proposed dates, and simple data results to individual mice. 2. The more comprehensive method is called Experimental plans. This section of JCMS provides a method of defining experimental plans. Each plan contains various user-designed experimental tests, user-designed data fields, default data values, and scheduling information. Individual mice can have experimental data results associated with them and can be scheduled for various experimental tests and various experimental plans. See the section on Experimental Plans for a more comprehensive diagram and description. Biological samples that are related to mice, matings, litters, or of user-defined origin may be entered. See the section on Sample Tracking for more information.

11

2 Getting Started
2.1 Quick Start
BEFORE BEGINNING, YOU MUST (1) Create a password for user Admin, (2) Create the user mtsadmin, and make it a member of the Admins group, (3) Link the tables from the interface database (JCMS.mdb), to the source database (JCMS_db.mdb). JCMS defines a security hierarchy with three levels of permission: Administrator, Owner, and Secretary. All users of JCMS are assigned into one of these groups. The Administrator (mtsadmin) has the overall responsibility for the database. Owners have direct responsibility for groups of mice, matings, samples, and/or for experimental plans and data. Secretaries are users that have only limited security access to the database and normally are restricted to entering data, executing queries, and viewing reports.

2.1.1 Administrator
One individual must be assigned to be the database Administrator (mtsadmin). The Administrator will be responsible for the installation and setup of the database and for creating other user accounts. The Administrator has full access to all data. The Administrator is not expected to be an IT professional, but they may need assistance from their IT department to do a networked installation. The Administrator must complete the Installation and Administrator Setup sections of this manual before other users may begin. The other users are divided into two groups: Owners and Secretaries.

2.1.2 Regular Users: Owners and Secretaries

Users have restrictions within the database depending on their security level. The Administrator (see above) has full access to the data and forms. Owners have access only to forms at the owner or secretary security level. These include the ability to enter and edit the mice, matings, samples, experimental plans, and experimental data that they own. A secretary is a user who has only limited security access to the database and is restricted to forms at the secretary level. Secretaries usually do not have the authority to make changes to data. This type of user may request reports and run queries. They are assigned to certain owners and are not able to perform work for other owners. It is possible for a user to be both an owner of their own mice and to act as the secretary for one or more other owners. To get started, first the Administrator will provide a new user with either an owner or secretary logon. Then begin with the User Setup and Basics on Using JCMS sections.

2.2 Installation
2.2.1 System Requirements
Single user o PC computer with a Microsoft Office 2007 version that includes Microsoft Access 2007 installed on it. o Disk space requirements are minimal; 100 MB should be plenty to get started. o Memory requirements are minimal; however, large amounts of RAM will boost performance when JCMS has large amounts of data in it.

12

Bar Code 128 from Elfring Fonts Inc. www.barcodingfonts.com is required only if using the optional bar codes on cage cards or for sample labels. Multi-user o A file server computer running a Microsoft Office 2007 version that includes Microsoft Access 2007. o A network environment set up so that all client computers can access the file server. o PC computers, Macintosh computers, wireless handheld computers, and UNIX/LINUX computers may act as clients if supported by the network software. o It is recommended that network thin client software such as Citrix Metaframe Client/Server be used if computers other than PCs are used. o Disk space requirements are minimal; 100 MB should be plenty to get started. o Memory requirements are minimal; however, large amounts of RAM will boost performance when JCMS has large amounts of data in it. o Bar Code 128 with a site license from Elfring Fonts Inc. www.barcodingfonts.com is required only if using the optional bar codes on cage cards or for sample labels. o

2.2.2 Download the JCMS Files

Download from the Jackson Laboratory Web site (colonymanagement.jax.org) the Windows installer file JAX-CMS.msi and place it on the desktop. Double click the file to run it. It will ask you to specify an installation folder. The default is C:\Program Files\The Jackson Laboratory. Within this, the folders \database, \interface, \docs, \ReadMe_files, and \system are created (see diagram). C:\Program Files\The Jackson Laboratory | JAX-CMS | ----------------------------------------------------------| | | | database interface docs system The following files are included in the folder named JAX-CMS: docs o ReadMe.html o JCMS_UserGuide.pdf o JCMS_ReleaseNotes.txt o JAX-CMS_UserStartupForm.doc o License.txt database o JCMS_db.mdb interface o JCMS.mdb ReadMe_files o .jpg, .png, and .gif files used by ReadMe.html Windows 7 and MS Access 7: At this point in time this configuration is not supported. Check the readme file and online JCMS discussion forum for updated information.

2.2.3 Required Configuration Steps

BEFORE BEGINNING, YOU MUST (1) Create a password for user Admin, (2) Create the user mtsadmin and make it a member of the Admins group, and (3) Link the tables from the interface database (JCMS.mdb), to the source database (JCMS_db.mdb).

13

2.2.4 ReadMe Files

We suggest you first read the files ReadMe.html and JCMS_ReleaseNotes.txt. These should contain up-to-date information on changes not included in this documentation. We recommend you become a member of the JCMS discussion forums at: http://community.jax.org/forums/default.aspx?GroupID=7. This is a place where JCMS users can post questions and answers plus review answers to previous questions. To receive notices of upgrades and other important user information we recommend also subscribing to the JCMS mailing list by sending an email to: [email protected]. No subject or email body is required.

2.3 Configuration
Solutions to some minor problems that may occur are given at the end of this section (see the configuration issues section 2.3.11.) A new installation of JCMS will need special logon passwords created (system.mdw) and does not contain links from the user interface (JCMS.mdb) to the data source (JCMS_db.mdb). The directions below are specific to different versions of MS Access. If the version of MS Access in use has password protection already set up, skip down to the setup the Administrator logon step.

2.3.1 MS Access 2007 Configuration

(1) Initialize Password for MS Access (Admin) Open the JCMS interface by double clicking on the desktop shortcut. Select the Database Tools tab. Select Users and Permissions from the ribbon. Select User and Group Accounts. Select Change Logon Password tab. Old password <blank>. New password Admin (or your choice). Verify (repeat your choice). Select OK. (2) Setup the Administrator User (mtsadmin) Select the Database Tools tab. Select Users and Permissions from the ribbon. Select User and Group Accounts. Select Users tab. Select New button. Put mtsadmin in the Name field. Figure 2-1 Logon Password Enter any random value in the Personal ID field. Select OK. Use the Add>> button to set user mtsadmin as a member of the Admins and Users groups (Figure 2-2). Close MS Access. Restart JCMS and logon as mtsadmin.

14

Now give mtsadmin a password using the same procedure as described above to give the Admin user a password. This is not required, but it is very strongly encouraged. (3) Link the Database Tables On the toolbar, select the External Data tab. Select Access in the Import section of the ribbon. Browse to the JCMS database (JCMS_db.mdb) (Figure 2-5). Select Open. Select Link to the data source by creating a linked table radio button (DO NOT IMPORT the tables). Select OK. The Link Tables window opens (Figure 2-6). Select Select all. Select OK. Close JCMS.mdb and re-open it. The welcome window should appear as shown in Figure 2-3. The installation is now ready to be used.

15

Figure 2-2 Link to the database source

Figure 2-3 Link Tables dialog box

16

2.3.2 Removing Security Alerts and Warnings

In Access 2007, you may see a security alert.

The folder location of JCMS must be added to the trusted locations as follows. Select the Office button. Select the Access Options button. Select Trust Center and then the Trust Center Settings button.

Figure 2-4 Access 2007 Trust Center Select Trusted Locations. Check Allow Trusted Locations on my network. Select Add new location. Browse to the folder containing JCMS. Check Subfolders of this location are also trusted. Select OK to save.

17

2.3.3 Configure some Database Options

In Access 2007, click the Office button, select the Access Options button, and then the Advanced section on the left. Scroll down to the Confirm choices. Make sure the Confirm options are all un-checked as in Figure 2-8.

Figure 2-5 Access 2007 Confirm Options

In Access 2007, scroll further down the Advanced dialog to find the open databases
by using record level locking and make sure it is not checked (Figure 2-10).

Figure 2-6 Access 2007 configure record-level locking

18

2.3.4 Creating a Multi-User Environment

JCMS is designed to be used by many people simultaneously (multi-user). To implement this, the database is placed on a computer (server) that all users may access. A copy of the interface may be placed on each users computer (client) and the tables are then linked to the database. However, we recommend that both the JMCS_db.mdb (data source) and JCMS.mdb (interface) files sit on one central machine (server). Each users computer (client) will have a shortcut on the desktop that invokes the JCMS.mdb file through a share folder over the network. That way you dont have multiple copies of the JCMS.mdb file to maintain. The best way to access share folders from clients is by using Uniform Naming Convention (UNC) instead of direct paths with drive letters. Thus if your server machine is named goofy and the share folder is named JAXCMS then the UNC would be \\goofy\JAX-CMS Often creating a multi-user environment involves moving an existing installation of JCMS onto a server. Therefore, the instructions for moving are included below. These may be skipped if the original installation is on the server and the goal is to create client shortcuts.

2.3.5 Moving JCMS to a New Location

1) Install JCMS on the new computer by downloading it from our web site (http://colonymanagement.jax.org/). This will register JCMS on the new computer. Also, the JCMS installer will check that all the needed com objects are on the new computer. 2) Copy the database and interface files (JAX-CMS) from the old computer to the new computer replacing the ones that were just installed on the new computer. 3) Consider also copying the system.mdw file (this contains the logon password information) to avoid recreating mtsadmin and other user logons. 3) Re-link the database and interface files on the new computer. Note it is important when moving the database that the tables are re-linked to indicate the new location of the source data. This is different from the original installation step where the database links were created. The standard installation location for the JCMS.mdb file is C:\Program Files\The Jackson Laboratory\JAX-CMS\interface and for the JCMS_db.mdb file C:\Program Files\The Jackson Laboratory\JAX-CMS\database If it is installed somewhere else, thats okay; just adjust the paths accordingly.

2.3.6 Re-linking the Tables

Figure 2-7 Could not find JCMS_db.mdb The message in Figure 2-11 is displayed when the source data file (JCMS_db.mdb) is moved to a new location. Tell JCMS where to find the moved tables by re-linking them.

19

Office 2007

Figure 2-8 Office 2007 Linked Table Manager Select the Database Tools tab Select Linked Table Manager on the Database Tools ribbon. In the Linked Table Manager dialog box, click the Select All button. Check Always prompt for new location Select OK Browse to the new location of JCMS_db.mdb; Select Open. If using a UNC such as

\\goofy\JAX-CMS it may be necessary to type the path.

Select Close

2.3.7 System.mdw File

When the Administrator creates new users in MS Access, this information is stored in a workgroup file called system.mdw on the local computer (client). Every time a client computer is added, the Administrator has to set up mtsadmin and the users again in the system.mdw file on the new client machine. MS Access does provide a method of avoiding repeating this setup. The database must use a special workgroup file instead of the default system.mdw. We recommend naming this file JCMS.mdw. This file is set up once on the file server and contains all the users MS Access logons. The Administrator can set up a new user from any machine and only has to do it once. Locate the system.mdw file currently in use, copy it into the JAX-CMS folder, and rename it. Hint: To locate the system.mdw file, use advanced search options to search system folders, hidden files, and subfolders. It can typically be found in: Windows XP: C:\Documents and settings\<your user name>\Application Data\Microsoft\Access Vista: C:\Users\<your user name>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Access

2.3.8 Installing a Multi-User Client

Lets assume that a copy of the system.mdw file has been put it into the JAX-CMS folder and renamed JCMS.mdw. Of course, the mdw file can be put anywhere and named anything you like.

20

When MS Access is started, it must know to use the special workgroup file. There are several ways of implementing this depending on the version of MS Access and if other MS Access applications are in use. Assuming everything is installed in the standard spot and JAX-CMS is the shared folder, then the next thing to do is create a shortcut for JCMS.mdb that uses the JCMS.mdw workgroup file. This is easy, first create the shortcut (we'll assume you can do that). Open the shortcut properties by right clicking the mouse on the shortcut and select properties. Now just edit the shortcut properties so that the target string in the shortcut will look like this Target = "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\MSACCESS.EXE" "\\goofy\JAXCMS\interface\JCMS.mdb" /wrkgrp "\\goofy\JAX-CMS\JCMS.mdw" Now just put a copy of the shortcut on any client's desktop.

Figure 2-9 JCMS client shortcut Notes: The client machine must have MS Access installed on it.

2.3.9 Backing up
Make sure to have a reliable and routine back up strategy in order to avoid loss of data. See section 18.4 for suggestions.

21

2.3.10 Installing the Bar Code 128 Font

JCMS offers optional bar codes on cage cards or for sample labels. To use this feature, Bar Code 128 with a site license from Elfring Fonts Inc. (www.barcodingfonts.com) will need to be installed on any clients that print cage cards, sample labels, or read bar codes. Follow the manufacturers installation instructions.

Figure 2-10 Sample of a bar code for the pen ID number

2.3.11 Configuration Issues and Answers to Common Problems

2.3.11.1 File MSCOMCT2.OCX is missing 2.3.11.2 File MSCOMCTL.OCX is missing 2.3.11.3 File MSFLXGRD.OCX is missing 2.3.11.4 Error messages about DTPicker Some versions of MS Access may not have a necessary Windows file installed. The installer should have installed these files for you. In order to make sure the correct versions of the files are installed, run the installer on client machines and then uninstall it. The OCX and other Windows files will not be uninstalled and will be available to the client. 2.3.11.5 When JCMS is started it states the client is not compatible with the current database.

Figure 2-11 Error: This client is not compatible with the current database This message indicates that the linked database tables are for a different version of JCMS. In Access 2007 use the Database Tools tab. The Linked Table Manager is in the Database Tools section of the ribbon. The tables may need to be re-linked for this client. The Dbinfo table has release information in it. It indicates what version of the database the tables are for in the field named Database Release Number.

2.3.11.6 The MS Access menu bar has virtually no options on it. MS Access has an option that allows menus (such as the tools menu) to be displayed or not. If the menu bar shows only the bare minimum of buttons, then enable full-menus as follows: o Close JCMS (if it isnt already) o Start JCMS and hold down the shift key as it is starting up. A full set of menu options should now appear.

22

Go to the Tools/Startup menu option and check the box that says allow full menus.

2.3.11.7 The Welcome window is not displayed The Welcome window is not supposed to be visible if there is an error message indicating JCMS did not start correctly. If all tables have been linked or re-linked and no error messages are displayed at startup it is possible that the startup form needs to be reset. Select the Office button Select Access Options button Select Current Database In the application options Display Form field enter MTS Welcome. Select OK to save. Close MS Access and start the application again. 2.3.11.8 Didnt find your question here? Also check the FAQs in section 17, the online JCMS Discussion Forum, and the online colony management website FAQs.

23

3 Administrator Setup
Before initializing the controlled value tables, the JAX-CMS User Startup form should be circulated among all the potential users for input about the necessary table values. This form is named JAX-CMS_UserStartupForm.doc and is included in the documents that were downloaded into the docs folder. JCMS uses the logon name mtsadmin as the database Administrator. Anyone accessing JCMS as mtsadmin can perform Administrator functions in JCMS.

3.1 Owner and Secretary Accounts

JCMS uses a very simple user account system. There are two rules to know. 1) Every user of JCMS must have a logon to MS Access. 2) Each logon name that JCMS uses must be defined as either an owner (of mice) or a secretary. The logon name and the JCMS owner/secretary names must be identical. To add owners and secretaries you must be logged on as mtsadmin.

3.1.1 Rule 1: Every User of JCMS Must Have a Logon to MS Access.

An Administrator (user Admin or mtsadmin) can set up new MS Access logon accounts for starting MS Access. Setting up new MS Access accounts is not a JCMS function; it is an MS Access function. JCMS uses the logon name of the user to determine if the user is an owner, secretary, or Administrator (mtsadmin.) 3.1.1.1 How to Add a New User Logon.

With MS Access running, select the Database Tools tab. In the Administer section of the ribbon select Users and Permissions, and then select User and Group Accounts. Select the Users tab and then the New button. Note: the Personal ID (PID) is not used by JCMS at this point. It is recommended to use the logon name also for the personal ID and add numbers as necessary to make it long enough. Keep all logon names short with no spaces, commas, semicolons, or quotes in them; this is especially important for mouse owners since owner logon IDs are stored with each mouse. Do not make owners and secretaries part of the Admins group; they are part of the Users group by default. Figure 3-1 Dialog Box: Personal ID Users can later set their own passwords by logging on MS Access and setting the password from this same menu. When a user is first added, his/her password is blank.

3.1.2 Rule 2: Each logon name that JCMS uses must be defined as either an owner (of mice) or a secretary.
This rule applies to owners and secretaries. User mtsadmin is neither an owner nor a secretary. The Administrator needs to tell JCMS if the user is an owner or a secretary or both. Owners own mice, matings, experimental plans, experimental data, and samples. Secretaries are associated

24

with one or more owners and have limited edit access to their associated owners data. NOTE: Owners can be secretaries of other owners and thus have limited editing capability for other owners.

Figure 3-2 Form: Administrator Buttons To set up a user (other than mtsadmin) as an owner or secretary, open JCMS. Open the Administrator button bar from the main button bar and select the button labeled Owner and Secretary Accounts. From this account maintenance form owners and secretaries can be added or deleted (see example below.)

Figure 3-3 Form: Owner and Secretary Accounts

25

NOTE: the names entered in this form must agree exactly with the names used for logging on to JCMS. NOTE also, do not delete owners that have mice in JCMS as their mice will no longer be accessible (unless you add the owner back using this form). Bulk changes of the owner of mice, matings, samples, and experimental plans may be done using the buttons provided on the Administrator button bar.

3.2 Changing the Forms Used by Secretaries and Owners

JCMS allows the Administrator to configure access to the forms in the interface by the type of user. For example, secretary users may be set up to only use certain add forms and none of the edit forms. Note that some forms are required by JCMS to be available to all users or only to the Administrator. A new installation of JCMS will have all the forms set to a default access level. To change the access or privilege level for one or more forms, use the Set Form Access Privileges button on the Administrator button bar.

Figure 3-4 Form: Edit Form Privileges All forms listed may have the access privilege level changed to secretary (Sec), owner (Owner), or Administrator (Admin). The Administrator may use any form; owner level forms are restricted to only owners or the Administrator; secretary level forms may be used by secretaries, owners, and the Administrator. Changes to the access privilege level for a form will take effect the next time JCMS is started.

3.3 Initializing Controlled Value (CV) Tables

Before any mice can be added into the database, values for certain required fields must be established. These values are kept in a set of tables referred to as the controlled value or CV tables. The form JAX-CMS_UserStartupForm.doc is provided in the docs folder to help determine the values for some of these tables. A few of the very simplest controlled vocabularies are stored in the user interface forms instead of in tables and cannot be changed (for example, sex can only be m, f, or -). Controlled vocabularies are changed from the Administrator button bar (see Figure 3-2) and may only be changed by the mtsadmin user.

26

3.3.1 Simple Controlled Value Tables

The Strain Type, Generation, Coat Color, Diet, Mouse Use Types, Genotype Specimen Location, Mating Card Notes, Mouse Origin, Cause of Death, Mouse Protocol, Field of Study, and Keywords buttons each open a table for adding or deleting choices from the lists. These lists of choices appear in pull-down menus on many forms. These simple CV terms should be kept minimal in length since they are copied into the database records. The following list shows all JCMS simple controlled vocabulary tables. Generation: valid mouse generation terms (e.g. F1) Diet: list of diets (e.g. 4%) Mouse Use Types: list of terms that specify a mouse use (e.g. clinical). These terms are used in the Mouse Usage table. Coat Color: list of valid coat color names Genotype Specimen Location: specifies where genotype samples are located (e.g. a freezer number) Cause Of Death: terms that a user can select to specify why a mouse died Mating Card Notes: some mating cards allow notes to be printed on them Mouse Origin: list of terms that specify where mice can originate, including the local colony. Every mouse has an origin. When mice are brought in from other institutions, they too should be listed in this table. Strain Type: Used in the strain table to specify the type of strain (e.g. congenic) Mouse Protocol: Some institutions need to link mice to protocol numbers Field of Study: Used to associate experimental plans with each other Keywords: Used to describe an experimental plan and may include keywords used for publication of the results

Figure 3-5 Sample Simple CV Table A value in the simple controlled vocabulary tables cannot be changed, instead add or delete a value. Thus, to change a value in one of the tables, delete it, and then add the value back with the change. Deleting a choice will not remove it from any data records where it has already been used within the database; the choice is simply removed from the list of current possible choices. IMPORTANT NOTE: think carefully before deleting (or changing) a controlled vocabulary value if it has already been used. Controlled vocabularies may be used in queries, and thus the ability to find records based on a CV term may be lost if the term is deleted. This could result in a loss of what is known in database terminology as referential integrity, a mortal sin in relational database systems. This means that some data items will reference no longer existing data objects (the deleted CV term) resulting in undefined consequences.

27

To add a choice to a table, scroll to the bottom of the list. Type the new choice into the blank space at the bottom. To delete a choice from the table, click on the box at the left side of the row in the table. The whole row will be highlighted. Press the delete key. A dialog box will ask for confirmation that the record should be deleted. Some of the CV tables have two fields, the choice and a description. This description field may be edited. DATA CONSTRAINTS on CV terms: CV terms cannot contain single or double quote characters, commas or semicolons. Thus, Freds chair would be illegal because of the and symbols. Some CV tables also come with pre-set values that may be deleted or added to.

Generations go up to N30.

Figure 3-6 Forms: Default Strain Types and Generations The Strain, Gene Class, Gene, Allele, and Life Status buttons open forms that are more complicated than those used for maintaining the simple CV tables described above. These are described in more detail below. Owner and Secretary Accounts are described above. Other sections are dedicated to the Pen, Room, and Cage Card terms and the Samples terms.

28

3.3.2 Strain Table

Strain names often use unusual characters to delimit fields in the strain name. Some characters may confuse some of the JCMS displays. It is best to avoid using the following characters in the strain names: quote (), single quote (), comma (,) and semicolon (;).

Figure 3-7 Form: Add or Edit Strains There are three name fields in each strain record: Strain, Abbreviation, and Formal Name. Currently, JCMS only uses the Strain field. The other two fields can have information added to them for reference purposes, but it will not be used anywhere in the JCMS system. Use the navigation buttons to move from one strain to another. The strains are listed in alphabetical order. Or click in the strain field and use the find icon (it looks like binoculars) to search for a particular strain. If the exact strain is not known, use the Match start of field option. To add a strain, click on* or move to the last record. Only the strain name and status are required. The strain will not be added unless values are entered those fields. Adding will occur when you navigate to another existing record or press * to move to a new record. To edit a strain, type in the field and change it. If a mistake is made, pressing the ESC key once will revert that field back to the original value. Pressing the ESC key twice in a row will revert the whole record back to the original values. You cannot delete a strain from the database unless it is not associated with any matings or mice. If the strain name is incorrect, edit the name. Everywhere in the database where this strain is used, the name will change.

29

The strain name field contains the name that will appear for all the mice or litters. The strain abbreviation is the shorthand that may be used to refer to this strain within a user group. The formal name is the one assigned by the nomenclature committee. The JR # stands for Jackson Laboratory Resource number. This number is always associated with a particular mouse strain. The strain nomenclature may change over time, but the JR # will remain the same. The JR # may be useful in the future to look up nomenclature changes to the strain name. Additional data is stored about whether or not frozen embryos, sperm, and ovaries are available. 3.3.2.1 Strain table fields Strain: name of strain as it will appear on JCMS forms and reports Formal Name: formal name of the strain assigned by the nomenclature committee Strain Abbr.: a short string abbreviation for the strain name for use in lab only Strain status: a controlled vocabulary that specifies how the strain is currently maintained (e.g., frozen, on shelf, etc.) Min tag, Max tag, Last tag: specifies ear tag numbers as discussed below JR # / Stock #: the Jackson Laboratory Resource Number or users stock number Frozen Embryo: number of frozen embryos FE Max Gen: maximum generation stored as frozen embryo Frozen Sperm: quantity of frozen sperm FS Max Gen: maximum generation stored as frozen sperm Frozen ovaries: number of frozen ovaries FO Max Gen: maximum generation stored as frozen ovaries Section: section number in the mouse room where this strain is kept Card color: color of cage cards used for this strain (displayed on several forms from which cage cards are printed) Strain type: from Strain Type controlled vocabulary table, a term that specifies this strain type such as congenic Comments: free form text For Line Viability Constraints values, see next section: Mouse Line Viability.

30

3.3.3 Mouse Line Viability

The mouse line viability function provides the colony manager the ability to configure warning levels when the breeders in her colony are: approaching a critical age threshold or when the numbers of potential breeders have fallen below certain thresholds. Thresholds are set at the strain level. Therefore the configuration is done by the super user, mtsadmin, within the Strain controlled vocabulary function. The Strain configuration function is accessible from the Administrator button bar. There are two levels of thresholds: yellow (warning) and red (dire). To bring up the report, click on the Line Viability Report button on the main button bar.

Figure 3-8 Open Mouse Line Viability Report

31

Figure 3-9 Example mouse line viability report

3.3.4 Ear Tag Ranges

If the pups from a particular strain are all given ear tags from a pre-set group of tags, then the ear tag ranges can be used to keep track of which ear tags are used as a function of strain. This range is called the minimum tag and maximum tag. The last tag field is used to record the highest tag number from that range that is currently in use. To update the ear tag range, use the Edit Ear Tags button on the main button bar. To find the correct strain, use the navigation buttons or click in the strain field and use the find icon (it looks like binoculars). If you do not know the exact strain, use the Match start of field option.

32

If a range has been completely used, either blank it out (if no new range has been assigned) or enter the new range, replacing the old one. All fields in the strain table, with the exception of the Strain, JR#, section, and color fields are simply for user tracking purposes. The four fields that JCMS uses may be printed on cage cards, or will show up in pull down lists. There are two places where ear tag ranges may be entered. To eliminate this redundancy, it is proposed to eliminate the Edit Ear Tag ranges form. If this form is important to you, please send a message to [email protected] as soon as possible.

A B1

B2

Figure 3-10 Ear tag ranges Method A: use the edit ear tags button (A) on the main button bar. Method B: use the Administrator button (B1) on the main button bar and then the Strain button (B2) to open the Edit strain form.

3.3.5 Approved Strains for Matings

The JCMS Administrator has the ability to create a table of approved litter strains to limit the mating forms to pre-approved strains. This will establish better breeding control and prevent inadvertent errors. The user is able to override the restriction but only after being warned. The Administrator must set the variable JCMS_ENFORCE_APPROVED_MATINGS in the setup variables to True to implement using approved strains. An approved litter strain field is a function of the dam strain and the sire strain. A sire strain and dam strain combination is not unique. That is, a sire and dam strain combination may result in multiple litter strains. The special case of when the sire and dam strains are the same and will result in that strain will always be approved and need not be entered in the database. Click the Add combination button to create a new approved strain. The New combination w/ reversed parent strains button tells the software to reverse the dam and sire strains and create a new record in the database, that is, switch the dam and sire strains but produce the same litter strain. This must be done to make that combination also valid.

33

The Swap dam/sire button is a convenience that will reverse the strains listed in the Dam Strain and Sire Strain boxes.

Figure 3-11 Form: Add Approved Strain Approved strain records can be active or inactive. Inactive records are ignored as candidates for litter strains. They are kept in the database for documentation purposes and possible future use. Use the Edit Approved Strains button to make combinations inactive or to delete combinations.

3.3.6 Life Status

The life status controlled vocabulary has three fields. The first field is the lifeStatus field. Use one or two letter entries to specify a life status. The second field gives a description of the life status so users will know which one to select from pull-down menus. The third field, exitStatus is a Boolean (true or false) field that specifies if the associated life status implies that the mouse has exited the colony. JCMS uses this Boolean value to enforce rules about whether or not a cause of death or an exit date may be entered. JCMS will prevent entering an exit date if the mouse life status is not an exit status. The Life Status controlled vocabulary table must include the following pre-set terms in order for JCMS to work correctly. VOCABULARY TERM A K D M S DESCRIPTION Alive Killed Dead Missing Shipped EXIT STATUS? no yes yes yes yes

3.3.7 Gene, Allele, and Gene Class Tables

In the database, alleles are associated with specific genes or gene classes. The JCMS forms that display alleles that may be associated with a gene use both criteria (association to the gene and association to the gene class) to come up with a list of alleles that may be associated with a given gene.

34

Any mouse may have several genotypes. Each genotype consists of a gene and the two alleles that were found for that gene. 3.3.7.1 Genes In order to set up a genotype for a mouse, first the gene must be entered into the database.

Figure 3-12 Form: Add or Edit Gene The gene table will be shown as a form. Genes may only be added or edited, not deleted. The field called Lab symbol is the gene name that will be used when setting up alleles and genotypes. Gene class is optional. Certain gene classes have been preset. Any new gene classes should be added before the gene is added. To add a gene, scroll to the bottom of the list and enter the new gene into the empty bottom row or use the navigation buttons to move to a new record. The formal symbol and lab symbol are required and the gene will not be added unless values are entered in them. Adding will occur after clicking in a field that is not part of this row. To edit a gene, type in the field to change it. If a mistake is made, pressing the ESC key once will revert that field back to the original value. Pressing the ESC key twice in a row will revert the whole record back to the original values. A gene cannot be deleted from the database. If the gene name is incorrect, edit the name. Everywhere in the database where this gene is used, the name will change. 3.3.7.2 Alleles Once a gene is added, the list of possible alleles for this gene must be entered into the allele table. Click on the allele button on the Administrator button bar to open the add or delete allele form. Alleles may be associated with either a particular gene or a particular gene class. If an allele is associated with a gene class it will also be associated with all genes of that class. The user can select which association to use by clicking the appropriate radio button in the Associate allele with group box. To associate an allele with a gene, enter the lab gene symbol and the list of alleles already available for this gene will appear. To add another allele to the list, type it into the new allele field and click the submit button. To remove an allele from the list, check the delete box, type the name of the allele to delete into the new allele box, and press the submit button (or double click the allele name in the list box and the name of the allele will appear in the new allele box). To associate an allele with a gene class, click on the Gene class radio button and perform the same operations as described above.

35

Figure 3-13 Form: Add or Delete an Allele NOTE: Allele names cannot be edited and an allele that is associated with a gene class cannot be deleted. NOTE: Since each genotype record links to a record in the gene table, changes to a gene name will be reflected in the genotype records that point to the gene. Allele names, on the other hand, are stored directly in each genotype record (not pointed to by a genotype record). Since alleles are treated as simple controlled vocabularies, never change or delete allele records from JCMS (that is, if you ever want to search for mice based on specific alleles). After the gene and alleles have been entered, this gene can be used for any mouse. 3.3.7.3 Gene classes Gene classes are stored as a controlled vocabulary in a controlled vocabulary table. As with all controlled vocabularies, do not delete or change a gene class term unless there are no records in the database that use that term. The following Gene Class values are preset. Class name E MKO MTG TG KO KI Floxed CTK Comments endogenous multi allele knock out multi allele transgene transgene knock out knock in tissue specific knock out Combination transgene + KO

3.3.7.4 Generic alleles To save time entering alleles, it is possible to create generic alleles that are available for a whole gene class. These alleles will be automatically available as a choice for any gene that is associated with this gene class.

3.3.8 Rooms, Health Level, and Pens

See section 7 on Pens and Cage Cards for details on setting up room names, health levels, and pens. Section 3.5 Cage Card Setup explains the details of the different cage cards that are provided and how to create custom cards.

36

3.4 Setup Variables Table (DbSetup) for Customizing the Installation

JCMS has a setup variables table that allows easy customization of each installation. The Administrator (mtsadmin) can change configuration variables from the JCMS Setup Variables button on the Administrator button bar. Some of these variables should be initialized; those are marked below in bold print. The others may be left at the default and changed later once the users are more familiar with the database. See section 3.5.4 on creating custom cage cards for a list and examples of the standard cage card choices. Section 7.1 Manage Pen Configuration explains the form interface used to change the settings of the setup variables used for pens, rooms, and cage cards.
JCMS Setup Variable name JCMS_ACTIVATE_MATINGS_INCREMENT Value false Description true or false; if true the mating ID is automatically incremented after activating a mating. May be overridden on the form. true or false; if true the mouse ID is automatically incremented after adding a mouse at weaning. May be overridden on the form. true or false; if true the mouse ID is automatically incremented after adding a genotype. May be overridden on the form. true or false; if true the litter ID is automatically incremented after adding a litter. May be overridden on the form. true or false; if true the litter ID is automatically incremented after adding a litter with pups. May be overridden on the form. true or false; if true the mouse ID is automatically incremented after adding a mouse. May be overridden on the form. true or false; if true the mouse ID is automatically incremented after adding a mouse use. May be overridden on the form. Character(s) displayed/printed as part of a genotype to indicate high confidence in an allele. May be blank. Character(s) displayed/printed as part of a genotype to indicate low confidence in an allele. May be blank. Ex: use ? To display Abc +?/+? For low confidence in both alleles. Specify separators to display around the alleles. Ex: specify [] to get Abc[+/+] or leave blank for Abc +/+ true or false; If true user may add generations to the Generations table on the fly. true or false; If true user may add strains to the Strains table (via the Strains form) on the fly. true or false; If true automatically retire a mating when the sire and dam(s) all have an exit life status. Automatically retire a pen when it becomes empty or all occupants are not alive. true or false; If true the generation for a litter will be automatically incremented when creating matings. May be overridden on the form. A pen is counted for billing on the day it is created or moved into a room. A pen is counted for billing on the day it is retired or moved out of a room. true or false; if true the pen ID is automatically incremented when adding new pens.

JCMS_ADD_AT_WEAN_INCREMENT

false

JCMS_ADD_GENOTYPE_INCREMENT

false

JCMS_ADD_LITTER_INCREMENT

false

JCMS_ADD_LITTER_PUPS_INCREMENT

false

JCMS_ADD_MOUSE_INCREMENT

false

JCMS_ADD_MOUSE_USE_INCREMENT JCMS_ALLELE_CONF_HIGH

false

JCMS_ALLELE_CONF_LOW

JCMS_ALLELE_GENE_SEPARATORS JCMS_ALLOW_USERDEFINED_GENERATIONS JCMS_ALLOW_USERDEFINED_STRAINS JCMS_AUTO_RETIRE_MATINGS JCMS_AUTO_RETIRE_PENS JCMS_AUTOINCREMENT_GENERATION JCMS_BILL_PARTIAL_FIRST_DAY JCMS_BILL_PARTIAL_LAST_DAY JCMS_CREATE_PEN_INCREMENT false false true false

false false false false

37

JCMS Setup Variable name JCMS_DATA_FILE_DIRECTORY JCMS_DEFAULT_CONTAINER_STATUS JCMS_DEFAULT_EXIT_TERM

Value

Description The root directory where JCMS data files are stored Specify the default value for pen status; must match a value in the pen status table. Specify the default term used when exiting mice from the colony, usually E or K; must match a value in the life status table. May be overridden on forms. true or false; if true the mating ID is automatically incremented when using the design retire mating form. May be overridden on the form. true or false; if true the litter ID is automatically incremented after editing a litter. May be overridden on the form. true or false; if true the mouse ID is automatically incremented after editing a mouse. May be overridden on the form. true or false; if true the mouse ID is automatically incremented after editing a use. May be overridden on the form. true or false; must be set to true to allow importing genotypes. true or false; if true then user is only allowed to set litter strain to pre-approved matings. May be overridden on the form. the number of days from the birth date to when a litter should be weaned - used for late weanings/"long" wean time. true or false; if true females are the first to be assigned mouse IDs when adding mice with a bulk add. true or false; if true, increment the rightmost numeric portion of the generation; if false the leftmost.

active E

JCMS_DESIGN_RETIRE_MATINGS_INCREMENT

false

JCMS_EDIT_LITTER_INCREMENT

false

JCMS_EDIT_MOUSE_INCREMENT

false

JCMS_EDIT_MOUSE_USE_INCREMENT JCMS_ENABLE_GENOTYPE_IMPORT JCMS_ENFORCE_APPROVED_MATINGS

false true false

JCMS_EXT_WEAN_TIME JCMS_FEMALES_FIRST JCMS_GENERATION_INCREMENT_RIGHTMOST JCMS_IMPORT_EXP_DATA_ALLOW_MULTIPE JCMS_IMPORT_EXP_DATA_MICE_MUST_BE_PRE SELECTED JCMS_LITTERID_INCREMENT_RIGHTMOST JCMS_LOOP_LITTER_NUMBERS JCMS_MAX_IMPORT_EXP_DATA_ERRORS JCMS_MOUSEID_INCREMENT_RIGHTMOST JCMS_PEN_NAMES_INCREMENT_RIGHTMOST JCMS_PRINT_EXITED_MICE_ON_CAGE_CARDS

28 true true false true true true 10 true true true

If importing with NO experimental plan, allow more than one record for a test type/mouse combination.
true or false; if false, any mouse IDs not pre-selected will be automatically added to the plan and test. true or false; if true, increment the rightmost numeric portion of the litter ID; if false the leftmost. true or false; if true the litter numbers recycle after 10 litters, appending a character to the number. Import Experimental data; when this number of errors is reached, verification stops and a report is printed. true or false; if true, increment the rightmost numeric portion of the mouse ID; if false the leftmost. true or false; if true, increment the rightmost numeric portion of the pen name; if false the leftmost. true or false; if true, mice with an exit status such as dead, euthanized, missing, shipped, etc. will print on cage cards. true or false; if true the mating ID is automatically incremented after retiring a mating. May be overridden on the form. The name of the report used to print sample labels from the Print Sample Label form Causes lists with pen ID and pen name to sort alphabetically by pen name instead of pen ID. the number of days from the birth date to when a litter should normally be weaned. true or false, if true the strain name will appear first (to

JCMS_RETIRE_MATINGS_INCREMENT JCMS_SAMPLE_LABEL_REPORT JCMS_SORT_BY_PEN_NAME JCMS_STANDARD_WEAN_TIME JCMS_STRAINNAME_FIRST

false PrintSampleLabels False 18 true

38

JCMS Setup Variable name

Value

Description the left of the JR number) in all the dropdown lists. true or false; if false, the room health level will not be displayed on most forms true or false; if false, the pen comment field will not be displayed on most forms true or false; if false, pen names will not be displayed on most forms true or false; if false warn if a duplicate pen name is used. true or false; used by the Add Sample form for debugging, should be set to false. The name of the cage card report for 1-pen wean cage cards. The name of the cage card report for 2-pen wean cage cards. true or false; if true, then many forms get all data entry fields colored after user hits submit. Color is cleared after user visits the field. on or off; if on litter numbers are automatically generated for matings. true or false, if true the dams and sire are automatically incremented on the handheld trio/pair mating form. May be overridden on the form. A note that will be printed on all Detail cage cards. on or off; if on then auto increment is the default on forms with functions that do not have a specific auto increment setup variable. Specify the default cause of death; must match a value in the cv_CauseOfDeath table. Specify the default room health level; must match a value in the Health Level table. Specify the default mouse origin; must match a value in the cv_MouseOrigin table. Specify the default mouse room; must match a value in the Room table. true or false; if true the print cage card option on the handheld trio/pair mating form is set on. May be overridden on the form. true or false; if true indicates using a base mouse id on the handheld add litter form. May be overridden on the form. The name of the cage card report for detail cage cards. Subtract this number of days from today's date to get the date of birth. Specify an email address that users can send JCMS support questions to. Used as the link for "Report a problem" on the JCMS welcome window. Users will be warned if they try to import more than this number of mice at once (only effects bulk imports of mice). Name of this JCMS installation (anything you want to call it). A short string of characters that are prefixed on litter IDs generated by JCMS (not all litter IDs are generated by JCMS). Name of the main button bar form displayed when user hits start workstation from welcome window.

JCMS_USING_HEALTH_LEVEL JCMS_USING_PEN_COMMENTS JCMS_USING_PEN_NAMES JCMS_WARN_DUPLICATE_PEN_NAME JCMS_WRITE_FAILED_TRANSACTIONS MTS_1PEN_WEAN_CAGE_CARD MTS_2PEN_WEAN_CAGE_CARD MTS_AUTO_COLOR MTS_AUTO_LITTER_NUMS MTS_AUTOINCR_DAMS_SIRES MTS_CAGE_CARD_DETAIL_NOTE MTS_DEFAULT_AUTO_INCREMENT MTS_DEFAULT_COD MTS_DEFAULT_HEALTH_LEVEL MTS_DEFAULT_MOUSE_ORIGIN MTS_DEFAULT_MOUSE_ROOM MTS_DEFAULT_PRINTCARDS

true true true false false TS_1PWeanCageCard OS_2PWeanCageCard true on false Put card note here (dbsetup) off

true

MTS_DEFAULT_USE_BASEMOUSE_ID MTS_DETAIL_CAGE_CARD MTS_DOB_ROLLBACK_OFFSET MTS_HELP_EMAIL

false TS_DetailCageCard 7

mailto:[email protected]?subject= Support issue 20 JCMS L MainButtonBarJCMS

MTS_IMPORT_MAX_WARNING MTS_INSTALLATION_NAME MTS_LITTER_ID_PREFIX MTS_MAIN_BUTTON_BAR

39

JCMS Setup Variable name MTS_MATING_CAGE_CARD MTS_MATING_CAGE_CARD2 MTS_MATING_ID_PREFIX MTS_MAX_MICE_PER_PEN MTS_MOUSE_ID_PREFIX

Value

Description The name of the cage card report for mating cage cards. The name of the cage card report for mating cage cards style 2; handheld only, print cage card form. A short string of characters that are prefixed on mating IDs when printed on some cage cards. Maximum number of live mice in any pen. A short string of characters that are prefixed on mouse IDs generated by JCMS (not all mouse IDs are generated by JCMS). This variable sets the number of litter numbers that are assigned to a mating. It should be set to a value bigger than the max number of litters you ever expect. Suggested values are 10 or 100. A short string of characters that are prefixed on pen IDs when printed on some cage cards. Name of lab PI who owns colonies tracked by JCMS, printed on some cage cards. Phone numbers, printed on mating card true or false; if false, then it is required that a cage card is printed for all pens. This variable will trigger a warning from the handheld wean and exit form when the number of affected mice exceeds this value.

OS_MatingCageCard TS_MatingCageCardStyle2 WithBarCode M 10 A

MTS_NUM_AUTO_LITTER_NUMS

10

MTS_PEN_ID_PREFIX MTS_PI_NAME MTS_PI_PHONE MTS_RELAXED_PEN_NUMS MTS_THRESHOLD_MICE_BATCH_OPERATION

P PI Name 555-1212 (office) true 50

Table 3.1 JCMS Setup Variables

3.5 Cage Card Setup

Cage cards are designed to print on a standard index card. The exact cage cards used will vary depending on the setup. Different cage card formats may be selected from the setup variables option on the Administrators button bar. Enter into the JCMS Setup Variable value the exact name of the cage card report. When cage cards are printed from data entry forms, relevant information (such as mouse ID, strain, etc.) is printed directly on the card.

3.5.1 Printing Cage Cards

The cage cards use the default printer and default paper location. Many modern printers will use the sheet feeder as the default whenever there is paper in the sheet feeder. To print cage cards, open the sheet feeder and load the cards into the envelope feeder part of it. Also set the printer to use as straight a paper path as possible. Many printers have an option for sending sheets out the back if it is open or have a toggle switch to change the path. The cage cards are designed to print either centered or to the far left on the paper. Adjust the envelope feeder to place the cards in the proper location. If the cage cards do not print out correctly, adjust the margins from the File/Page Setup menu (Access 2007: Print dialog box, Setup button). To solve problems with printing, see the printer notes in the Technical Guide section of this document. Note that some wean cage cards are designed to print for one pen and some for two pens. The two-pen option is useful for side-by-side shoebox type pens. A JCMS setup variable, JCMS_PRINT_EXITED_MICE_ON_CAGE_CARDS, allows configuring whether or not mice that are not in the colony print on cage cards. The default value is true, but if changed to false, mice with a status indicating that they have exited the colony (i.e. Dead, Missing, Shipped) will be excluded from the cage card.

40

3.5.2 Blank Cage Cards

Periodically, blank cage cards can be printed to use in the mouse room for newly weaned mice or mice obtained from other sources. Use the Print Cage Cards button on the main button bar to open the Print Cage Cards form. Enter the number of cards needed. Any of the four cage card types may be printed as blank cards. JCMS will generate unique pen ID numbers for each card.

Figure 3-14 Form: Print blank cage cards

3.5.3 JCMS-Provided Cage Card Formats

JCMS defines four types of cage cards: 1) 2) 3) 4) Mating cage card One-pen wean cage card Two-pen wean cage card Detail cage card

3.5.3.1 Two-pen Wean Cards (setup variable MTS_2PEN_WEAN_CAGE_CARD) Two-pen wean cards can only be printed as blank cage cards. The PI phone and PI name information will be shown on the card using the values specified in the setup variables called MTS_PI_NAME and MTS_PI_PHONE (these values are set via the Administrator tool bar, JCMS Setup Variables button). Two-pen wean cards can be printed from the Print Cage Cards Form.

This card format prints on the upper left corner of the page. Make sure the envelope feeder on the printer is set to print to the far left side.

Figure 3-15 OS_2PWeanCageCard

41

Field name PINameR PINameL PIPhoneR

PIPhoneL PenIDR PenIDL

Description Name of PI responsible for the right cage Name of PI responsible for the left cage A short string of text with PI contact information for right pen A short string of text with PI contact information for left pen Right pen ID Left pen ID

Data source Setup variable (MTS_PI_NAME) Setup variable (MTS_PI_NAME) Setup variable (MTS_PI_PHONE)

Setup variable (MTS_PI_PHONE) generated unique by JCMS or user can generate generated unique by JCMS or user can generate

42

3.5.3.2 One-pen Wean Cards (setup variable MTS_1PEN_WEAN_CAGE_CARD) One-pen wean cards can be printed as blank wean cards or with mouse IDs and other pertinent information on them. One-pen wean cards can be printed from the following JCMS forms: Print Cage Cards Pen Info Add Pen Edit Pen Move Mice Add Litter With Pups Handheld Print Cage Cards Edit Pen Status/Location

These two card formats will print centered make sure the envelope feeder sends the cards through the center of the print path. Figure 3-16 TS_1PWeanCageCard or TS_1PWeanCageCardWithBarCode

Field name StrainNum PIPhone Owner activationDate weanDate PenID countSex birthDate MatingID LitterID IntendedUse generation M1ID M2ID M3ID M4ID M5ID

Description Strain number A short string of text with PI contact information Owner ID Pen activation date Date mice were weaned or blank if mice imported from external colony A unique pen number A string with number of mice and sex e.g. 10 M, would specify ten males Date of birth of mice Mating number that produced this litter Litter number for the litter From CV pull down list Litter generation Mouse 1 ID (from litter) Mouse 2 ID (from litter) Mouse 3 ID (from litter) Mouse 4 ID (from litter) Mouse 5 ID (from litter)

Data source Strain table Setup variable (MTS_PI_PHONE) mouse owner Container history table litter table JCMS generated or user specified JCMS generated litter table mating table litter table mouseUse litter table mouse table mouse table mouse table mouse table mouse table

43

Field name M6ID M7ID M8ID M9ID M10ID penIDBC matingIDBC

Description Mouse 6 ID (from litter) Mouse 7 ID (from litter) Mouse 8 ID (from litter) Mouse 9 ID (from litter) Mouse 10 ID (from litter) Pen ID in barcode format. Must be of the font Code 128AB Mating ID in barcode format. Must be of the font Code 128AB

Data source mouse table mouse table mouse table mouse table mouse table User specified User specified

3.5.3.3 One pen wean card for designing new cards The report named TS_1PWeanCageCardwithXtraFields may be used for designing a new cage card, it uses the fields and format above. The following fields are added. Field name protocol1 protocol2 protocol3 protocol4 protocol5 protocol6 protocol7 protocol8 protocol9 protocol10 coatColor1 coatColor2 coatColor3 coatColor4 coatColor5 coatColor6 coatColor7 coatColor8 coatColor9 coatColor10 comment1 comment2 comment3 comment4 comment5 comment6 comment7 comment8 comment9 comment10 room penName penComment statusDate statusDateWith Time Description Protocol for mouse 1 Protocol for mouse 2 Protocol for mouse 3 Protocol for mouse 4 Protocol for mouse 5 Protocol for mouse 6 Protocol for mouse 7 Protocol for mouse 8 Protocol for mouse 9 Protocol for mouse 10 Coat color for mouse 1 Coat color for mouse 2 Coat color for mouse 3 Coat color for mouse 4 Coat color for mouse 5 Coat color for mouse 6 Coat color for mouse 7 Coat color for mouse 8 Coat color for mouse 9 Coat color for mouse 10 Comment for mouse 1 Comment for mouse 2 Comment for mouse 3 Comment for mouse 4 Comment for mouse 5 Comment for mouse 6 Comment for mouse 7 Comment for mouse 8 Comment for mouse 9 Comment for mouse 10 Room name Name of the pen Comment for pen Date when pen status or room changed Same as status date only includes the exact time of the change Data source Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Room table Container table Container table ContainerHistory table ContainerHistory table

44

Field name penStatus Dam1-ID Dam2-ID Sire-ID Dam1-Strain Dam2-Strain Sire-Strain Dam1Genotype Dam2Genotype Sire-Genotype

Description Current status of pen (active, retired, proposed, etc.) Mouse ID of dam1 (from mating) Mouse ID of dam2 (from mating) Mouse ID of sire (from mating) Strain of dam1 (from mating) Strain of dam2 (from mating) Strain of sire (from mating) Genotype of dam1 (from mating) Genotype of dam2 (from mating) Genotype of sire (from mating)

Data source Container History table Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Strain table Strain table Strain table Genotype table Genotype table Genotype table

Figure 3-17 CC_JCMS_WeanCageCardUsingPenNames

45

3.5.3.4

Mating Cards (setup variable MTS_MATING_CAGE_CARD or MTS_MATING_CAGE_CARD2)

Figure 3-18 TS_MatingCAgeCard or TS_MatingCageCardStyle1W ith BarCode

Figure 3-20 OS_MatingCageCard

Figure 3-19 TS_MatingCageCardStyle2With BarCode

Figure 3-21 MW_MatingCageCardLandscape

Figure 3-22 CC_JCMS_MatingCageCardUs ingPenNames

46

Mating cards may be printed from the following set of forms: Design Matings Activate Matings Edit Matings Add Matings Move Mice Print Cage Cards Handheld Print Cage Cards

The OS and CC Mating Cage Card format prints in the upper left corner of the page. The MW landscape card prints on the left of the page with a one inch left margin. The TS card formats will print centered at the top of the page. Make sure the envelope feeder sends the cards through the correct print path. Field name PIName PIPhone owner matingID matingDate StrainSection PenID LitterStrain litterGeneration CardColor dam1ID dam2ID sireID dam1BirthDate dam2BirthDate sireBirthDate dam1Strain dam2Strain sireStrain dam1Genotype dam2Genotype sireGenotype dam1JRNum dam2JRNum sireJRNum dam1MatingID dam2MatingID Description Name of responsible PI Contact phone for PI Mating owner Mating number Mating date Strain section in mouse room Pen number Strain of pups Generation of pups Color of cage card Mouse ID for dam 1 Mouse ID for dam 2 Mouse ID for sire Birth date of dam1 Birth date of dam2 Birth date of sire Strain of dam1 Strain of dam2 Strain of sire Genotype of dam1 Genotype of dam 2 Genotype of sire JR number of dam 1 strain JR number of dam 2 strain JR number of sire strain Mating dam1 came from Mating dam2 came from Data source Setup variable (MTS_PI_NAME) Setup variable MTS_PI_PHONE mating table mating table mating table strain table (one mouse) Container table mating table mating table strain table mouse table mouse table mouse table mouse table mouse table mouse table mouse table mouse table mouse table genotype table genotype table genotype table strain table strain table strain table mating table via litter mating table via litter OS_ Visible? y y y y y n y y y n y y y y y y y y y n n n n n n n n TS_ Visible? y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y CC_ Visible? y y y y y n y y y y y y y y y y y y y n n n n n n n n MW Visible? n y y y y n y y y n y y y y y y y y y y y y n n n n n

47

Field name sireMatingID dam1LitterID dam2LitterID sireLitterID dam1Gen dam2Gen sireGen matingNote1

Description Mating sire came from Litter dam1 came from Litter dam2 came from Litter sire came from Generation of dam1 Generation of dam2 Generation of sire A note about the mating Additional mating notes Additional mating notes Pen ID in barcode format. Must be of the font Code 128AB Mating ID in barcode format. Must be of the font Code 128AB Auto generated litter IDs Auto generated litter IDs Auto generated litter IDs Auto generated litter IDs Auto generated litter IDs Auto generated litter IDs Auto generated litter IDs Auto generated litter IDs Auto generated litter IDs Auto generated litter IDs Protocol for dam1 Room Comment

Data source mating table via litter litter table litter table litter table mouse table mouse table mouse table user selected from pick list on form user selected from pick list on form mating table, wean note field User specified

OS_ Visible? n n n n n n n y

TS_ Visible? y y y y y y y y

CC_ Visible? n n n n n n n y

MW Visible? n n n n n n y n

matingNote2

weanNote penIDBC

n n

y y

y n

n n

matingIDBC

User specified

litter1ID litter2ID litter3ID litter4ID litter5ID litter6ID litter7ID litter8ID litter9ID litter10ID protocol room matingComment

JCMS generated (optional) JCMS generated (optional) JCMS generated (optional) JCMS generated (optional) JCMS generated (optional) JCMS generated (optional) JCMS generated (optional) JCMS generated (optional) JCMS generated (optional) JCMS generated (optional) Mouse table Room table Mating table

y y y y y y y y y y n n n

y y y y y y y y y y n n n

y y y y y y y y y y n y n

y y y y y y y y y y n n n

48

Field name penName penStatus statusDate statusDateWithT ime penComment

Description Name of pen Current status Date pen status or room changed Same as above only including time Misc. information

Data source Container table Container History table Container History table Container History table Container table

OS_ Visible? n n n n n

TS_ Visible? n n n n n

CC_ Visible? y y y n n

MW Visible? n n n n n

Two reports are available to use for designing new cage cards in these formats. They are named TS_MatingCageCardStyle2WithBarCodewithXtraFields and OS_MatingCageCardwithXtraFields. The following fields are visible on both: protocol, room, statusDateWithTime, penComment, and matingComment. Note they are located outside the normal boundaries for an index-sized card. These fields are also on the MW_MatingCageCardLandscape report, but they are not visible. Make a copy of this report before changing it. 3.5.3.5 Detail Cards (setup variable MTS_DETAIL_CAGE_CARD)

Figure 3-23 TS_DetailCageCard

Figure 3-24 TS_DetailCageCardWithBarCode

49

Figure 3-25 MW_DetailCageCardLandscape Detail cards can be printed from the following forms: Pen Info Add Pen Edit Pen Bulk Add Mice Move Mouse Move Mice Print Cage Cards Handheld Print Cage Cards Edit Pen Status/Location Figure 3-26 CC_JCMS_DetailCageCardUsing PenNames Data source Setup variable (MTS_PI_NAME) Setup variable (MTS_PI_PHONE) Mouse table (one mouse) Container History table strain table Generated by JCMS when mouse information is retrieved. Container table, from one mouse User specified User specified Setup variable (MTS_CAGE_CARD_DETAIL_NOTE) mouse table mouse table mouse table mating table litter table mouse table mouse table

The TS and CC card formats will print centered make sure the envelope feeder sends the cards through the center of the print path. The landscape MW card prints with a one inch margin, left side. Field name PIName PIPhone Owner ActivationDate Section countSex PenID penIDBC matingIDBC Note M1ID M1Sex M1Born M1MID M11LID M1Strain M1Generation Description Name of responsible PI Phone number of responsible PI Owner of mice in pen Date pen was activated Strain section String of text with count and sex of mice on it (e.g. 4 M) Pen number Pen ID in barcode format. Must be of the font Code 128AB Mating ID in barcode format. Must be of the font Code 128AB A cage card note Mouse 1 ID number Mouse 1 Sex Mouse 1 DOB Mouse 1 is a product of Mating ID Mouse 1s litter ID Mouse 1s strain Mouse 1s generation

50

Field name M1GenoType M2ID M2Sex M2Born M2MID M2LID M2Strain M2Generation M2GenoType M3ID M3Sex M3Born M3MID M3LID M3Strain M3Generation M3GenoType M4ID M4Sex M4Born M4MID M4LID M4Strain M4Generation M4GenoType M5ID M5Sex M5Born M5MID M5LID M5Strain M5Generation M4GenoType

Description Mouse 1s genotype Mouse 2 ID number Mouse 2 Sex Mouse 2 DOB Mouse 2 is a product of Mating ID Mouse 2s litter ID Mouse 2s strain Mouse 2s generation Mouse 2s genotype Mouse 3 ID number Mouse 3 Sex Mouse 3 DOB Mouse 3 is a product of Mating ID Mouse 3s litter ID Mouse 3s strain Mouse 3s generation Mouse 3s genotype Mouse 4 ID number Mouse 4 Sex Mouse 4 DOB Mouse 4 is a product of Mating ID Mouse 4s litter ID Mouse 4s strain Mouse 4s generation Mouse 4s genotype Mouse 5 ID number Mouse 5 Sex Mouse 5 DOB Mouse 5 is a product of Mating ID Mouse 5s litter ID Mouse 5s strain Mouse 5s generation Mouse 5s genotype

Data source genotype table mouse table mouse table mouse table mating table litter table mouse table mouse table genotype table mouse table mouse table mouse table mating table litter table mouse table mouse table genotype table mouse table mouse table mouse table mating table litter table mouse table mouse table genotype table mouse table mouse table mouse table mating table litter table mouse table mouse table genotype table

3.5.3.6 Detail card for designing new cards The report named TS_DetailCageCardwithXtraFields may be used for designing a new cage card. It uses the fields and formats shown above. The following fields are added. Some of these fields are also on the MW_DetailCageCardLandscape report, but they are not visible. Make a copy of this report before changing it. Field name protocol1 protocol2 protocol3 protocol4 protocol5 coatColor1 Description Protocol for mouse 1 Protocol for mouse 2 Protocol for mouse 3 Protocol for mouse 4 Protocol for mouse 5 Coat color for mouse 1 Data source Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table

51

Field name coatColor2 coatColor3 coatColor4 coatColor5 comment1 comment2 comment3 comment4 comment5 room weanDate1 weanDate2 weanDate3 weanDate4 weanDate5 penName penComment statusDate statusDateWith Time penStatus

Description Coat color for mouse 2 Coat color for mouse 3 Coat color for mouse 4 Coat color for mouse 5 Comment for mouse 1 Comment for mouse 2 Comment for mouse 3 Comment for mouse 4 Comment for mouse 5 Room name Wean date for mouse 1 Wean date for mouse 2 Wean date for mouse 3 Wean date for mouse 4 Wean date for mouse 5 Name of the pen Comment for pen Date when pen status or room changed Same as status date only includes the exact time of the change Current status of pen (active, retired, proposed, etc.)

Data source Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Mouse table Room table Litter table Litter table Litter table Litter table Litter table Container table Container table ContainerHistory table ContainerHistory table Container History table

3.5.4 Creating Custom Cage Cards

JCMS is configured to allow new cage card designs to be easily created using the MS Access report design tools. An easy to follow tutorial may be found within the JCMS Tutorials. When JCMS prints a cage card, it writes information from the database into text fields on the card. If a text box is put on a card and given a name that JCMS knows about, then JCMS will write the associated information into that text box when the card is printed. For example, the field PIName is a text box on each cage card where JCMS prints the PI name (as specified in the setup variables). Make a backup copy of JCMS interface before making changes (Copy the interface JCMS.mdb file and save as). To view the card designs in JCMS, logon as mtsadmin, press F11, and select the reports tab. To create a new card, simply draw the card wanted and add the fields (as specified in the tables below) that should appear on the card. Use the tables below as references showing what fields can be put on the card. JCMS is installed with a number of cards pre-configured for your use. To create a custom card, it may prove easiest to start with a card similar to the one wanted. Save a copy of the report format for this card under a new name. To make changes, open the report in design view. Now edit this new report format. Place the new report name into the setup variable value for the particular type of cage card. Four cage cards have been created specifically for use to help create new cage cards. These contain all possible fields. These

Figure 3-27 Office 2007 reports list shown using F11 key

52

reports have a name ending withXtraFields.

3.5.5 User-designed Cage Cards

A separate JCMS cage card database, containing designs from the user community may be downloaded at: http://colonymanagement.jax.org/cage_card_info.html. Instructions for importing a cage card report (Access 2007):

Download the JCMS Cage Card database from the JCMS website. Save. Open existing JCMS database (as user mtsadmin). Select External Data tab from the ribbon. Select Access Import icon. Select Import bullet. Select Browse button and navigate to the JCMS CageCard database. Highlight JCMS_CageCards-1.mdb and select Open. Back to Get External Data window, select OK. Import Objects window opens. Select Reports tab. Choose Select All or highlight desired cage cards to import. Select OK. From main button bar of JCMS, select Administrator. Open JCMS Setup Variables. Scroll to MTS_1PEN_WEAN_CAGE_CARD. Type in the desired cage card name in the JCMS Setup Variable Value field. Scroll to MTS_2PEN_WEAN_CAGE_CARD. Type in the desired cage card name in the JCMS Setup Variable Value field. Scroll to MTS_DETAIL_CAGE_CARD. Type in the desired cage card name in the JCMS Setup Variable Value field. Scroll to MTS_MATING_CAGE_CARD. Type in the desired cage card name in the JCMS Setup Variable Value field. Close Setup Variables form.

How to activate Cage Cards:

3.6 Setting up an Experimental Plan

If the experimental data tables will be used, the following CV tables must also have values: field of study and keywords. Controlled vocabularies are changed from the Administrator button bar and may only be changed by the mtsadmin user. See the section on Experimental Plans for more information on the details of setting up this portion of the database. Owners are able to set up all other aspects of Experimental Plans.

4 User Setup
A new user must first be setup with an MS Access account and password logon by the Administrator. The Administrator will also do any client installation necessary on a computer used by the new user.

53

4.1 Logging On and Passwords

To provide database security MS Access requires all users of JCMS to have a unique logon account and password. This logon is separate from any other that may be used by a users system such as the Windows logon. To start JCMS, double click the JCMS icon on the desktop. A dialog box will request the user name and password. The user logon name will be displayed on each form that is displayed on the screen.

Figure 4-1 User Logon Screen The JCMS Welcome window displays at startup. Click the Start Workstation or Handheld Device button to begin work. The Main Button Bar is displayed next. From this button bar forms can be opened for entering and viewing JCMS data. Check with the Administrator if entering the logon and password he/she provided does not result in the JCMS welcome screen appearing.

5 Basics on Using JCMS

5.1 What are Owners and Secretaries?
Access to the functions of the database is restricted on a form-by-form basis. That is, each form is programmed to allow access to JCMS for certain users (based on their security level). JCMS defines a security hierarchy with three levels of permission: Administrator, Owner, and Secretary. The Administrator can access all forms and all data; owners can enter mice, matings, experimental plans, samples, and experimental data and access all data entry and query forms from the Main Button Bar; secretaries can usually access only a limited subset of data entry forms. Within the database, mice, matings, experimental plans, experimental data, and samples have owners. The owner of a mating also owns any litters produced by that mating. The owner of an experimental plan also owns any experimental data that is part of the plan. Owners may use all forms that have access permission to the database at an owners or secretary level. Forms for editing a mouse, mating, litter, experimental plan, samples, or experimental data usually restrict edit permission to owners only. Secretaries may use only those forms with secretary level access. Additionally, secretaries are associated with owners (by being members of an owners secretary group); thus, secretaries can only work with data associated with a specific owner. It is possible for a user to be both an owner of their own mice and to act as the secretary for one or more other owners. The Administrator will have decided the owner or secretary status of each user and set this up as part of the users logon. The Administrator may also change the default security access level for most forms.

54

5.2 Changing Passwords

When a user logs in for the first time, he/she may not have a password or may have a special password assigned by the Administrator. To create or change this password, select from the main menu, tools security user and group accounts (Office 2007: Database Tools tab, Administer Users and Permissions, User and Group accounts). Click on the Change Logon Password tab and add or change the password. Only you can change your password.

Figure 5-1 Dialog Box: Change Password

5.3 Button Bars

JCMS uses button bars to provide easy access to its many functions.

Figure 5-2 Main Button Bar 55

Clicking buttons on the button bar(s) opens JCMS forms. After pressing the start (workstation) button, the main button bar opens and is always open from then on (until JCMS is shut down). The main button bar cannot be closed, but can be minimized. The main button bar is organized into columns for different functions. Note that some buttons will appear to not work for secretaries because they do not have permission to open that form. The Administrator button will work only for the Administrator.

5.4 Using the Forms

Forms may be closed or minimized using the normal Windows minimize () button and close (x) button. Multiple forms may be open on the screen at one time, however updates submitted on one form may not be updated on another open form. Close and reopen the other form to see all updated information. There are several general form types: edit, add-new, request reports, and query. Some forms allow combined functionality (e.g. allow you to add new or edit). Data entry text boxes are white. Text boxes that are blue-green in color are active boxes. Entering a valid identifier in an active box followed by moving the cursor out of the box (by tabbing or clicking the mouse pointer in another box) will cause the database to display information associated with that item. Data entry boxes with a drop down list (click on the down arrow) allow choosing an item from a list. The item can also be typed directly into the box; as you type, the first item in the list that matches the characters typed so far is displayed. In either case, press tab to accept an item and move to the next field. Most drop down lists are limited to items in the list. Gray boxes display information that cannot be changed using this form. All forms can be navigated through quickly by tabbing to move forward and shift tabbing to move backward through the fields. Any form that has a Submit button will not update the database until this button is clicked. If a form is closed before hitting the submit button, changes made on the form will not be saved in JCMS. The clear button is used to remove all data from the form. The clear button does not delete data from the database. Extra button(s) on the form will often open another form showing data associated with an ID on the first form (mouse, litter, mating, pen, experimental data, etc.) For example, the set genotype button on the edit mouse form opens the add genotype form showing data for the mouse ID used on the edit mouse form, all ready to work with.

5.4.1 Special Features of Some Forms

Why are adding and editing functions kept separately on different forms? In general, add and edit forms will look very similar to each other. Different forms are used because creating a new record is a separate function from changing an existing one. If an error has been made on an add form, then open the edit version of this form to correct it. Edit forms limit editing capabilities based on the owner or secretary permission status. Color fields on submit: by default, some of the forms use auto-color. After a new record is submitted to the database, all the text fields (except checkboxes and dates) have their background colored green. When these fields are visited by tabbing or using the mouse, the colored background disappears. The purpose of this feature is to prompt visiting each field when doing a lot of data entry so that values from the previous record are not erroneously entered into

56

the new record. This feature may be turned off by the Administrator in the setup variables by changing MTS_AUTO_COLOR to false. Pen Info Button: this button allows viewing the contents of a pen related to the form. When this button is pressed the pen info form appears with a list of all mice in the pen and other pertinent information about the pen. Auto Increment ID check box: when this box is checked, the main ID field of the form is automatically incremented after JCMS has been updated (new record added or edited for this ID). This feature is useful when entering a lot of information that uses successive ID numbers. NOTE: ID numbers may have characters and leading zeros in them. Thus, the ID number cd012 would increment to cd013, and 099 would increment to 100 (as examples). The default for this check box to be set to on or off on most forms is changed in the setup variables by the Administrator using MTS_DEFAULT_AUTO_INCREMENT, JCMS_ACTIVATE_MATINGS_INCREMENT, etc. Some forms always default to NOT auto increment regardless of the value of this setup variable.

5.5 Navigation Buttons

Some forms will use a special set of navigation buttons to move from one record to another. Clicking will move forward by one record, will move to the last record, * will provide a blank space to enter a new record. The number in the box indicates which record is currently displayed (first, second, third, etc.) Records are numbered by the order they are sorted into in the database. If the sort criteria is changed, this number may change for the record on display, it only reflects the records relative placement in the sort order.
|

5.6 Session Reports

Session box: session boxes give some history information about this edit session. A session lasts only as long as the form is open on the screen. A typical session box shows the ID and one or two bits of important information about each record entered or edited. The most recent entries are listed first in the list box. Printable session report: the session report button allows viewing a print preview of a more detailed session report than is available in the session box.

5.7 Printing
JCMS will use the default printer as set up on the client machine. Most reports will display as a print preview in order to help save printing unnecessary pages. Use the Select Default Printer button to temporarily change the default printer for one JCMS session. The change will not affect the Windows default printer for any other program. Many modern printers will use the sheet feeder as the default whenever there is paper in the sheet feeder. To print cage cards, open the sheet feeder and load the cards into the envelope feeder part of it. Also set the printer to use as straight a paper path as possible. Many printers have an option for sending sheets out the back if it is open or have a toggle switch to change the path. Forms are not designed to print nicely on a page, use a report for a quality printout of information in a form. However, there are circumstances where it may be advantageous to print a copy of a form. Use the printer icon on the toolbar with caution; this will often try to print the entire table, not just the values shown on the form on the screen. To determine if the form fits on one page of paper, try using the print preview button on the toolbar. If the screen is truncated on the right,

57

change the page setup to landscape. This will also show if the results give all the records in the table instead of just one. Use the close button on the print preview window to get back to the form or the print icon to print what is shown in the preview. To print just a selected record from forms that print the whole table, use the File menu. Select Print from the File menu and the print dialog box will open. Under the print range, pick Selected record(s). Now, only the record on the form or with the cursor in a field on it will print. Most forms will not print with all blank fields. When the cursor is placed into a new blank record, print the selected record results in only the header for the form. To print a blank copy, first create a dummy record, placing something such as a decimal point into the required fields. Then print this selected record and delete it. Also note that only the Administrator has permission to delete records from some of the tables.

5.8 Statistics
Click the Data Stats button on the main button bar to get information on the total number of pens, mice, and matings in the database.

6 Mice
6.1 Mouse IDs
Each mouse must have a unique mouse ID number containing up to 16 characters. JCMS will not allow entry of duplicate ID numbers. The following setup variables may be used to help create sequences of mouse IDs when mice are added in groups.

6.1.1 Automatically Incrementing Mouse IDs

Many forms have a check box labeled Auto increment ID. When the box is checked, after successfully adding a new mouse, the next mouse ID in sequence will be suggested. The setup variable JCMS_MOUSEID_INCREMENT_RIGHTMOST indicates which portion of the ID to increment if it contains more than one numeric section. For example, if the setup variable is false the base ID 0015BALB-600 would be incremented to 0016BALB-600 and if it is true it would be incremented to 0015BALB-601. Note the numeric portion of the ID that is incremented is limited to a 10 digit number. Using numbers larger than that will return a message Unable to increment ID. Longer numbers may be used if the mice are entered individually on forms such as Add mouse and Add mouse at wean.

6.1.2 Base Mouse Numbers

The forms Bulk Add Mice, Add Litter w/Pups, and Handheld Add Litter w/Mice allow entering multiple mice at once. There are two methods of determining what mouse ID to start with. 1) The setup variable MTS_MOUSE_ID_PREFIX contains a character string used at the beginning of a mouse ID. JCMS keeps track of the last integer used in the sequence and automatically increments it when adding mice. For example, if the prefix is A and the last mouse ID added was A98, JCMS will use the sequence A99, A100, A101, etc. This option is the default on the forms. 2) The default (MTS_MOUSE_ID_PREFIX) may be overridden by selecting the check box Use Base ID or Use base mouse number and then entering a starting mouse ID for the sequence. A list of the current mice is provided on the non-handheld forms to help with determining the sequences in use.

58

6.2 Adding Mice

Figure 6-1 Add Mouse Form Use the Add Mouse button on the main button bar to open a form for adding mice one at a time. If adding mice to the database when they are weaned, consider using the Add Mice at Wean instead. It will automatically fill in the information from the litter for each mouse, saving time. If this version of JCMS has been set up to use a prefix on the mouse ID, this is only entered if JCMS is creating the ID numbers. On this form, the prefix must be entered on the ID number by the user. When mice are added, they must be assigned to a pen. The pen information section of these forms is used for this purpose. If the pen ID or pen name selected on the form already exists, the room, list of mice already in the pen, and other information will be retrieved and displayed in the pen information section. To add a new pen for this mouse, check Use next available ID to create it with the next available pen ID. Or uncheck the box and enter an unused pen ID by hand. Pens may have duplicate pen names but the pen ID is always unique. The Submit button must be pressed to add the mouse into JCMS. If an error message is given, the error must be corrected and the submit button pressed again. A successful submission will result in a message stating, Mouse xxx submitted in red on the form. The session box will also list the mouse ID, pen ID, and pen name.

59

The Add Mouse form ignores the setup variables JCMS_AUTO_RETIRE_PENS and JCMS_AUTO_RETIRE_MATINGS.

Figure 6-2 Add mouse form after a successful submit

6.3 Editing Mice

Changes are made to individual mice using the Edit Mouse button to open the edit mouse form. This form works in the same manner as the Add mouse form. If a selected mouse has genotype information associated with it, it will be displayed on the form.

6.3.1 Changing the ID of a Mouse

The ID of any mouse in JCMS may be changed as long as the new name is unique in the database. For example, if mice are ear notched so they are unique in a pen, punches may need to be added to the mouse ear when the mouse is moved to a new pen. A code could be appended at the end of the mouse ID number to indicate its current earpunch value (e.g., 2373-R, 2373-L, 2373-RR, 2373-LL, 2373-RL, 2373-

Figure 6-3 Change Mouse ID Form

60

RRL, 2373-RLL, 2373-RRLL. When the mouse moves, and the notch changes, update the mouse ID accordingly. To change a mouse ID, use the mouse edit form. Click the Change ID button on the form. Fill out the dialog box with the new ID and press submit change to change the mouse ID in JCMS. (The ID may not be changed to an already existing ID). The Edit Mouse form also allows you to navigate through the mice in the database - a mouse browser.

Figure 6-4 Edit Mouse With Browser Functions The user can set search criteria and apply them to the mice in the database. When applied, only those mice meeting the criteria will become available in the lower section for viewing or editing. The criteria are ANDed together, that is, for a mouse to be included it must meet all of the selected criteria. Some fields support substrings while others (life status and owner) accept only exact matches. A live mouse may not be put into a retired pen. This form will retire pens and matings on the mouse exit date if the setup variables JCMS_AUTO_RETIRE_PENS and JCMS_AUTO_RETIRE_MATINGS are true. Note that resurrecting a mouse will not resurrect its retired matings or pen.

61

6.4 Importing or Bulk Adding Mice

This form is useful when bringing a group of mice in from outside the colony or when adding a new group of mice that are all similar. The group must all have the same information for the required fields, the fields marked on the form with an *. JCMS will automatically generate unique mouse ID numbers and will increment by one for each additional mouse imported. Set the Base ID to the first ID number to be used. This form will not add any mouse ID Prefix specified in the setup variables; enter the prefix as part of the base ID.

Figure 6-5 Bulk Add Mice Form The new pens will be automatically assigned and filled with the number of mice specified. Use next available ID must be checked. Note that live mice may not be put into a retired pen. Once mice are added, cage cards can be printed. Any intended use entered on this form will only be printed on the cage cards; it will not be saved with the mouse. Do not use this form if the parents of the mice are already in the database as it does not add the litter number. The litter number is used to look up the parents.

6.5 Adding Mice at Weaning

Use this form to add mice into the database when they are weaned. This form adds mice one at a time and must be used if the litter record has already been created. If not, consider using the Add Litter w/Pups form instead. That form will add the litter record plus all the pups as weaned mice in one step. Which form will work best is dependent upon the workflow.

62

Once the litter # is entered, the form will display the strain, generation, date born, wean date, and tag date from the litter record. It automatically sets the life status to alive and breeding status to virgin. Any change made to the wean date or tag date on this form will also update the litter record when the mouse is submitted.

Figure 6-6 Add Mice at Wean Form When the setup variable MTS_RELAXED_PEN_NUMS is false a Next ID button is displayed instead of the Use Next Available ID check box. This button will provide a pen ID. Make sure to use the Pen Info button and print the cage card. Note that a live mouse may not be put into a retired pen.

63

6.6 Changing Life Status or Diet of a Group of Mice

Figure 6-7 Form: Bulk Change Life Status or Diet JCMS allows users to do a few edit operations en-mass. Select the Bulk Change Life Status or Diet button. First select change the life status or change the diet. Mice may be picked for the edit operation by litter, pen, or mouse ID. Use the Show me button to display a list of mice that may be affected by the operation when submit is pressed. No changes are made to the mice until submit is pressed. Any mice that with a different owner or that already have their exit date set will not be changed. Use the Show me print button for a printable list of the mouse changes. If the setup variable JCMS_AUTO_RETIRE_PENS is true, pens now containing only exited mice will be retired as of the exit date. If the setup variable JCMS_AUTO_RETIRE_MATINGS is true, all mice that are exited have their matings checked. Those active matings now consisting of only exited mice will be retired as of the exit date.

6.7 Changing Life Status using the Handheld Forms

The Bulk Exit handheld form allows changing the life status of all mice in the selected pens at once. All the mice must be changed to the same new life status, exit date, and cause of death. This form does not allow changing a mouse to a non-exit life status. It also will not make any changes to mice that already are exited. If the setup variable JCMS_AUTO_RETIRE_PENS is true, pens now containing only exited mice will be retired as of the exit date. If the setup variable JCMS_AUTO_RETIRE_MATINGS is true, all mice that are exited have their matings checked. Those active matings now consisting of only exited mice will be retired as of the exit date.

6.8 Change Life Status of an Individual Mouse using Handheld

Use this handheld form to change the life status of selected mice in one pen. The new life status, exit date, and cause of death must be the same for all mice selected. A mouse may be changed from an exit to a non-exit life status. However, if the setup variable JCMS_AUTO_RETIRE_PENS is true and the pen is retired, the life status may not be changed to a non-exit life status. The pen

64

must first be changed to no longer be retired. If the setup variable JCMS_AUTO_RETIRE_PENS is true, pens now containing only exited mice will be retired as of the exit date. If the setup variable JCMS_AUTO_RETIRE_MATINGS is true, all mice that are exited have their matings checked. Those active matings now consisting of only exited mice will be retired as of the exit date. Note that resurrecting a mouse will not resurrect its retired matings.

Figure 6-9 Bulk Exit Handheld Form

Figure 6-8 Individual Mouse Change Life Status Handheld Form

65

7 Pens and Cage Cards

In JCMS we use the terms pen and cage interchangeably. All mice reside in a cage or pen. In JCMS each pen has a unique pen ID number. A pen may have an optional pen name that does not have to be unique. A pen may be empty. A pen has a pen status, such as proposed, active, or retired, and a history of when the pens status changed and when it moved between rooms.

7.1 Manage Pen Configuration Form

The Manage Pen Configuration form, accessed from the Administrator button bar, provides an interface for changing the settings of setup variables related to pens. See section 3.4 for more details.

Figure 7-1 Manage Pen Configuration Form The default pen status and room name are used to automatically pre-set these values on forms where new pens are added. Most forms (except some of the handheld forms) provide an option for overriding the default. Similarly, the default health level is used on the form where new rooms are added. The health level is always associated with a room. Many add forms limit the number of live mice in a pen to the number specified in the maximum number of mice in a pen which may be overridden on the form. This number is used to separate the mice into different pens when adding a large litter or group of mice at once.

66

Pen names, pen comments, and room health level are optional and do not have to be used. When using pen names, it may be convenient to sort by pen name, which will cause some dropdown lists to be ordered by the pen name instead of pen ID. It is possible to have duplicate pen names (the pen ID will always be unique). When duplicate pen names are not desired, have JCMS warn before adding a duplicate pen name. When adding pens, if increment name is checked on the form, the pen name shown will be incremented in the same fashion as mouse IDs. Increment rightmost will add one to the rightmost integer. If not selected, one will be added to the leftmost integer. The numeric portion of the pen name that is incremented is limited to a 10 digit number. Using numbers larger than that will return an Unable to increment error message. Longer numbers may be used if the pen names are entered individually by hand. Pen ID numbers are unique integers that are either generated by JCMS (and therefore assured to be unique) or provided by JCMS users. When Use next available ID is checked, JCMS will assign the next largest pen ID. If the user prefers to generate pen IDs, they may hand enter them instead. JCMS will never allow duplicate IDs to be entered into the database. JCMS will also warn if a user tries to enter a pen ID much larger than any previous pen ID used (it keeps track of the largest pen ID used). The largest pen ID that can be entered into JCMS is 2,000,000,000. Very large pen IDs may not print out correctly on all cage cards due to lack of space. If this is a problem, cage cards can be configured to have more space for display of the pen IDs. A short string of characters can be prefixed on Pen IDs generated by JCMS when they are printed. The Administrator must specify this string in the PEN_ID prefix setup variable. Mating ID and Litter ID prefixes may also be specified for printing on cage cards. When automatically retire pens is selected, any time a mouse is moved, pup is weaned and moved, or a mouses life status is changed to an exit life status the pen is checked to determine if it is empty or only contains exited mice. If yes, then the pen is retired using the date of the change (exit date, wean date, mating date, or todays date). If the handheld: print cage cards option is checked then certain handheld forms open with the print cage card check box selected. Pens have a history that records the date and time a pen was established, retired, had its status changed, or was moved into a different room. JCMS provides the default pen status terms proposed, active, and retired. The user may add other terms. A pen status may be either billable or non-billable. For example, a proposed pen may not contain mice and, therefore, is not billed; a retired pen also contains no live mice and is not billed. Pen billing is used by the Cage Use and Cage Use Summary reports to determine how many pens to count each day. For reporting purposes, a pen is either billable (counted) or nonbillable (not counted) on a specific date. Use the Administrator pen status form to change the billable attribute of a pen status term. When counting, a partial day is a day when a pen was moved into or out of a room or a day when a pens status changed from a billable to a non-billable status. The date a pen was established is a partial day. The date a pen was retired is a partial day. JCMS supports several cage card formats. Each type of format must have a cage card report selected. For example, a detail cage card could use the report CC_JCMS_DetailCageCardUsingPenNames or MW_DetailCageCardLandscape. The Detail card note, Phone number, and Lab name are printed on many cage card formats.

67

Print exited mice specifies if a cage card should list all mice in that cage, including those with an exit life status, or show only those still alive. Relax restrictions on pen IDs indicates if the user should have an unrestricted ability (checked) to create pens or if some forms will only create pens that already have had a cage card (possibly blank) printed with the pen ID on it.

7.2 Rooms and Health Level

Health level is associated with a room and a history of health level changes is maintained for each room. The Administrator has several forms used for manipulating the health level and room terms.

Figure 7-2 Administrator Forms for Managing Room and Health Level Health level terms may be not be deleted unless the term has no association (past or present) with a room. An edited health level term will be changed in all places where it was used. An edited room name will be changed in all places where it was used. If the date/time of a health level change is incorrect it may be edited using the Manage Room form. If a health level has been incorrectly associated with a room it may be deleted using the Manage Room form, however the room must have one health level associated with it.

7.3 Adding Pens

New pens are added when new mice are created in the database using the Add Mouse, Bulk Add Mice, Add Mice at Wean, or Add Litter w/ Pups forms. A new pen can be created when changes are made to a mouse using the Edit Mouse form. The Add Matings form will automatically generate new pens. The Design Matings form will assign pen IDs to matings and the pen is created in the default room with a status of proposed. When the mating is activated using the Activate Matings form the pens status will also be changed to active as of the mating date. The handheld forms Add Litter w/Mice and Make a Trio or Pair Mating will create pens using the default room name and default pen status term.

68

7.3.1 Pen Info Form

The pen information form can be accessed from the main button bar and from many other forms that contain a Pen Info button. Select a pen by pen ID or pen name. The mice currently in the pen are listed (pen pals) and the history of the status and room changes for the pen are displayed. Cage cards may be printed or previewed using the detail format or wean format if the pen contains mice all from the same litter. An optional intended use may be printed on the card. This use is not saved in JCMS or associated with the pen. It simply provides a way of printing a short note on the card.

Figure 7-3 Pen Info Form

7.3.2 Add Pen Form

Figure 7-4 Add Pen Form The add pen form can be accessed from the main button bar and from many other forms that contain an Add Pen button. When Use next available ID is checked JCMS will assign the pen ID number. When it is unchecked, a number may be hand entered. An existing pen name may be selected for incrementing (Increment name must be checked).The pen that is added will have a name that is one larger than what is shown in the name field (for example, FVB-01 will be added

69

as FBV-02). Note that if increment name is not checked or the name has no numeric portion to increment, a duplicate pen name can be added with a unique pen ID. After submitting the new pen, a blank cage card for it may be printed.

7.4 Editing and Retiring Pens

The edit pen form can be accessed from the main button bar and from many other forms that contain an Edit Pen button. Select a pen ID or pen name and the current information for that pen will appear. This form may be used to move a pen into a different room or to change the pen status. Enter the date/time of the change before submitting it. A successful change will be displayed in the pen history list. To change the pen name, enter the change in the New Name field. To remove the name, enter blanks in the New Name field. The pen ID may not be changed. The pen comments may be edited. When retiring a number of pens, check the Retire box and the pen status field will be displayed as retired instead of the current status, saving having to change the status box before submitting. A pen containing live mice (mice with a non-exit life status) may not be retired.

Figure 7-5 Edit Pen Form

7.5 Moving Mice between Pens

There are two forms for moving mice. The Move Mouse button on the main button bar is used for moving one mouse at a time. Select the mouse and then the pen to put it into. A detail cage card may be printed for the selected pen. A live mouse (non-exit life status) should not be moved into a retired pen. When mice are moved around they may need to be moved into pens that do not exist yet

70 Figure 7-6 Move Mouse Form

in JCMS. In this case, use the Create New Pen button to add the pen. The session box will indicate the mouse ID moved and its old and new pen ID number. The Move Mice button on the main button bar will open the handheld move mice form. See below for a description.

7.6 Moving Mice Using Handheld

When opening from the handheld main menu, select the two pen ID numbers and choose Move Mice. When opening from the Main Button Bar the form will show the two highest pen ID numbers. Select one or more mice to move. A new pen may also be created to move the mice into. The Move mice form allows optional printing of new cage cards for both the from and to pens.

7.7 Printing Blank Cage Cards

Most forms that allow the creation of a pen also provide a method of printing cage cards. Blank cage cards may be printed using the Print Cage Cards button on the main button bar. No pen records are put into the JCMS database. These blank pre-numbered cards are created to prevent the accidental use of duplicate pen IDs in the mouse room. Blank cards that are not used (because they are lost, damaged, etc.) have numbers that may never be used in the database. If the setup variable MTS_RELAXED_PEN_NUMS is set to false, this form may be used to print pen IDs on cage cards

Figure 7-7 Handheld Move Mice Form for later use.

7.8 Retiring Pens Automatically

JCMS may be configured to attempt to retire pens automatically when the setup variable JCMS_AUTO_RETIRE_PENS is set to true. Every time a mouses life status is changed from a non-exit life status to an exit life status JCMS will check if the pen it is in should be retired. Every time a mouse is moved into a new pen, JCMS will check if the old pen should be retired. The retired date will be the date of the action (exit date of the mouse or todays date if the mouse is moved). A pen will be retired if it is empty (contains no mice) or if it contains only mice that have an exit life status. Note the following exceptions: A pen will not be retired twice in a row. A pen will not be retired if its proposed retire date is prior to some action that is recorded in the pen history. (For example: the mouses exit date might be last week and this pens status was changed this week.) Changes to a pens status are not just date sensitive, they are also time sensitive. Wean dates are not time sensitive and are considered to occur at midnight on a particular day. Midnight (12:00:00 AM) is the earliest time something can occur. The date used will be the date that pertains to the mouse that is changed. This means that if there are mice in the pen whose exit dates are later than the one entered, the pen retire date could end up being prior to those exit dates. Suggestion watch the order that mice are exited so the most recent one is done last. The bulk forms for changing life status will attempt to also retire all pens. However, if an exception occurs in the middle of retiring pens, it will stop and not try to continue. Correct

71

the exception and use the Administrators bulk retire function to complete retiring the pens.

7.9 Bulk Retire Pens

Bulk retiring of pens is an Administrator function, found on the Administrator button bar. Use the Pen Maintenance button to open this form and click the Retire Pens button. This will search the database for pens that are empty (have no mice in them or have only mice in them that have an exit life status). These pens will have their pen status set to retired on todays date. NOTE: the pen maintenance function can take a long time to complete. Trial runs show that on a Pentium III 600MHz computer running JCMS with 2000 pens, the pen maintenance functions take about 3 minutes each to run. The 2 compute time will probably grow as n(logn) (but could be as bad as n , depending on how MS Access optimizes its queries), where n is the number of cages in the database. If you have more than 10,000 pens, you should consider running the pen maintenance functions when you have several hours available in which the database will not be used. You should also back up your database (JCMS_db.mdb) before running these functions just in case they take too long to complete. Whether or not this precaution is necessary will not be known until we have more experience with JCMS performance with very large data sets. Figure 7-8 Pen Maintenance Form

7.10 Correcting Pen Status and Date Errors

Figure 7-9 Edit Pen Status/Location Form

72

The Administrator uses the Edit pen status/location form for correcting errors to pen history records. Select a pen history row and edit it using the fields below the pen history list. A pen must always have one pen history record, others can be deleted.

7.11 Cage Use Reports

The two cage use reports are designed to provide information on the number of cages (pens) that should be paid for during a particular time period. Only the cages that have a billable pen status on a date are counted. Pen status terms are defined as either billable or non-billable. Use the Administrator pen status form to change the billable attribute of a pen status term. If the pen status terms are set up to track a cage use, then by filtering the report results for a specific billable pen status, the number of cages for that use are listed. For example, a pen status term breeding could be used for all pens containing a mating pair. By setting the filter option for status to breeding only those pens are counted. Additional filter options may be selected. All the filter options are combined (anded) together and further limit the results. For example, the report could count cages in a specific room, with a specific owner and strain. A pens status may change in the middle of a day. Pen billing is used to determine if a pen is counted on a half day (partial day) during which its status changed between billable and nonbillable. For example, the date a pen was established is a partial first day. The date a pen was retired is a partial last day. Full days count only the non-partial days. Any day counts all partial days.

7.11.1 Cage Use Report

Figure 7-10 Cage Use Report This report may be printed or exported to Excel. Several filter options may be chosen at once. Important Notes: If JCMS has a large number of cages and a long date range is selected, the report may run noticeably slowly. It may be best to run this report overnight in this case. If a status that is non-billable is selected as a filter option, the pen count will always be zero.

73

All strains have an associated stock # (JR #). It is not possible to select a stock number for one strain and a different strain as simultaneous criteria and receive a correct pen count. Use either stock # or strain as the criteria. It is possible to assign the same stock # to more than one strain (for example, if none is assigned, the stock number will be zero). If a stock number associated with several strains is selected, the pen count will indicate the total number of cages for all those strains.

7.11.2 Cage Use Summary

This report is formatted as a datasheet (spreadsheet-like columns) and may be printed or exported to Excel. The resulting columns are limited to only those in the selected Group that have pens that match the filter options. If a column contains all zeros, then there are an unknown number of pens that match the criteria, but all those pens have a non-billable status. For example, in Figure 7-10, owner nobody has C57BL/6J mice in pens in 4 rooms, but the pens in Big Jims and LAH7756 happen to all be retired and, therefore, the count is zero for those rooms. Nobody has never had any C57BL/6J mice in the room B-52 so there is no column for B-52 in the report.

Figure 7-11 Cage Use Summary Report

The important notes listed above for the cage use report also apply to the summary report with the following exception. If a stock number that applies to several strains is chosen as the filter criteria and strain is chosen for grouping, the results can be seen by strain. For example, in Figure 7-10 the strains New Mutant and New Mutant 2 both have stock # zero.

74 Figure 7-12 Cage Use Summary (bottom) vs. Cage Use Report (top)

8 Matings
JCMS is flexible in that you can choose to either set up matings on the computer (design mating) or do the mating work in the mouse room and later enter the information into JCMS (add mating). If the design first method is used, then the mating must be activated on the computer after the mating is implemented in the mouse room.

Matings Litters - Weaning

JCMS: Design mating (print cage card) Mouse room: Set up mating Mouse room: Check litters JCMS: Activate or Add new mating

JCMS: Add litter

JCMS: Print wean report (after adding litter)

Mouse room: Wean and tag mice

JCMS: Add litter w/ pups or Add mice at weaning

JCMS: Add genotype, schedule mouse use

Figure 8-1 Mating to Weaning Diagram This diagram shows a typical flow of information from JCMS to the mouse room and back to JCMS. Dashed boxes are optional. JCMS also has a special add litter form for use for those who prefer to wean mice before entering the litter information into JCMS.

8.1.1 Automatic Litter Number Generation

JCMS can generate litter numbers automatically. To use auto litter numbering, set the setup variable MTS_AUTO_LITTER_NUMS to on. When this variable is set to on, JCMS generates litter numbers and associates the litter numbers with a mating. Litter numbers are generated by JCMS in batches. The size of the litter number batches is a function of the setup variable called MTS_NUM_AUTO_LITTER_NUMS (the number of automatic litter numbers). It is recommended that the value of this variable be set to 10 or 100. By using a round number (like 10 or 100) it is easy to identify a litter as being the first, second, third etc., by simply looking at the litter number.

8.2 Which Mating Forms to Use?

Design Mating is used by those who want to set up their matings on paper by using the computer ahead of time. Activate Matings must then be used after the mating has been performed in the mouse room. Others prefer to first do the matings in the mouse room, then return to the computer and use the Add Mating form to enter the information. The Add Mating form may also be used in the mouse room on a laptop computer. If handheld computers are used in the mouse room, there is a special Do Pair or Do Trio mating form to use.

75

The Edit Mating form is provided for correcting any errors that were made in previous data entry. Eventually, the mating will be ended or retired. Some plan the ending of matings ahead of time using the Design Retire Matings form. All matings use the Retire Matings form when ended. When the Design Retire matings is used first, information given in the design stage is used for the defaults on the Retire mating form. This information may still be changed to reflect last minute changes made in the mouse room. Sires are often used in more than one mating simultaneously. JCMS will warn that a mouse is already in use in another unretired mating. Cage card note choices are set up by the Administrator by using the Administrator button bar.

8.3 Approved Mating Strains

Figure 8-2 Add Approved Strains Form The Administrator has the optional ability to create a table of approved litter strains. An approved litter strain field is a function of the dam strain and the sire strain. A sire strain and dam strain combination is not unique. That is, a sire and dam strain combination may result in multiple litter strains. The special case of when the sire and dam strains are the same will result in that strain always being approved and need not be entered in the database. Approved strain records can be active or inactive. Inactive records are ignored as candidates for litter strains. They are kept in the database for documentation purposes and possible future use. The Use approved matings only check box on the mating forms will be initialized to the value of JCMS_ENFORCE_APPROVED_MATINGS in the setup variables. When this is set to true, the user will be warned a litter strain is not on the list. The user may override the warning and still enter the unapproved strain. The forms for adding and editing approved litter strains are invoked from the main button bar by clicking the Administrator button. Use the two buttons: Add Approved Strains and Edit Approved Strains.

76

8.4 Designing a New Mating

Figure 8-3 Design Mating Form Matings can be set up on paper before they are implemented in the mouse room. The mating information may be printed on a cage card to be used by the mouse room workers. Once the mating is set up in the mouse room, JCMS must be updated using the Activate mating form described below. Use the Design Matings button to open the form. Use the blue-green drop down boxes to select the dam(s) and sire. Dam2 is optional. It is not possible to enter the mating date at this point. There are a number of proposed data items that can be entered on the design mating form (such as proposed diet). These items are stored in the database but not associated with the mice until the mating is activated (using the Activate mating form). The proposed data items allow printing out the information to bring to the mouse room. When the mating is selected for activation, the proposed items become the defaults so they dont have to be reentered unless a change has been made. Click on the Submit button to add the mating into the database. If there are no error messages, JCMS will automatically generate a mating number and a pen in the default room with a pen ID, pen status of proposed, and todays date as the pen established date. The mating number and pen ID will be listed in the session box. After the submit is successful, the Print Cage Card button will be activated. Printing cage cards is an optional step. The card printed will show the mating that was just submitted and the proposed pen ID number. The Clear button is used to clear all the fields at once.

77

8.5 Activating a Mating

Figure 8-4 Activate Mating Form Once the matings have been set up in the mouse room, use the Activate Mating button to enter the mating date and any changes. First select the mating ID number and the mating as it was set up will appear. If a different dam or sire was used, they can be changed using the drop down boxes. When a mating is activated, the diets for each mouse in the mating will be automatically updated according to the new diet combo box. The default new diet will be the proposed diet specified with the design mating form. The diets for each mouse can be changed by selecting a new diet from the combo box if the proposed diet is not the actual diet. The suggested pen ID will be used unless a different pen is selected and the three mice will be moved into it. The pen status is changed to active on the mating date. All fields that were changed will be displayed in red after a successful submit. The mating ID and pen ID will also be added to the session box. There is no way to delete a mating. If three completely different mice were used, use the Add Mating form to create a new mating instead. When the setup variable JCMS_AUTO_RETIRE_PENS is true, if the pens vacated by moving the dams and sire are now empty, the pens will be retired on the mating date.

78

8.6 Add a Mating

Figure 8-5 Add Mating Form The Add Matings form allows designing and activating a mating on one form. This form is useful for those who implement the matings in the mouse room and then want to come back to the computer to enter the data or for those who use laptops or other computers in the mouse room. On this form, there is a check-box on the lower right hand side that, when checked, tells JCMS to put the mice in this mating in the next available pen. If the check box is un-checked, then a pen ID number must be manually entered in the pen ID box or an existing pen must be selected. When the setup variable JCMS_AUTO_RETIRE_PENS is true, if the pens vacated by moving the dams and sire are now empty, the pens will be retired on the mating date.

8.7 Edit a Mating

Edit an existing mating using the Edit matings form. With this form it is possible to select new mice (dam1, dam2, and sire) and change the basic mating information. A duplicate or new cage card can be printed from this form. NOTE: If a new dam1, dam2, or sire for a mating is selected, it may be necessary to do other cleanup work. For example, the mouse that was in the mating and the new dam and/or sire, may need to have their breeding status and diets changed (use the edit mouse form). It may also be necessary to use the move mice form to move the replaced mice to appropriate pens. If a pregnant dam is moved out of a mating, the pedigree information for her litter may be lost.

79

The edit matings form does not automatically make changes to any of the mice in the mating (unlike the activate mating form which changes breeding status, diet, and pen automatically); however, a warning will display, telling exactly which mice to make changes to.

8.8 Design Matings to be Retired

Matings can be retired in two steps. First, on the computer decide which matings to retire (design step). Next go to the mouse room and do the work, then come back to the computer and actually retire the matings on the computer. Or, the design step can be skipped. The design retire matings form allows setting up a work list of matings to retire without actually making changes to the primary mating information in the database. The database stores proposed information in the mating table. When this form is used, it only updates the proposed fields in the database. Thus, no changes will be seen when a query for mating or mouse information is made. The idea is to set up a work report (by printing out copies of the Design retire matings form as you work). Then, after the work has been completed in the mouse room, use the Retire matings form to actually update the primary information in the database. When selecting a mating to retire, the proposed information (entered previously in the Design Retire matings form) will appear as the defaults in the Retire matings form. Any changes can be made at this point (to reflect what really happened in the mouse rooms) before submitting the changes to the primary information in the database.

8.9 Retire a Mating

Figure 8-6 Retire Matings Form Once the matings have been retired in the mouse room, the date retired must be entered into JCMS. Use the Retire Matings button. Select the mating number from the blue/green box. Only matings that have not already been retired are available for selection. All information about this mating will display as soon as the cursor is moved out of this box by tabbing or clicking

80

elsewhere. Enter the date retired. The dam1/2 and sire life status can be changed to an exit status by using the pull down menus. Similarly, the breeding status can be changed to R for retired breeder and a new diet can be selected. No changes occur until the Submit button is clicked. The retire mating form also has a Set Mice to Retire and Euthanized button which sets the mouse life status to the value of the setup variable JCMS_DEFAULT_EXIT_TERM and the mouses breeding status to retired (R). Using this button also sets the date exited to the date retired. Note if the default term is not euthanized, the button will display the default term on it.

8.10 Working with Matings using a Handheld

Figure 8-7 Handheld Form: Pair Mating Matings can be created using handheld computers by scanning or entering pen IDs. Two types of matings are available, pair or trio. A cage card can optionally be printed showing the pen ID, Mating ID, and suggested litter numbers. The automatically assigned pen ID and Mating ID will also be shown at the top of the form.

8.11 Automatic Retiring of Matings

It is possible to have JCMS attempt to retire matings as a background function if the setup variable JCMS_AUTO_RETIRE_MATINGS is set to true. When a mouses life status is changed to an exit life status, JCMS will check the following: Is the mouse in any matings? If so, check each active mating and retire those where all dam(s) and sire have an exit life status. The retire date used will correspond to the exit date for this mouse. Note: The check is made for mice whose current life status is a non-exit status. It will not be done if the life status is changed from one exit status to another or if the exit date is changed.

81

9 Litters
JCMS associates litters with matings. Each litter must have a unique litter ID number associated with it. JCMS can generate litter ID numbers or you can use your own litter number scheme. All litter forms except those for handhelds show a list of all litters currently associated with the selected mating.

9.1 Automatic Litter Number Generation

JCMS may be set up by the Administrator to automatically generate litter numbers. Once this function is set on, all JCMS users will have automatic litter numbers generated. Note, however, JCMS does not enforce which litter numbers are used (even if it generates a set of numbers); it is up to you to when you enter a new litter in JCMS to decide which number to use. If you prefer to use your own litter number series, then turn off the JCMS litter number generator.

9.1.1 Turning Automatic Litter Numbering On or Off

The Administrator controls automatic litter numbering from the Administrator button bar, using the button for JCMS Setup Variables. The variable called MTS_AUTO_LITTER_NUMS can take the values on or off.

9.1.2 Setting the Number of Litter Numbers that are Generated for Each Mating
JCMS increments its internal litter number counter by a value specified in the JCMS Setup Variables table. Set how many litter numbers should be allocated to litters by changing the value of this variable. NOTE: to prevent any confusion, it is best to set this number when first starting to use JCMS and then not changing it. We recommend that this number be set to 10 unless you really have long breeding pairs that you track. The number of litter numbers that are generated is set by the JCMS Setup Variable called MTS_NUM_LITTER_NUMS (from the Administrator button bar, click the JCMS Setup Variables button). Changing the number of litter numbers can create minor confusion (but no date problems) because the add and edit litter forms show the range of litter numbers associated with each mating. The range of numbers is calculated from the first suggested number plus the number of numbers generated (as specified in the MTS_NUM_LITTER_NUMS variable). The only point of confusion will be on the litter forms that may show an incorrect range for matings that were allocated a different number of litter numbers (if this is confusing, dont worry, just dont change the MTS_NUM_LITTER_NUMS variable very often).

9.2 Which Litter Forms to Use?

Multiple step process: Using this approach, first identify the litters from the mating and record them in JCMS (Add Litter button). When the pups are sexed and/or tagged, add the number of male and female pups to the litter record (Edit Litter button). Next use the Wean report (Wean Work Report button) to get a listing of litters that should be weaned during a particular time period. Finally, add the weaned pups and their wean and tagging dates to JCMS (Add Mice at Weaning button). One step process: Add the litter to the database when the mice are weaned by using the Add Litter w/ Pups button. This form allows adding all of the litter information AND adding the pups as individual mice in one step.

82

Handheld forms: Use the Add Litter w/mice choice from the handheld forms to enter a new litter at weaning. This form will create a litter record and then create the newly weaned mice in pens. It will not enter the wean date in the litter record. Use the Handheld Wean or Wean and Exit form to enter the wean date into the litter record.

9.3 Adding Litters

Figure 8-1 Add Litter Form To add a new litter, specify the Mating ID number. The mating information will show on the screen. Type the litter number into the litter number box or use the Next Litter Num button. Litters that were successfully added will be listed in the session box along with their mating ID number.

9.4 Wean Report

Figure 8-2 Wean Work Report

83

The Wean Work Report button on the main button bar will open the request wean report form. It is used to request a listing of litters that have not yet been weaned by returning all litters with a status of A and no recorded wean date. A start date is entered to eliminate from the list all litters that will be too young on that date for weaning. Litters will be selected that are 18 or more days old (for the standard wean time) or 28 or more days old (for long weans) on the start date. The resulting list may also be limited by selecting only certain mouse owners. Note the defaults for the standard and extended wean times are setup variables (JCMS_STANDARD_WEAN_TIME and JCMS_EXT_WEAN_TIME) that may be changed. The report is available in three formats: sorted by strain, sorted by room and strain, and ready to export to Excel.

9.5 Editing Litters

Figure 8-3 Edit Litter Form Click on the Edit Litter button to open the form. Select the litter number from the drop down list. When the cursor leaves the litter number box (either via tabbing out of the box or by using the mouse to go to another box,) the litter data will appear on the form. No changes are made to the database until the Submit button is clicked. The Clear button clears all edit fields in order to start over. However, if the clear button is pressed by accident then recover simply by clicking on the litter number box and then moving the cursor back out of the box (to redo the query). When pups are weaned, this form is used to enter the number of males and females, weaning date, and tagging date. Only an owner or owners secretary has permission to use this edit form.

84

Note that it is possible to use the Add Litter w/Pups form to create mice in proposed pens prior to the pups being weaned (possibly on the tagging date). These pens can be activated (pen status changed to active on the wean date) by entering the weaning date on this form and checking the activate pens box. If the Add Litter w/Pups form was used to give the pups mouse IDs and the pups were left in the mating pen, after entering the wean date for the litter, use the Move Pups button to open the Handheld Move Mice form and transfer the pups into the weaning pens.

9.6 Wean Litters

Use the Add Mice at Weaning button to open the Add a new mouse at weaning form. Each newly weaned mouse is entered individually. The wean and tag dates for the litter may also be entered on this form. See the Adding Mice at Weaning section for a description of this form.

9.7 Adding Litters with Pups at Weaning

Figure 8-4 Add Litter w/Pups Form This form is used to both add the litter into JCMS and add all pups as mice with individual mouse IDs in one action. Use the Add Litter w/Pups button. First select the mating and then enter the litter number by typing it or using the Next Litter Num button. Enter the rest of the litter information. The current mice drop down box is there to help determine the last mouse ID number used. Selecting a mouse number will cause the next number in the sequence to be placed in the base mouse number box.

85

Several workflows are supported by this form. 1) Create the weaned mice and litter all at once. Pups will be placed into new pens. a. Enter the wean date and optional tag date b. Select auto generate mouse records c. Enter a starting pen ID or use next available ID 2) Create the litter with tagged pups remaining in the mating pen a. Enter the tag date but no wean date for the litter b. Select auto generate mouse records c. Select leave pups in mating pen d. When it is time to wean the pups, use the Edit litter form to enter the wean date for the litter. Then click on the move pups button, which opens the Move mice form. Transfer the mice into their new pens. 3) Create the litter with tagged pups placed into proposed pens. This allows printing the cage cards for the new pens even though they are not yet in use. The cards might later be used in the mouse room to indicate where to put the pups when they are weaned. a. Enter the tag date but no wean date for the litter b. Select auto generate mouse records c. Enter a starting pen ID or use next available ID d. Use the pen status proposed and the tag date e. Note that JCMS will now show the pups located in the proposed pens, even though they physically are still in the mating pen. f. When the pups are weaned enter the wean date for the litter and change the pen(s) status to active using either i. Edit litter form: make sure activate pens is checked when the wean date is submitted ii. Handheld forms: scan the pen IDs on all the proposed cards for the litter, select the wean option, make sure activate pens is checked, submit the wean date.

86

9.8 Weaning Mice using a Handheld

Figure 8-5 Handheld Forms: Weaning and Add litter and mice Handheld Forms: Weaning and Add litter and mice These three forms are provided for using handheld computers in the mouse room for weaning mice. Scan the pen ID of a mating pen and select Add litter w/mice from the handheld main menu. This will open the Add litter and mice form. Use the Next Avail button to select the litter ID. Enter the litter information and a Base ID number (mouse ID number to start with) for the new mouse records. Printing cage cards will provide the proper labeling for the new pens. Submit will create a new litter record for this mating, new mouse records for each member of the litter, and new pen records with a pen status of proposed. This form does not enter the wean date into the litter record. Setup variable defaults are used for all values that cannot be entered (room name, mouse ID prefix if no base ID is specified, maximum number of mice in a pen). To enter the wean date into the litter record, scan one of the new pens and select Wean mice from the handheld main menu. Enter the wean date and click submit. This will enter the wean date for the whole litter. If proposed pens should be activated (pen status changed to active on the wean date) make sure to scan all the pen IDs for the litter. If one is missed, repeat using the form, the pens will be activated even though a message will indicate the wean date is already entered. A second method of entering the wean date is to enter it when the mice in the pen are given their exit date. Scan the pen IDs and select Bulk Exit from the handheld main menu. Enter the wean date, exit date, life status, and cause of death (C.O.D.). If the mice in the pen have already had a wean date entered, it will not be changed, so this form can also be used just to exit mice. If the setup variable JCMS_AUTO_RETIRE_PENS is set to true, if all the mice in a pen are given an exit life status, the pen will be retired on the exit date. The setup variable MTS_THRESHOLD_MICE_BATCH_OPERATION should be set to a maximum number of mice to be weaned or exited at once. If the number of mice listed is greater than this limit, a warning message is displayed, which offers the choice to continue or cancel.

10 Plug Dates and Pregnancy Checking

Vaginal plugs form following copulation. The plug date table is used to record the date a plug is observed and associate it with a dam and mating. Later, the plug date may be marked obsolete to

87

indicate the dam has given birth or that conception did not take place. Over time, a dam may accumulate a series of plug dates. Plug dates are used to generate several reports containing the following types of information: Stage of pregnancy (lists dams by strain and date of plug). Work report: dams to check for plugs (lists dams by strain that currently have no plug) Plug date history for mice or matings (lists all the dams plug dates) Pregnancy checks: Plug Date work report: dams to check for conception/pregnancy (lists dams by strain and date of plug). Pregnancy Check work report: for those not using plug dates, this report lists all matings with no litter in the pen and ignores any plug dates.

10.1 Add Plug Date

Figure 9-1 Add Plug Date Form The plug date is associated with a particular dam in a specific mating. Only matings that are active (not proposed or retired) are listed as choices. To add the same plug date to both dam 1 and dam 2 at the same time, check both apply to boxes. If a dam has previous plug dates that are associated with a different mating, they will not be displayed on this form.

10.2 Edit Plug Date

Only plug dates that are associated with an active mating (not proposed or retired) may be edited or deleted. Select the plug date to edit from the list below the dam by double clicking on it. Once the specific plug date record is displayed on the left side of the form, the comments, obsolete check box, and plug date may be changed. Mark plug dates obsolete to keep the dam from being listed on the plug date and pregnancy stage report. A dams plug dates must all be obsolete for her to be listed on the plug check report.

88

To delete a particular plug date, double click it on the dams plug date list. The delete button will become an available choice. If any editable field is changed on the form (plug date, obsolete, or comments), the delete button will no longer be a choice. This is to prevent accidentally deleting instead of editing a plug date.

Figure 9-2 Edit Plug Date Form

10.3 Plug Date and Pregnancy Check Work Reports

Figure 9-3 Form: Request plug date or pregnancy reports Three different reports are selected using this form. Any report may be filtered by owner. The tabular spreadsheet format may be exported to Microsoft Excel. If Microsoft Office 2007 gives the message Excel found unreadable content answer yes to recover the contents. No data will be lost.

89

10.3.1 Plug Date / Pregnancy Stage Report

Figure 9-4 Sample plug date / pregnancy stage report This report is sorted by strain, plug date, room, and pen ID. It lists for active matings, all plug dates that are not marked obsolete. In the sample report shown above, dams A2, F3, and F1 are listed several times because they have multiple plug dates that are not marked obsolete. For this report to be accurate, all old plug dates must be marked obsolete. Use this report to determine the pregnancy stage by calculating the number of days between today and the plug date. Use this report to list dams that should be checked for conception, pregnancy, or litters based on their plug date.

Figure 9-5 Sample tabular spreadsheet format plug date / pregnancy stage report

10.3.2 Plug Check Work Report

This report lists all active matings where one (or more) dams have no plug (i.e. all the dams plug dates are marked obsolete or it has no plug dates). The report is sorted by strain, room, and pen ID.

Figure 9-6 Plug Check Report

90

10.3.3 Pregnancy Check Work Report

This report ignores plug dates. It lists active matings that have no litter in the pen. A mating has no litter if all litters associated with the mating have a wean date or it has no litter records associated with it. A litter that has a status other than A for alive will be ignored since a litter with a status such as born dead might not have a wean date.

Figure 9-7 Sample pregnancy check work report

10.3.4 Plug Date History

Use the Mouse Query or Mating Query to obtain a list of all plug dates recorded for selected dams or matings.

91

11 Genotyping
11.1 How Does Genotyping Work?
Any mouse may have several genotypes. Each genotype consists of a gene and the two alleles that were found for that gene. In JCMS, alleles are associated with specific genes or gene classes. The JCMS forms that display alleles that may be associated with a gene use both criteria (association to the gene and association to the gene class) to come up with a list of alleles that may be associated with a given gene. The Administrator is responsible for setting up the available genes, alleles and gene classes. See section 3.3.7 on initializing CV tables for genes, alleles and gene classes for more information on how these are set up. The following Gene Class values are preset, but may have been changed or added to by the Administrator. Class name E MKO MTG TG KO KI Floxed CTK Comments endogenous multi allele knock out multi allele transgene trans gene knock out knock in tissue specific knock out Combination transgene + KO

11.2 Adding a Genotype to a Mouse

Figure 10-1 Form: Add Genotype

92

Click the Add Genotype button on the main button bar to open this form. To add a new genotype, specify the mouse ID. The current genotype will show on the screen. Next select the gene. Now the alleles that have been set up for the chosen gene will appear as choices in the first and second allele drop down boxes. The First allele and page number are required fields. If there is no page number, enter None in this field. If the allele drop down boxes are blank, make sure a gene has been chosen. If they are still blank, have the Administrator add the alleles to the controlled value tables. An image may be associated with the genotype by clicking the () button to the right of the image box. This will display a file browse window where the image is selected. When an image is associated with a genotype, it is copied to the directory specified by the JCMS Setup variable JCMS_DATA_FILE_DIRECTORY. This is the root directory where all JCMS data files are stored and it needs to be set before using this feature. Typically, the value of this variable is set to the directory where JCMS is installed, for example: C:\Program Files\The Jackson Laboratory\JAX-CMS\data The image may be removed by clicking the image delete (X) button. After adding the genotype an image may be updated by using the Edit Genotype form (see Section 11.3 below.)

11.3 Editing a Mouses Genotype

Figure 10-2 Form: Edit Genotype Click the Edit Genotype button on the main button bar to open this form. To edit a genotype, first select the Mouse ID. Then all the current genotypes for that mouse will show in the list box on the right side of the form. Double click on the genotype to be edited or deleted and that information will appear in the boxes on the left side of the form. Click the Delete genotype button to remove this genotype. Make changes to the information in the boxes and then click Update Genotype to edit it. An image associated with the genotype may be added or updated by clicking the () button to the right of the image box. This will display a file browse window where the image is selected. When an image is associated with a genotype, it is copied to the directory specified by the JCMS Setup variable JCMS_DATA_FILE_DIRECTORY. This is the root directory where all JCMS data

93

files are stored and it needs to be set before using this feature. Typically, the value of this variable is set to the directory where JCMS is installed, for example: C:\Program Files\The Jackson Laboratory\JAX-CMS\data An image may be removed image by clicking the image delete (X) button.

11.4 Adding a Genotype to a Group of Mice

Figure 10-3 Form: Bulk Add Genotype Click the Bulk Add Genotype button on the main button bar to open this form. Mice may have an identical genotype added to a group. The group may be selected by mouse ID, Litter ID, or Pen. Click the Show Me button to see the list of possible mice for the add. Enter the genotype information on the left side of the form in the same fashion as on the Add Genotype form. Select the mice to have the genotype added by clicking on them in the show me box. Hold down the shift key to select a range or the ctrl key to select one at a time. Any mouse that already has this gene will not have it added again or changed. These mice will have Y listed in the Already typed for gene? column.

11.5 Genotype String Format

The administrator can configure how genotype strings are displayed and if the confidence level is shown or not. Three new setup variables are used to indicate the string's appearance. The default display of a genotype is: gene[AB-Y/CD-N], where -Y and -N represent the confidence for each allele and the allele names in this example are AB and CD. The setup variables for the confidence level: JCMS_ALLELE_CONF_HIGH and JCMS_ALLELE_CONF_LOW may be set to a value that is 8 characters or less. The default values are -Y and -N.

94

The setup variable JCMS_ALLELE_GENE_SEPARATORS specifies one character that is used before the alleles and one at the end. The default is []. If no characters are given, one space will be placed between the gene name and the alleles. Note that the characters (single quote) (double quotes) ; (semicolon) and , (comma) are not allowed. Cage cards do not print the allele confidence levels. Table 11.1 Examples of genotype strings JCMS_ALLELE_ JCMS_ALLELE_ CONF_HIGH CONF_LOW -Y -N blank (?) blank blank (y) (n)

JCMS_ALLELE_ GENE_SEPARATORS [] blank : <>

RESULT gene[AB-Y/CD-N] gene AB/CD(?) gene:AB/CD gene<AB(y)/CD(n)>

12 Genotype Loader
The Genotype loader utility imports genotyping information and maps the rows and columns from a comma separated value (CSV) file to tables in the JCMS database. The result of the importation will be a set of new genotyping records for a given group of mice. The software reads a formatted input file, parses it, validates it, and automatically populates the genotype records for the mice identified in the file. Each file can be successfully loaded only once. If the user tries to load the file a second time it will generate error messages. Note: This utility was originally written to import SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) genotypes. Therefore, the acronym SNP may appear occasionally. The user can justifiably substitute the word gene marker or gene. The resulting records are the same. The JCMS setup variable JCMS_ENABLE_GENOTYPE_IMPORT must be set to true in order to bulk import genotype information from a file.

12.1 Input File Format

There are a number of rules concerning the format of the input file. These are described fully in this section of the user guide. The input file is a comma separated value (CSV) file. A CSV file has one row per line and columns separated by commas. The file can be created by any text editor or can be generated from Microsoft Excel. Only CSV files are accepted by the genotype loader. The contents of row one, column one must contain the string: JAX-CMS SNP Genotype Import vers 1.0 If this value is not present then JCMS will abort the importation. Row one, column four starts the gene identifiers. If these do not appear in the Gene table in JCMS then first the user will need to add them. In row two, column four begin the gene class identifiers. These are optional. Beginning in row three, columns one through three are the Mouse ID, a Vial ID, and a Position id, respectively. These values must be unique throughout the file. Stated another way, they can only appear in an input file once.

95

Columns four to the end of the line contain the allele identifiers associated with the genes from row one of the same column. Alleles have a confidence level associated with them. Please note that when loading genotype data from a CSV file the confidence level is automatically set to high. They can be modified later by using the Edit Genotype form. Parsing of the input file stops when: 1. the mouse ID column is empty OR 2. the gene marker column is empty OR 3. the allele column is empty. Example import file:

File Identifier (row 1, col 1)

Gene designations (row 1, col 4 )

Gene class (row 2 col 4)

Mouse IDs

Allele designations Position in the tray, i.e. genotype specimen location (optional) Vial ID (optional) Figure 11-1 Spreadsheet: the input file as seen in MS Excel The table below lists the components of the input file and whether they are mandatory or not. The column values are case insensitive. It also provides more details about the values in the columns, their meaning, and how they map to the JCMS database tables. Field Mouse ID Mandatory Yes Properties Alphanumeric, 16 characters maximum Description [Table.column] Unique identifier. Mouse IDs must exist in the database prior to importing the file. [Mouse.ID]

96

Field

Mandatory No

Properties Alphanumeric, 16 characters maximum Alphanumeric, 16 characters maximum

Description [Table.column] Maps to the sampleVialID tag field. Must be unique. [Mouse.sampleVialID] Maps to the sampleVialTagPosition. [Mouse.sampleVialTagPosition]

Vial id

No Position

No Gene class ID

Alphanumeric, 16 characters maximum

Optional field. If present identifies a class of genes. [cv_GeneClass.GeneClass and Gene.geneClass fields]

Gene markers

Yes

Alphanumeric, 32 characters maximum

Treated as gene names. [Gene.labSymbol]

Allele designations Yes

Alphanumeric, 8 characters maximum.

Associated with the gene marker (Gene) not the gene class.

[Allele.allele, Genoytpe.allele1, and Genoytpe.allele2] Table 12.1 The mapping of the input fields to the data tables.

12.1.1 Alleles
Alleles can be represented four ways in the input file. The table below lists the four ways along with examples and the results produced by the example. Allele representation Two string separated by a slash A single string A string followed by a slash abc/xyz hom cre1 / Example Result Allele1 = abc, allele2 = xyz Allele1 = hom, allele2 = Allele1 = cre1, allele2 = Allele1 = , allele2 = cre1

A slash followed by a string /cre1 Table 12.2 Genotype loader allele representations

12.1.2 Import File Integrity Checks

The following table lists the tests performed and exceptions caught. Rule Row one, column one does not contain a valid genotype file identifier. Exception File is not an import file. Action Popup message box: The file <filename> does not appear to be a valid JAX-CMS formatted genotype importation file. <ok> After clicking OK the file dialog exits.

97

Rule All mice IDs from the input file must exist in the database.

Exception A mouse ID is not found

Mouse record must have an empty vialID or it must match the current value. If a gene name (marker) exists in the database then the gene class in the input file must match. Input file must be in a valid format (cont)

Mouse record has a sampleVialID that is not NULL and is different from the value we are trying to write. Gene and Gene class tuple from input file do not match what is in the database.

File is a valid file but does not conform to the expected format.

Action Record the error as Mouse Id doesnt exist in the database, no allele and genotype records are created for that mouse id in the error log generated at the end and skip this mouse record in the file. Record the error as Vial id doesnt match the value in the input file in the error log generated at the end and dont update the mouse record. Record the error as Gene already exists in the database but geneclass doesnt match the value in the input file in the error log generated at the end and do not add the gene / gene class tuple to the database. Popup message box: input file <filename> is not in a valid format. <additional info> (ok) The validation dialog remains visible with the error message and any additional info entered into the details box but the only option is the Cancel button. Popup message box: Mouse ID (recipient ID) <id> already exists in database at line <n>. and abort the operation Popup message box: Invalid file and abort the operation Popup message box: Missing Mouse ID at line <n> in the input file and abort the operation Popup message box: Missing Gene at line <n> and abort the operation Popup message box: Invalid Allele at line <n> and abort the operation

Mouse ID(s) not unique

Mouse ID (recipient ID) <id> already exists in database at line Invalid file Missing Mouse ID at line

Not a CSV file Missing mouse id field in the input file

Missing Gene in the Missing Gene at line input file Missing Allele in the Invalid Allele at line input file Table 12.3 Genotype loader error messages

98

12.2 The User Interface

Figure 11-2 Form: The main button bar with the "Import Genotype" button visible

12.2.1 Import Genotype

The Import Genotype button appears in the genotype column on the main button bar form. The JCMS setup variable JCMS_ENABLE_GENOTYPE_IMPORT must be set to true in order to bulk import genotype information from a file. This is the default. When functional, the button brings up a standard file open dialog. See Figure 12-4. The user can browse to files or type in a pathname, including a network (UNC) pathname. It accepts only comma separated value (.csv) files.

Figure 11-3 The file open dialog If the user clicks cancel, then the message Request to upload the file was cancelled is displayed and the operation is aborted. If the input file is not a comma separated value file the error message The file xxx.txt is not in a valid format is displayed and the operation is aborted.

99

12.2.2 Verification
Once a file is selected and verified, the software runs a series of validations against it. If any of the validations fail, the user will not be able to import the genotypes. If all the validation tests pass, the user may still elect to cancel. Figure 12-5, Figure 12-6, and Figure 12-7 show the user notification dialog that appears during validation, after a successful validation, and after the import, respectively.

Figure 11-4 The user notification screen during validation

Figure 11-5 The user notification after validation

The validation process: 1. Checks the input file contents of row 1, column 1 to be the string JAX-CMS SNP Genotype Import vers 1.0, If this value is not present then error message The file xxx.csv does not appear to be a valid JAX-CMS formatted genotype importation file is displayed and the operation is aborted. 2. Once the file is validated, the software checks if the gene class from the input file exists in the database, if not it is added to the database. 3. Tests if the gene markers exist in the input file, if not then error message Gene doesnt exist is displayed and aborts the operation. If gene markers exist in the input file then the software checks if the genes from the input file exist in the database, if not the genes are added to the database.

100

Figure 11-6 The user notification after import When the user clicks Import button, the software: 1. Checks if mouse ID from the input file exists in the database. If not it is recorded in the load report and the row is skipped. If it does exist then it checks if the user has permissions to edit the mouse. 2. Updates the mouse record with new vial Id and vial tag position values. 3. Checks if the allele(s) from the input file exists in the database, if not add all the new alleles to the database. 4. Checks if the genotype record for each mouse, gene, and allele exist in the database, if not add all the genotype records with respective mouse, gene, and allele to the database

12.2.3 Genotype Load Report

Figure 11-7 Genotype Load Report

101

A load report is generated at the end of the import process. This form is invoked from the Import Genotype form after the importation process is done. It gives the summary of the input file verification, count of gene classes added, genes added, alleles added, genotypes added, and mice updated in the database. Also gives the list of errors encountered during the importation process.

102

13 Scheduling Procedures (Uses)

13.1 How do Mouse Uses Work?
Mice may be assigned various uses over time. JCMS uses the term use to refer to a procedure, protocol, test, experiment, examination, assessment, etc that was done with a mouse at a particular point in time. Some uses such as taking a weight measurement may be repeated several times over the life of a mouse. Uses may have a use age that provides a projected date for the use. The projected date may be used to generate a report of work that needs to be done during a particular time frame. When the use is complete the actual date is entered and up to 10 fields are available for entering data results (text format). If the mouse uses system does not provide enough flexibility or data collection, use the Experimental Plan portion of JCMS instead. Experimental plans allow for user-designed experimental tests and metadata plus more complex scheduling.

13.2 Adding a Use to a Mouse

Figure 12-1 Form: Add Use Click the Add Use button. Type the mouse ID into the blue-green box or pick it from the drop down list. Any current uses for this mouse will display in the list box. The use age and mouse birth date is used to calculate the projected date for this use. The use age in months may be entered as a decimal value such as 1.75 for approximately one month, 3 weeks. With each use, some information may be stored in the comment field. The D1 to D10 fields are provided to store results or other information associated with this use. It is the responsibility of the user to keep track of what the data in each field means a suggestion is to include this as part of the data or comments. Ex: weight = 5gm or place Weight in gm in D1 as part of the comments field.

103

13.2.1 Mouse Use Report

Use the Print Mouse Use Report button to request a listing of mouse uses that are not marked done. Only mice with a life status of A for alive will be included in the list. The list may be limited to a single owners mice. The results may also be limited to uses projected for before a specific date. The report is designed to be printed in landscape format. If the print preview shows the report in portrait format, change by selecting from the menu bar: File Page Setup. Click the page tab and select landscape.

13.3 Editing a Mouse Use

Figure 12-2 Form: Edit Use Click the Add Use button. Type the mouse ID into the blue-green box or pick it from the drop down list. Any current uses for this mouse will display in the list box. To edit a use, double click on the use in the list box. The values for this use will appear in the white editing boxes. Update Use must be pressed for the changes to be saved or Delete Use to remove the selected use from JCMS. New uses cannot be added on the edit use form, only changes to existing ones. Often data results are repetitive. When using the auto increment ID function, it is not possible to repeat the data for the next mouse as this is an edit form. To make repeat entry of the same data easier, there are two buttons on the form. Click on Copy Data to JCMS Clipboard before clicking the update use button. Select the proper use from the next mouse. Click the Paste Data from JCMS Clipboard and the D1 to D10 data fields will have the values from that previous mouse pasted into them. No other fields will be affected by this special paste. The clipboard will

104

continue to contain these values so they may be pasted into a third, fourth, etc. mouse use. This clipboard cannot be used to paste these values into any other application.

13.4 Adding or Editing a Mouse Use for a Group of Mice

Figure 12-3 Bulk Add or Edit Use Form Click the Bulk Add or Edit Use button. This form allows both adding and editing mouse uses for a set of mice. Both functions cannot be done at once, first choose add or edit. The group may be selected by mouse ID, Litter ID, or Pen ID. Click the Show Me button to see the list of possible mice. Edit use: specify an old-use (the use to be edited). Only mice that have the old-use will be displayed in the show-me list. Thus, it is possible to select mice to work on from one of the selection criteria list boxes, and potentially none will be displayed in the show-me list because they do not have the old use. One mouse can be scheduled for the same use multiple times. Thus is it possible to see the same mouse listed multiple times in the show-me box. Use records can be distinguished from each other by looking at the old-use age. This form requires first selecting the mice to be modified and then choosing which of possibly many use-records to change. NOTE: When editing a use, the contents of the comment field will replace any existing comments associated with the specific set of uses being edited. This may seem counter intuitive when thinking in terms of editing the comments. However, this edit function is an over-write function. Add new use: select the add a mouse use choice and specify the mice to be operated on via one of the three selection criteria (mouse ID, pen, or litter). It is valid to add the same use many times for one mouse.

105

14 Queries
14.1 Colony Summary Report
Some useful queries within JCMS are pre-packaged into reports. The Colony Summary Report is one of these. To invoke it click on the Colony Summary Report button on the main button bar. The Colony Summary Report function produces a report that summarizes the state of the colony in a number of important areas. The report presents the information at a global level and additionally breaks it down in a detailed view by owner. The report displays: total number of live mice number of active strains number of active pens number of active matings number of active experimental test plans number of active experimental tests number of mouse tests scheduled Figure 13-1 Colony Summary Report Note: If mice in a pen have different owners, the pen will be counted more than once in the summary, once for each owner. Therefore, the total number of pens will agree with the sum of the number of pens each owner has.

14.2 What are Queries used for? or How to Search the Database
One of the most important functions of JCMS is to provide methods of searching for answers to specific questions about the data. The best way to obtain copies of the data entered into JCMS is by using one of the special query forms to set up a search. All searches have two parts, the question (criteria) and a description of the data to return (result fields to show).

106

14.2.1 Basics on using the Query Forms

Figure 13-2 Mouse Query Form The above sample query form shows the general layout of the query forms. Each form provides many choices for the criteria. The criteria specify how to decide the data to return. A simple query is shown on the form above: show selected mice. The rest of the criteria possibilities are set to Any. These possible criteria are ignored. The second part of a query is to indicate what result fields to return. The query forms all have a set of check boxes on the right side listing choices of result fields.

Figure 13-3 Datasheet: Mouse Query Results The Query forms allow extraction of information from JCMS into a datasheet form by clicking the Run Query button. This output of a query looks like a spreadsheet with a column for each result

107

field, but it cannot be edited. The example above shows the results of the query shown in Figure 12-1. The datasheet can be easily exported into Microsoft Excel by selecting on the menu bar Tools Office Links Analyze it with Microsoft Office Excel. The contents of a query form in JCMS cannot be saved between sessions. To keep the information from a query, be sure to export it to Excel before leaving the JCMS session. Figure 13-4 Query: Do you want to save changes to Form? When the datasheet form is closed, a prompt appears with the option to save the query form that has been created. However, saving the form in JCMS will not preserve the query information between JCMS sessions. It is best to NEVER SAVE A QUERY FORM IN JCMS. Always answer No to this dialog box.

14.2.2 How to Select Query Criteria

For many of the criteria choices there is a list box and some push buttons. Push buttons allow specifying to select specific criteria items from the list box, or if you dont care about a particular criteria item, push the any button. Select individual items in the list box by holding down the control key (ctrl) on the keyboard and while holding down the key, use the mouse to select individual items by clicking on them. A range of items may be selected from the list box by holding down the shift key while using the mouse to select the first and last in the range. If the ctrl or shift key is not held down, selecting an item from the list box clears all other selections. The example criteria is: show all mice with generation equal to F01 or F03. Another push button option is Range. Using this option allows specifying a minimum and maximum value or range of values for the query. Only mice between the minimum and maximum range, including the minimum and maximum values, will be included in the query results. The example criteria is: show all mice with a date of birth less than or equal to 10/23/2005. Another type of criteria choice provides multiple check boxes. If the any button is pushed, no check boxes are available (they are all gray and cannot be clicked on). Push the any button to make the check boxes white (available to choose). Multiple check boxes may be chosen or unselected by clicking on them with the mouse. The example criteria is: show all mice that are breeders or virgins. When more than one criterion is set to something other than any, the criteria are put together using AND Boolean logic. If the three examples above were used the criteria becomes: show all mice (with generation equal to F01 OR F03) AND (a date of birth less than or equal to 10/23/2005) AND (are breeders OR virgins). Figure 13-7 Query Form: Check Box Criteria Click the Run Query button to see the results. The Clear all and Select all buttons will only clear the choices of result fields. The criteria choices must all be cleared individually by clicking the any buttons. Output result fields

Figure 13-5 Query Form: List Box Criteria

Figure 13-6 Query Form: Range Criteria

108

must be specified for the query. If no fields are selected, an error message will be displayed.

14.2.3 Like Criteria for Mouse ID

The Like criteria will return all mouse IDs that contain the string entered in the text box. In the example shown in the figure, only M0008-A0032 will be returned. Entering 00 would return all of the mouse IDs shown in the list. JCMS has converted the string entered in the box to *A*. Otherwise the criteria of A would return only one mouse whose ID was exactly A. If a leading or ending * is entered by the user, no * will be added by JCMS. This allows entering *A to return all mouse IDs ending with A and A* to return all mouse IDs beginning with A. Standard wildcards as described below will work in the search. The information below is from Microsoft Access Help. Figure 13-8 Query Form: Like Criteria Character(s) in pattern ? or _ (underscore) * or % # [charlist] [!charlist] Built-in pattern matching provides a versatile tool for making string comparisons. The following table shows the wildcard characters you can use with the Like operator and the number of digits or strings they match. Matches in expression Any single character Zero or more characters Any single digit (0 9) Any single character in charlist Any single character not in charlist

You can use a group of one or more characters (charlist) enclosed in brackets ([ ]) to match any single character in expression, and charlist can include almost any characters in the ANSI character set, including digits. You can use the special characters opening bracket ([ ), question mark (?), number sign (#), and asterisk (*) to match themselves directly only if enclosed in brackets. You cannot use the closing bracket ( ]) within a group to match itself, but you can use it outside a group as an individual character. In addition to a simple list of characters enclosed in brackets, charlist can specify a range of characters by using a hyphen (-) to separate the upper and lower bounds of the range. For example, using [A-Z] in pattern results in a match if the corresponding character position in expression contains any of the uppercase letters in the range A through Z. You can include multiple ranges within the brackets without delimiting the ranges. For example, [a-zA-Z0-9] matches any alphanumeric character.

14.3 Mouse Query

The basics of using this query form are described above. Below is an explanation of how to use the genotype and mouse use portions of the mouse query form.

109

14.3.1 Query by Genotype (QGT)

Figure 13-9 Query Form: Genotype As part of the mouse query, it is possible to query for mice by genotype. That is, select only those mice with a particular set of genotypes (up to 10 may be specified). To use the QGT option, first select the check box near the bottom of the form that enables this feature. It is important to understand that QGT constraints have two levels: the Gene level, and the allele level. For each Gene, it is possible (but not required) to select one or two alleles that must be matched in order for the query to return results. There is a choice of using AND logic or OR logic (use the push button just above the QGT selection boxes to choose a logic type) when combining constraints at the Gene level. But at the allele level AND logic is always used. For example, suppose there are three genes X, Y, and Z. And for each of these genes there are allele possibilities x1, x2, y1, y2, y3, and z1, z2 where the letter x associates with gene X etc. Using OR logic you could select all mice with genotype X(x1,x2) OR Y(-,-). The - means you dont care what alleles are associated with the gene. This selection would return all mice that have the specific genotype of X(x1,x2) and all mice that have been genotyped for gene Y. There can be overlap in the sets since a mouse could have genotype X(x1,x2) and also Y(y3,y2). Using AND logic you could select for mice with genotype X(x1,x2) AND Y(-,-). Only mice that have both the specific genotype X(x1,x2) and have also been genotyped for gene Y will be found. Mice shown may also be restricted by the date they were genotyped. The genotype date selection criteria will further limit the mice that are found to only those mice genotyped on a specific date or date range.

14.3.2 Interpreting the Genotype Output

Any mouse may have zero or more genotypes. Each genotype is reported in the following format: labSymbol[allele1-conf/allele2-conf] Example: bax[1-Y/0-N]. The allele confidence is reported as Y for yes, we have confidence or N for no, we do not have confidence.

110

14.3.3 Restricting Genotypes in the Query Output

Figure 13-10 Query Datasheet: Restricted Genotype Output If you check the box for restricted genotype output, only the genotypes for the genes selected in the genotype constraints will be output. When this option is used, each genotype is reported in a separate column in the output form. You may also request genotype details and view the sample location and page number for the sample. Since a mouse may have been typed for more genes in than those selected, a column is added to the output form which indicates if there are More genotypes for this mouse, or No More genotypes for this mouse in the database. Below is an example of a genotype with the genotype details; pg is page number, and sl is sample location. sl=NONE implies that there is no information about sample location in the database. Also dt is the genotype date field. In this case the date was not stored in JCMS so it is listed a no date. Sod1[1-Y/1-Y] (pg=g7-84) (sl=NONE) (dt=no date)

14.3.4 Query by Mouse Use

As part of the Mouse Query, it is possible to set up criteria for mouse uses. If multiple uses are selected the results will include all mice that have one of the selected uses (i.e. the uses are ORed together in the query). If the check box to restrict output to only the selected uses is checked, JCMS will put each selected use in a separate column (instead of putting all of the uses in one comma delimited list). Use details (such as comments) can also be shown this way. If a mouse has more uses than those displayed, the more uses column will be will have the word more in it. To be sure to see all uses for all mice selected in the query, the restricted output checkbox must be unchecked. Mouse uses must be checked in the results fields in order for the restrict output to show selected uses only check box to be enabled (see green circle). The show use Figure 13-11 Query Form: Mouse Use details checkbox will not be enabled unless the restrict output to show selected uses box is checked. The output can also be restricted to show only mice that have selected uses that are not done or are done. For example, this feature can be used to show all mice that have not yet been tested for a specific use.

Figure 13-12 Query Datasheet: Mouse Uses The use details use the following codes: UA for use age, PD for proposed date, comments, and DATA: D1=, D2=, etc for the data field values. User note: use the Mouse-use Work Report button on the main button bar to generate a report of all mice that are scheduled for use.

111

14.4 Mating Query

Figure 13-13 Query Mating Form The basics of using this query form are described above. In addition to the normal results field column on the right of the form, the mating query has a special results section at the bottom of the form for checking off the litter results to show. Choose either summary litter information or detailed litter information. WARNING, in the litter detail section it is possible to choose to view information on up to 12 litters. However, it is important to understand that if all fields are selected for 12 litters of detail information, the output form will have over 100 columns on it. This can get unwieldy very quickly and it might overload the system resources. If it is necessary to view a high number of litters, then be sure to select only one or two fields for output in the litter detail section.

Figure 13-14 Query Datasheet: Mating

112

14.5 Experimental Plan Query

The basics of using this query form are described above.

Figure 13-15 Query Experiment Form This form offers four basic choices when selecting the criteria: 1. Any with data: results will be returned for all mice that have experimental data records associated with them. This can result in a mixture of results that include data from experimental plans and data records that are not part of experimental plans depending on the criteria. 2. Only mice with data for selected tests: The results will only include mice that have experimental data records AND are part of some experimental test. The rest of the criteria should specify the experimental test(s) and other choices. The possible choices have been limited to eliminate those that would cause a conflict (for example: an experimental test is always part of only one plan, therefore it is not possible to choose a plan name as this plan

113

might not include the test that was chosen, a situation that would yield no results). If Tests is left set to any then other criteria such as a range of mouse IDs or test status may be specified. This will yield all mice with data records that fit the criteria AND which are part of some experimental test. 3. Only mice with no data for a selected test: This will give results for all mice that have been pre-selected for the experimental test, but have NO DATA RECORD for that test. No criteria except the one test may be specified. The output result field choices will be limited to eliminate the data record fields. When only one test type is specified in the criteria, it is possible to choose from the data caption list instead of the generic D1, D2, D3, and etc. list. The rest of the time, the results may have different types of values in the D1, D2, D3, and etc. list. Check show data captions in column so the caption will appear in the results.

14.6 Microsoft Query

Microsoft Query (MS Query) may be used to select data from an "outside source" such as JCMS and bring it into MS Excel. In this case, Excel must be set up to ask for data from a Microsoft Access database named JCMS.mdb. See the Microsoft documentation for information on using MS Query.

114

15 Experimental Plans
JCMS provides a method for defining experiments conducted using the mice within the database, setting up definitions for the various experimental tests, data, and data defaults, and recording experimental results. It can also be used to setup, track, and schedule mice for use in the experiments. The following tables are used:

Experimental Plan

Mouse

Experimental Test

Test Type

Experimental Data Defaults

Experimental Data

Figure 14-1 Diagram: Experimental Plan Tables Experimental Data: One experimental data record consists of a set of data results for a mouse. A mouse may have many experimental data records, each one for a different test. Each experimental data record has to have an associated test type record that defines the format of the data results. Usually, each data record is associated with a test within a plan. However, it is possible to create data records that are not associated with a plan/test. Experimental Plan: A definition of one experiment or project, referred to as the plan. The plan is used to coordinate the tests, mice planned for use in a test, and results. Each plan may have many mice scheduled to be part of it. Conversely, a mouse may be scheduled into many plans. Experimental Test: One plan usually consists of several different tests (procedures). Some tests will be repeated multiple times perhaps using different sets of mice or with changes in protocol. JCMS considers each repetition a separate experimental test. Each test may have many mice scheduled to be part of it. Conversely, a mouse may be scheduled into many tests. A test must have one plan associated with it and one test type. The test type defines the format of the data results for this test. A test may have many experimental data records (results) associated with it, one for each mouse scheduled for the test. Experimental Test Type: To make the repetition of tests easier, JCMS allows the user to define each type of test used. This test type and data description includes a specific definition of the data collected. Up to 30 different result fields may be collected per mouse as part of one test.

115

Each result field may have specified a meaningful caption, maximum value, minimum value, format (date, numeric, text), and whether or not it is required. Experimental Data Defaults: Sets of default values for particular test types may optionally be defined to help with data entry of the experimental data results. Data defaults are associated with only one test type. Experimental data may be recorded without an association to a plan and test. However, all experimental data must be associated with an experimental test type in order to define the data result fields. An experimental plan may have mice pre-selected for it for planning purposes. An experimental test may also have pre-selected for it a subset of the mice selected for the plan. One mouse may be selected for multiple tests within a plan and may also be selected for other plans.

15.1 How to use an Experimental Plan

Error! Objects cannot be created from editing field codes. Figure 14-2 Diagram: Experimental Plan The experimental plan flow shown above is what the user will normally work with. The plan and tests will be defined. Mice will be scheduled for the various tests. Experimental data is collected and entered for the mice. Finally, reports and spreadsheets are output based on the mice and data collected. Behind the scenes, some things have to be defined to set up the flow above. Each step is defined in detail below. The general plan definition and execution process includes: Define the test types that will be used for the tests in the plan. Once a test type is created it may be used over and over again within this and other plans. The test type defines the data results fields to be collected. Define the data default values for the test type. These values are sets of expected or standard results for some or all of the data result fields. They are used to help with data entry. These may be created at any time during the life of a plan. There may be several choices of data defaults created for a test type. Create the experimental plan. Create experimental tests for this experimental plan using the pre-defined test types. Each experimental test includes information about the proposed date, projected number of mice and ages of the mice. A specific test type may be used repetitively for different groups of mice, different dates, and/or different ages. Each repetition must have its own experimental test created for it. Schedule mice into the plan and various tests. Scheduling mice is optional, if mice are not pre-scheduled, they will be automatically entered into the plan and test when the data is entered. Print the experiment work report. This report is used to list what tests are scheduled for a particular time period. Enter the experimental data results. Use the experiment query to export results into MS Excel, determine mice that have not had the data results entered yet, and answer any other questions about the status of experimental plans, tests, or data.

15.2 How to Create Experimental Data without using an Experimental Plan

It is possible to enter experimental data for mice into JCMS without going through the process of creating experimental plans and tests or scheduling mice. This process includes: Define the test types that will be used for the data results. Once a test type is created it may be used over and over again. The test type defines the data results fields to be collected.

116

Pre-defined test types for a plan may also be used to create experimental data records outside of a plan. However, it is not possible to use data default values without having an experimental test record. Enter the experimental data results. Use the experiment query to export data results into MS Excel and answer questions about the experimental data.

117

15.3 Setting up Test Types (Data Descriptions)

The test type and data description must be created before experimental tests or experimental data results can be added to an experimental plan. Even if an experimental plan is not used, the test type must be created before experimental data results may be entered. Once the test type is created, it may be reused for this or other experiments and data results.

Figure 14-3 Form: Add Test Type Click the Add Test Type Data Description button to open the form. This form may also be opened by clicking a button on the Add an experimental test form. Only owners or an Administrator may create test types. Use a brief but meaningful name for the test type, up to 32 characters long. This name must be unique (not used by any other test type). Use the notes field to enter a description of the test, protocols, etc. The description may be as long as needed. Up to 30 data result fields may be defined. These are labeled D1, D2, D3, etc. on the form. The results will later be entered into an experimental data record using this description to validate them. For each data result field, enter the following: Caption: Used on the forms as the name of the data to enter. Use a short but meaningful caption, up to 16 characters long. Field description: An optional short description of the result field. The description might indicate the units such as cm, gm, etc. or the expected text entries such as yes/no or mutant/control. It may be up to 16 characters long. Format: Select text, date, integer, or decimal value. The format will be used during experimental data entry to check for errors. For example, when the data results are entered, if a numeric format is chosen no text or special characters will be allowed except for the normal ones associated with numbers (-, +.) Required: Indicates if the field is required or not during data entry. By default, fields are not required.

118

Min value: Optional field. When experimental data is entered, numeric data may not be less than this minimum value. Max value: Optional field. When experimental data is entered, numeric data may not be greater than this maximum value.

A list box at the bottom of the form shows test types that have already been defined. If the test type to add is similar to an existing one, double click it in the list box. The values for that test type will be repeated on the form. These can then be changed and submitted for the new test type. After successfully submitting a new test type, click the Add default data values button to set up any defaults that would help with experimental data entry.

15.4 Editing a Test Type

Click the Edit Test Type button to open the form. This form looks and works in the same manner as the Add test type form. New data result fields may be added to an existing test type and changes to fields may be made only if no experimental data or test type defaults exist for this test type. A test type may be deleted only if there is no experimental data in the database for this test type, no experimental tests that are using this test type, and no default data records for it.

15.5 Setting up Default Data for Experiments

Figure 14-4 Form: Add Test Type Defaults Click the Add Test Type Defaults button to open the form. The Test Type defines the different data fields used for an experimental test. The test type data default values define a set of standard results that might be expected. Several data default records can be created for one test type, each will contain one set of possible default results. There does not need to be a default value for each data value field. One of these sets of standard results (data defaults) can be selected at the creation of an experimental test. These defaults are then used when experimental data is entered to speed up the data entry process. The values that are specified have to fit within any minimum, maximum, or format that is defined for the data field. No data field is required to have a default value. When experimental data is entered, the data defaults are displayed on the data entry form, where they may be edited to change any values that differ from the defaults.

119

Only the plan owner or the Administrator may create the data defaults.

15.6 Editing Default Data

Click the Edit Test Type Defaults button to open the form. Only the Administrator may edit or delete a test type data default record. Any edit changes made to a data default will not automatically change any experimental test that is already using this data default. That experimental test will still contain the old defaults. To change these in an existing experimental test, edit that experimental test and select the defaults again from the list of possible data defaults.

15.7 Adding an Experimental Plan

Figure 14-5 Form: Add Experimental Plan Click the Add Exp Plan button on the main button bar to open the form. The plan ID number will be assigned by JCMS. All experimental plans must have an owner. All experimental data generated for this plan will be assigned this same owner. All plans must be given a name and status. The program and/or field of study and keyword fields are provided so the user may later query for plans using this information. The Administrator sets up the choices for these fields.

120

15.8 Adding an Experimental Test

Figure 14-6 Form: Add Experimental Test Click the Add Exp Test button to open the form. This form may also be opened from the Add an experimental plan form or Manage an experimental plan form. Only owners and the Administrator may add experimental tests. An experimental test is always associated with only one experimental plan. Start by selecting the plan. In order to re-use existing tests (even from other plans), you can select a test from the white list box on the lower left hand side of the form and click Repeat Test. Then enter a unique test name of up to 32 characters. JCMS will assign a test ID. Choose the test type. JCMS will then display the captions for the data value fields and any choices for data defaults. Several fields are used to track the progress of the experiment including the current test status, a proposed date for the test, projected number of mice to use, and a suggested minimum and maximum age for the mice. This proposed age range may be entered in days, weeks (7 days/week), or months (30.4375 days/ month). The caption, format, min and max values used to define the data results to be collected for this test type are displayed on the form. To help with data entry, default values for these data result fields may be entered. These default values may be chosen from a list of previously created data defaults: select the default name and click the Use these data defaults button on the form. Changes may then be made to the default data values to customize them for this test.

121

15.9 Editing an Experimental Test

Click the Edit Exp Test button to open the edit an experimental test form. Only owners and the Administrator may edit experimental tests. This form looks and works in the same manner as the Add experimental test form. Select the experimental test by its name and ID number. The experimental plan the test is associated with may not be changed. The test type may not be changed once experimental data exists for this test. The delete button to remove a test from an experimental plan will only function if there is no experimental data for this test and no mice have been selected for the test.

15.10 Selecting Mice for an Experimental Plan

Three different methods may be used to select mice for experimental plans and tests. 1) The simplest method is to add the mice to the plan when the data is added. This method does not allow scheduling to be used. 2) Add the mice using the Mouse Query form. This method takes advantage of the query form criteria for selecting possible mice for the plan. A second step in the process uses the Bulk add mice from query form to add only a subset of the mice in the query result set. 3) The Manage an experimental plan form is used to remove mice from a plan and to move pre-selected mice into and out of experimental tests that are part of the plan.

122

15.11 Adding Mice to a Plan using the Mouse Complex Query Form
Mice may be pre-selected for use in experimental plans and tests. The Query Mouse form is used to add mice to experimental plans and tests. Click the Query Mouse button to open the form and use it as described in the Basics on using the query forms section to select a set of mice. No results fields need to be chosen. Click the Add mice to Experiment button. The Bulk add mice from Query form will open. It will show the mice selected by the query in the mice in query results list on the left side of the form.

Figure 14-7 Form: Bulk Add Mice from Query Choose the plan to add the mice to. Any experimental tests that are part of this plan will now be listed in the Tests in the plan box at the top right of the form. It is also possible to add the mice to one or more of the tests in this plan by selecting the tests in this box. Be sure to click the add to test(s) selected at right also push button if adding mice to tests. Otherwise, the mice will not be added to the selected tests, only to the plan. Note that a mouse cannot be added to a test unless it is also added to the plan. Mice may be added to a plan that does not have any tests. It will not be possible to add experimental data records for these mice until a test describing that data has been added to the plan. This may be done later. Select mice to be added and click the > add mice button to move them into the list at the right. Mice may be removed from the mice proposed to add list box by selecting them and clicking the < Remove mice button. The mice in the query results list box will indicate with a Y/N if each mouse is already in (preselected for) the selected plan and selected test. The number of other plans the mouse is preselected for will also be displayed. If more than one test is selected, the Y/N will be only for the first (or top) test in the list as shown in the tests in this plan list box. The Show/print query results button will show a print preview giving the contents of the Mice in query results list. Once the list of mice proposed to add is ready, click the Submit mice button to make the changes to the database. A print preview of the submit report will appear on the screen. This

123

report will indicate what actions were taken. It lists each mouse ID, the owner, and then a set of codes indicating if the mouse was added or not. The header will list the plan ID and any selected test IDs. The codes will appear in the order given in the header. The code A indicates the mouse was added to the plan or test and the code E indicates the mouse already existed in the database (previously pre-selected) for that plan or test. An additional code C will appear at the end of the listing if the mouse has an owner different from the owner of the plan. This is a reminder to check with the owner of the mouse before using it. Example of the report format: Plan owner = ABC, Plan = 6, Test(s) = 12, 15 MOUSE ID, OWNER, PLAN, TEST(S) 123, ABC, A, A, A 456, ABC, E, A, E 789, XYZ, E, A, A, C 123, ABC, E, E, E The above sample of a printout indicates that mouse 123 (owned by ABC) was added to plan 6 and tests 12 and 15. Mouse 456 was already selected for plan 6 and test 15. It was not already selected for test 12, so it was added to that test only. Mouse 789 was already selected for plan 6. It was not pre-selected for either test, so it was added to both. The code C is a reminder to check with owner XYZ for permission to use this mouse. Mouse 123 already existed for both the tests and plan (note it was accidentally repeated in the list of mice to add). No more action was taken for that mouse. Error message: XX mice were selected by the query, more than can be held in the Query Results box. The list has been shortened to show only xx mice. Use these or close the form and re-do the query. It is possible to select a very large number of mice with the Mouse complex query form. The bulk add mice from query form arbitrarily selects only about 50 of these mice for use with the form. Otherwise, the dataset can become awkward to deal with. If the mice displayed are not those desired, close the form and change the query criteria.

Another sample report Figure 14-8 Report: Add Mice to Plan

15.12 Managing an Experimental Plan

Click the Manage/Edit Exp Plan button to open the form. It is used to move mice in and out of tests and for deletion of mice from tests and plans. This form is also used for editing the experimental plan fields and deletion of tests from a plan. Mice are considered in a test and/or plan if they have been pre-selected for it or if they have an experimental data record

124

containing the results for the test. Mice do not have to be pre-selected; they will be automatically added to the plan/test when the data results are entered.

15.12.1 Choosing Mice for Experimental Tests

The Manage/edit Experiment Plan form is used for moving mice pre-selected for a plan into and out of experimental tests associated with that plan.

Figure 14-9 Form: Manage Experimental Plan First choose the plan ID. Then select one experimental test by clicking on it in the Tests in this plan list box (upper right of the form). All mice in the plan will be listed in the bottom left box and all mice currently in this test will be listed in the bottom right box. Select mice and move them back and forth between the boxes with the Add mice to test > and < Remove mice from test buttons. Multiple mice may be chosen by holding down the Control (Ctrl) key while clicking on each mouse. The Select all and Unselect buttons may be used to pick all the mice at once or to remove the selection from all the mice. No changes will be made to the database until the Submit changes to the list of mice in this test button is clicked. A report is displayed on the screen showing the changes that were made to the database. If no mice are listed, then all mice in the Proposed mice for the test above list box (right side) were already in the test. Otherwise, one of the following actions will be listed for each mouse: D (mouse was removed from those pre-selected for the test); A (mouse was added to those pre-selected for the test); or X (mouse was not removed because it already has an experimental data record for this test). The Show/print mice in test button will display a report listing all mice in the test and the current action that has been specified for each mouse. This action may be: A for add this mouse, R for remove this mouse, or N for no action.

125

Figure 14-10 Report: Edit/Mange Experimental Plan

15.12.2 Removing Mice from an Experimental Plan

The Manage/edit Experiment Plan form is used to remove mice from the list of those pre-selected for an experimental plan. First choose the plan ID. Select the mice to be removed from the plan in the Mice in this plan list box (left side). Multiple mice may be chosen by holding down the Control (Ctrl) key while clicking on each mouse. The Select all and Unselect buttons may be used to pick all the mice at once or to remove the selection from all the mice. Click the Remove mice selected in the left box button. A report is generated showing the changes that were made for each mouse selected. Y indicates the mouse was removed from those pre-selected for the plan. Unable to delete from plan indicates that the mouse is also pre-selected for an experimental test or has experimental data records for one or more tests. Mice that have data may not be removed from the plan. Mice that are only pre-selected for an experimental test must be removed first from the test. Then the mouse may be removed from the plan. The Show/print mice in plan button will display a report listing all mice in the plan with a Y/N indicating if each mouse may be deleted or not. This report also indicates if the mouse is in the currently selected test and how many tests in this plan that each mouse is in.

15.12.3 Editing Experimental Plan Fields

The Manage/edit Experiment Plan form is used for changing the fields describing the experimental plan. These are the fields shown in the upper left section of the form. Select the Plan ID. The Clear Plan fields button will blank all fields including the required ones. The Submit changes to Plan fields button must be clicked to make the changes permanent in the database. The owner and plan ID may not be changed. The plan name and status are required.

15.12.4 Deleting an Experimental Plan

The Manage/edit Experiment Plan form is used for deleting experimental plans. Select the plan ID. Click the Delete Plan button. A plan cannot be deleted if it has any experimental tests, any pre-selected mice, or any experimental data records associated with it.

126

15.12.5 Deleting an Experimental Test

The Manage/edit Experiment Plan form is used for deleting experimental tests. Select the test from the list box at the upper right side of the form. The delete test button will only function if there is no experimental data for this test and no mice have been pre-selected for the test.

127

15.13 Adding or Editing Experimental Data for a Mouse

Figure 14-11 Form: Add Experimental Data Click the Add Exp Data button from the main button bar to open the form. Experimental data does not have to be associated with an experimental plan and test. To add data for mice not in a plan, remove the check mark next to This data is associated with an experimental plan. The unnecessary fields will now be grayed out and all mice will be listed in the mouse drop down box. Begin adding experimental data by choosing the test type. The captions for the data values will then appear on the form. Any minimum or maximum values will be displayed and the required box will be checked if the field must have data entered. Choosing the test type will narrow down the choices of experimental plans and tests to only those for this test type. Choose the Plan ID to narrow down the choices of experimental tests. Then choose the Test ID. The test ID may be chosen without first picking the plan ID. Once the test is chosen, any default data values that have been set up for it will be displayed. These are to aid in data entry and should be changed to the actual value for each specimen. Once the test ID is chosen, only mice that need to have a data record added will be listed in the mouse drop down box. These are mice that are pre-selected for this test. See the section on managing an experimental plan to learn how to pre-select mice. To enter data for a mouse that is not pre-selected for a test, type the mouse ID into the mouse drop down box. A confirmation box will appear to verify that the mouse should be added to the list of pre-selected mice for this test. If YES is selected, the mouse will be added to the list of those pre-selected even if the data record is not later successfully submitted. The mouse is added to the pre-selection list first, before the experimental data submit occurs. See the section on managing an experimental plan to learn how to remove mice from those pre-selected for a test.

128

JCMS always sets the owner of the data to be the same as the owner of the plan. If no experimental plan and test is used, then the owner of the data may be set to any valid owner. The age field indicates the age of the specimen at the time of data collection. JCMS will calculate this from the data collection date and birth date of the mouse if the Auto-calculate age button is selected. A warning message will appear if the mouses life status is not alive and the experiment date is after the mouses exit date. JCMS will store the age field value as number of days old. Age may be entered in weeks or months by selecting the appropriate radio button. If one or more data values in the test results for this specimen are abnormal, then check the Data is abnormal box. Later, this value may be used to easily locate all experimental data records with unusual results. If the Change the life status of this mouse and set the exit date to the data collection date box is checked, then the mouse record will be updated at the same time as the experimental data record is submitted. The mouse will not be updated unless the submit is successful for the experimental data record. If Auto Increment ID is checked, then the next pre-selected mouse ID (alphabetically) will be displayed in the mouse drop down box. The Data ID for this experimental data record is assigned by JCMS and will be displayed in the Data added this session box. The Test complete for this Exp Plan button will change the test status in the experimental test record for the test currently indicated in the Test ID box to done.

15.14 Editing Experimental Data

Click the Edit Exp Data button to open the form. Select either Data ID or Mouse as the method to use for selecting the experimental data record to edit. Selecting a Plan ID or Test ID will limit the choices in the other drop down boxes. If the desired drop down boxes are grayed out (not available to choose from), then click the Data ID or Mouse buttons again. This will start the selection process over. When no test ID is selected, a particular mouse may be listed multiple times in the mouse drop down box, once for each experimental test the mouse has data results for. The Data ID and Mouse drop down boxes will show all experimental data records that exist for the selected test ID. These boxes will not show pre-selected mice that have no experimental data record yet. Use the Add experimental data form to add the data for the pre-selected mice. The rest of the fields on the form work the same as on the Add experimental data form described above.

129

15.15 Adding Experimental Data to Several Mice at Once

Figure 14-12 Form: Bulk Add Experimental Data Click the Bulk Add Data to Specific Test button to open the form. This form is used to enter new data values for mice that have already been selected as part of a particular plan and test. If several mice should have all the same data values, this form may be used to speed up data entry. Or, it could be used to create data records for a group of mice where many of the data values are the same, then use the Edit Experimental Data form to change or add specific values for each individual mouse. Select the experimental plan ID to limit the choices in the test ID box to only those for the specific plan. Once a test ID is chosen, the list box will show all mice that have been pre-selected for the test. The first column indicates if a data record has already been added (Y) or not (N) for that mouse ID. Select one or more mice in the list box. WARNING: The whole batch will be rejected if any of the selected mice already have a data record (Added = Y). The rest of the form works similarly to the Add Experimental Data form described above.

15.16 Experiment Work Reports for Scheduling Procedures

Click the Owner Experiment Work Report button to open a form for requesting the report. This report is designed to provide lists of mice for a work to-do schedule. It will give a listing by test of all the pre-selected mice, where the proposed test date is within a selected date range. This report may only be printed for one owner at a time. Basic information about the mice will be printed (ID, pen, strain, generation, date of birth, age at the beginning date of the range, sex, life status, plan ID, test ID, test proposed date.) The report will display in a print preview format first in order to save paper.

130

Figure 14-13 Experiment Work To Do Report The Test Type Experiment Work Report allows selecting by test type and test status. This report is formatted as a spreadsheet-like datasheet, which may be printed or exported to Excel.

15.17 Experimental Plan Query

This query is described in the Queries section under Experimental Plan Query.

15.18 Importing Experimental Data

The Import Experimental Data function of JCMS loads data from files and automatically populates the experimental data records for the mice identified in the file. The data may be associated with experimental tests that are part of an experimental plan or just be associated with mice. Many research programs use machines to generate data, such as blood work. It is impractical to try to support individual file formats for the many different machines that already exist and new ones being built each year. Therefore, imported data must be in a specific file format known as CSV (comma separated values). Many applications, such as MS Excel, are capable of creating a file using this standard format. Some user-manipulation of the file may be required prior to importing it. The data format must match a user-created and defined JCMS experimental data definition (test type). This test type may be set up to closely match the output file from a machine or application. The JCMS identifier (mouse ID) is used to match the data to the mice. Process Diagram User data User converts to CSV JCMS import program JCMS Experimental Data

Error reports Post-import reports

Figure 14-14 Process for importing experimental data from a user file

131

15.18.1 Input File Format

A file using the CSV (comma separated values) format consists of multiple lines or rows with the data values separated with commas. If the file is created using MS Excel, then each line is the same as a row in a spreadsheet. Each data value consists of the contents of one cell in a column. MS Excel will insert the comma used to separate the data values when the file is saved. These commas are not visible in the cells. CAUTION NOTE: data values, such as comments, cannot contain comma characters because commas are used as data value separators. JCMS format requirements Token row: The input file may contain rows that are ignored at the beginning. It must start with a row containing JCMS_DATA. This is a token used by the import program to determine where to start processing the file. Header row: The header row must be the next row following the JCMS_DATA token. The header row contains the captions indicating what data value is in each column. There are three special captions: Mouse ID, Abnormal Data Flag, and Data Collection Date. The first two are required and the Data Collection Date is optional. All data values that are imported must be in a column with a caption that matches one defined in the JCMS Test Type. Columns that do not match a Test Type caption or the three special captions are ignored. If the Test Type has required data, a column for that data must be present. The columns may be in any order. Duplicate captions are not allowed and will generate an error message. Example of an input file Blood, body weight test Tested on 1/2/08 Chuck Donnelly JCMS_DATA
Mouse ID, CJD-002, CJD-003, CJD-010, CJD-005, Abnormal Data Flag, T, F, F, T, Data Collection Date, , 1/2/08, 1/3/08, 1/2/08, Blood Glucose, 0, 89.2, 76.95, , Body Weight, 45.0, 34 30 36.4, Comments found dead malfunction

Data rows: All rows after the header are assumed to contain data. Data collection date is an optional field and may be left blank. If all the data has the same collection date, then the date may be entered once on the import form instead of being present in the input file. Blank rows within the file and at the end are ignored.

132

15.18.2 Create a Test Type

This is an example of the Add test type form showing creation of a test type that matches the input file header above.

Figure 14-15 Create a test type to match the input fields Note there can be captions in the test type that are not used in the importation process.

133

15.18.3 User Interface

The Import Exp Data button on the main button bar is used to initiate the import process.

Figure 14-16 Import Exp Data button Filling in the Import Experimental Data form.

Figure 14-17 Import Experimental Data with no experimental plan To add experimental data to mice without using an experimental plan, select no plan from the choices in the Plan ID combo box.

134

Select the test type from the list of choices. Browse to find and select the input file. The data collection date may be entered with the same value for all the data records by selecting it using the calendar. Otherwise, use the radio button to indicate it is present in a column in the input data file. The data collection age is an optional field. It may be auto-calculated (by using the mouses birth date and the data collection date) or left blank. When an experimental plan is not used, the owner of the data must be specified. This may be different from the owner of the mice.

Figure 14-18 Validate input Use the Validate Input button to initiate the validation process. The data file will be checked to determine if there are any problems and a report will be displayed indicating if the data may be imported.

135

Information about the request.

Information about the input file

Errors found

Input file data rows that may be imported

How to proceed Figure 14-19 Sample validation report In the case above, one input file row has been rejected with an error. The rest of the input file may be imported or the input file can be corrected and the validation run again. The number of errors that are acceptable is determined from a setup variable called JCMS_MAX_IMPORT_EXP_DATA_ERRORS. Once the error limit is reached validation will stop and errors must be corrected in the input file. The default is 10 errors.

Figure 14-20 Maximum number of validation errors

136

Figure 14-21 Import Experimental Data using an Experimental Test To record experimental data that is associated with a particular experimental test, first choose the experimental plan ID. The list of choices will change to show all active tests for that experimental plan. The owner is automatically set to be the experimental plan owner. Browse to select the input file. Select the experimental test and data collection date and age settings. Click the Validate Input button.

137

Information about the request.

Information about the input file

Errors found

Validation failure

Figure 14-22 Data validation failure In the case above, no rows have passed the validation step and the input file or other parameters must be changed. The mouse IDs need to be added to this test using the Manage Exp Plan form or the setup variable shown below must be changed to false, allowing the mice to be added to the experimental test at the same time as the data is imported.

Figure 14-23 Allow experimental data to be imported to an experimental test without preselecting the mice Set the setup variable JCMS_IMPORT_EXP_DATA_ALLOW_MULTIPLE to true if importing with NO experimental plan and you want to allow more than one record for a test type/mouse combination.

138

When some of or the entire input file has passed the validation step, the Load Data button will be enabled. Click it to proceed. The load report will be displayed listing the rows added and those rejected with errors.

Figure 14-24 Enabled load data button

Information about the request.

Information about the input file

Errors found

Input file data rows that have been imported

Figure 14-25 Final load report

139

When a load to an experimental test is completed, if all the preselected mice have a data record, the option to change the experimental test status from active to done is offered.

Figure 14-26 Changing the experimental test status

15.18.4 Troubleshooting Notes

Data values, such as comments, cannot contain comma characters because commas are used as data value separators. The test type selected directly (no plan) or associated with the experimental test when using an experimental plan may not contain data value fields with the captions: Mouse ID, Data Collection Date, or Abnormal Data Flag. These are special captions used by the importation process. Do not insert spaces between the commas used to separate missing values. These can be accidentally interpreted as a value. A line of data containing A,B,,,C is not interpreted the same as A, B, , , C. There is no need to follow a comma with a space. Some applications insert characters at the beginning of a file that provide information to the application. If the file has the JCMS_DATA token on the first line these special characters may cause it to not find the token. The solution is to insert a blank line at the beginning of the file.

140

16 Samples

141

16.1 Set up Controlled Vocabulary for Sample Tracking

The first step in using the sample tracking features is to set up the controlled vocabulary for your lab. Sample tracking has both simple controlled vocabulary (see section 3.3.1) and several more complex controlled vocabularies. The simple controlled vocabularies for sample tracking are as follows: 1) Epoch: Used to qualify the samples age 2) Harvest Method: Indicates how the sample was harvested 3) Weight Unit: Units the weight is measured in 4) Sample Date Type: Used to qualify the sample date 5) Sample Status: All potential statuses a sample may be identified with 6) Time Unit: Used for indicating sample age 7) Sample Class: Top level category for a sample Some values have already been added to these tables. You will want to examine each one and add or remove values as necessary. These values are accessed by clicking on the corresponding button on the Administrative button bar:

Figure 15-1: Simple controlled vocabulary buttons for sample tracking After clicking the button, you will see the values in table format:

Figure 15-2: Example of editing simple controlled vocabulary

142

To add a new value, place your cursor in the bottom blank row and type in the new value. You must move your cursor out of that row for the new value to save. To remove a value from the table, click on the box at the left side of the row in the table. The whole row will be highlighted. Press the delete key. A dialog box will ask for confirmation that the record should be deleted. See section 3.1.1 for more details regarding simple controlled vocabularies. In addition, there are three complex controlled vocabularies for sample tracking. They are: 1) Sample Type: Within class, identifies the sample type 2) Preservation (Type, Method, Detail): Values for indicating how the sample is preserved 3) Location: Where the sample resides As with simple controlled vocabularies, you will add and remove values as necessary. You may do this by clicking the corresponding buttons on the Administrator button bar:

Figure 15-3: Complex controlled vocabulary buttons for sample tracking To administer sample types, click the Sample Type button. You will see the following screen:

Figure 15-4: Manage sample types screen To add a sample type, first select the sample class it should belong to from the drop down at the top of the screen. Then enter the value in the Sample Type text box and click Add. To rename one, double click it, update the name, then click Rename. To remove one, highlight it and click remove. You may not remove a type after it has been used for samples.

143

To administer preservation vocabularies, click the Preservation button the Administrator button bar. You will see this window:

Figure 15-5: Manage preservation vocabularies screen It is important to remember that, on this screen, the values in a list are relevant only to the selection made in the list to its left, and all values pertain to the selected sample class at the top of the screen. The preservation methods listed pertain to the selected preservation type, and the preservation details pertain to the selected method. To add any value, type the value in the text box below the list and click the Add button. To rename a value, double click it, update the value in the text box and click Rename. To remove a value, highlight it and click Delete. As with other vocabularies, you may not remove an item if it has already been used in a sample record. Finally, to administer locations in your facility, click the Locations button on the Administrator button bar. Following is the location administration screen:

144

Figure 15-6: Manage sample locations screen This screen is organized as a tree view with nodes representing locations. You may expand and collapse the nodes in the tree, and add and remove nodes at any level. For example, you may have a building node under the root level, and beneath that node are room nodes, beneath that may be shelf nodes. This allows you to be as general or specific about locations as necessary. To add a new value, highlight the parent value, type the name in the New Field text box, and click Add. Following the previous example, if you wanted to add a new room to a building, you highlight the building, enter the name of the room, and click Add. To rename a value, highlight it, enter the new name in the New Field text box, and click Rename. To remove a value, highlight it and click Delete. You may also enter text descriptions for any node by typing in the Location description box on the right hand side of the screen, and clicking Update Description.

145

16.2 Add Samples

Figure 15-7: Add Sample form The Add Sample form is accessed by clicking the Add Sample button from the Track Samples section of the button bar. You may use the Add Sample form to add as many samples during a session as necessary. No sample information is saved to the database until you click the Submit button at the bottom left of the screen. This screen is divided into two sections, the top part is for identifying the source of the sample and the bottom part is for the sample data. Each section contains a grid that can hold one or more items. It is important to understand that a sample or samples may have one or more sources, and a source or sources may have one or more samples associated with it. You may view samples previously entered for the source(s) by clicking the Show Existing Samples button. The source(s) of a sample may be another sample, a mouse, mating, or litter. There is also an Other option; if this is selected, only the strain is saved as the source of the sample. When you make a selection for the source type, except for the Other option, the ID of Source drop down list is populated with IDs relevant to the source type. For example, if you select a source type of Mouse, the IDs of Source drop down list will contain mouse IDs. You may filter this list by choosing a strain from the Strain drop down list. To select an item from the list as a source, select it in the IDs of Source drop down list and click the > button to move it into the source

146

grid. The source grid indicates the source(s) that you have selected for this sample. If multiple sources are indicated, they must be of the same type. For example, you may not indicate both a mouse and a litter as the sources for a sample. In addition, the sources selected must be of the same strain. If you would like to remove a source from the selected sources grid, highlight it and click the red X button. When you are finished identifying the source(s), you may enter the sample information. Each sample is identified by a Sample ID, and these must be unique. You may enable the system to generate these for you by checking Auto-generate ID. When using this, you will indicate the format you would like to use with the first sample you enter, and the system will then use that format for subsequent samples. For example, if you would like to enter five samples in the format S_01, S_02, S_03, S_04, and S_05, enter the first one (S_01) and the system will increment the numeric digits for the remaining samples. Required data entry fields are identified with asterisks. You must indicate the samples class and type (i.e. Live, Embryo) and you will notice that the values for the sample type are based on the selected sample class. Values in the drop down lists for Preservation Type, Method, and Detail are dependent on the selection for Sample Type. Note that the sample date, weight, and age have both a data entry box and one or more drop down lists to qualify the value. For example, you may enter a value for age, and then use the drop down lists to indicate the time units and how the age is measured. The Calculate Age button may be used to automatically generate the age based on the relevant date of the source. Relevant dates are birth date for mouse, mating date for mating, and litter born date for litter. If you have more than one source indicated, and the relevant dates are different (i.e. two mice with different born dates,) the Calculate Age button will be disabled. The samples location is specified by using the location Tree at the bottom left side of the screen. You may expand the tree by clicking on the + to the left of any branch of the tree, allowing you to drill down to whatever level of detail is necessary. You may select any branch of the tree at any level, which allows saving the location from something as general as a building, to something as specific as a box on a shelf in a room in a building. After entering the sample information, use the > button next to the sample grid to move the sample into the grid. You may then repeat the process to additional samples to the grid. All samples added to the grid will be associated with the source(s) you identified in the first step. If you need to remove a sample from the grid, highlight it and click the red X button. Note that both the source and samples grids have a Clear Grid button that will remove all entries from that grid. You may edit a sample in the grid by highlighting it and clicking the < button, updating the data on the left and then clicking the > button. When your samples grid is complete and you are ready to save, click the Submit button. This enters the samples into the database, and the rows in the grid will turn green to indicate that they were saved successfully. You may then either close the form or continue entering additional samples. The Clear button at the bottom of the screen will clear all values so that you can start entering a new set of samples. Everything that you enter will appear in the Samples Entered this Session list.

147

16.3 Edit Samples

Figure 15-8: Edit Sample Form The Edit Sample form is accessed by clicking the Edit Sample button from the Track Samples section of the button bar. All data about a sample, including its source(s), may be updated on the edit sample screen. This screen is used to update one sample at a time. The first step is to select the Sample ID of the sample you wish to update from the Sample ID drop down list at the top of the screen. After selecting a sample, you may make whatever updates are necessary. The data entry fields on this screen function the same way as their corresponding data entry fields on the Add Sample screen. After the information has been updated, click the Submit button to save your changes.

148

16.4 Bulk Change Samples

Figure 15-9: Bulk Sample Update Form JCMS Sample Tracking provides a specialized screen for bulk updates to a group of samples to change their status, location, and/or owner. To get to this screen, click the Bulk Sample Update button on the Main Menu Bar. The top half of this screen is used for indicating the group of samples to be updated. This is done by searching for samples by Sample ID, selecting one or more samples from the search results, and moving them into the selected samples grid. You may enter a full or partial sample ID in the Sample ID box, then click the Search button. Samples matching the search criteria will appear in the search results list. Select one or more samples by highlighting them, and click the > button to move the samples into the selected samples grid. You may perform as many searches as necessary to fill the selected samples grid. As on the Add Sample screen, you may remove a sample by highlighting it and clicking the red X button. On the bottom half of the screen, select one of the update options, and then select the new value to be applied. When the submit button is clicked, the updated value will be applied to all samples in the grid. You may make additional updates if necessary. For example, to change a status and location for a group of samples, you would first select Sample Status and pick the new status and click Submit. Then you would select Sample Location and pick the new location value and click Submit. Only samples belonging to the logged on user may be transferred to a new owner using this form. If ownership transfers by an administrator from one owner to another are desired, the Bulk Change of Ownership form, under Admin Functions, is used.

149

16.5 Query Samples

Figure 15-10: Query Samples Form This screen is accessed by clicking the Query Samples button on the main menu. It is used for producing a query and obtaining results for samples. It allows maximum flexibility, as you may select any combination of sample information to filter your results, and you have control over which output values you would like to view. If you wish to see all results for a specific search criteria, leave the selection at the default Any. If you would like to narrow results, select a value either by typing it in or selecting it from the drop down list where applicable. Where possible, you may also enter a range of values. Use the check box list along the right hand side of the screen to select which values you would like to be included in your results. Search criteria on this screen may be enabled or disabled based on a selection made in another area. This happens if the two search criteria are dependent on each other. For example, sample type and preservation information are dependent on the sample class. When you select Histology for sample class, the sample status, sample type, and preservation type areas became enabled. When you select a specific preservation type, rather than Any, the preservation method area becomes enabled, and so forth. This allows you to drill down into the dependent information. When you have made your query selections, click the Run Query button and you will see your results in tabular format.

150

16.6 Browse Sample Storage Locations

Use this form to display a listing of all samples in a particular location.

Figure 15-11 Browse Sample Storage Locations Form

151

16.7 Print Sample Labels

A button on both the Add Sample and Edit Samples forms called Print Sample Labels will open the Print Sample Labels form, shown below in Figure 15-12. This form allows you to print samples selected by searching on the Sample ID value. First configure the label parameters by indicating the height of the label, font size, and whether you want text or bar coded labels. After that, select the samples to print. Similar to the mechanism for selecting samples to edit, you enter a full or partial sample ID value, click Search, and then select samples for printing based on the search results. To select a sample for printing, highlight it in the search results list and click the right arrow (>) button. You may select multiple values by using the shift (consecutive select) and control (non-consecutive select) keys. You may remove samples from the samples to print list by highlighting them and clicking the remove (X) button, or you can clear the entire list by clicking the Clear List button. After you have set the label parameters and selected samples to print, click the Preview button. This will bring up the print preview window, and if everything looks correct you may print the labels on your printer from there. Note: The JCMS Setup variable JCMS_SAMPLE_LABEL_REPORT indicates which report is run when the Preview button is clicked. This value defaults to the PrintSampleLabels report. However, if a custom label report is created, the setup variable may be changed to run the custom report instead. See Section 2.3.9 for instructions on obtaining a bar code font in order to use bar code labels.

Figure 15-1215-12 Print Sample Labels

152

17 FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

17.1.1 JCMS starts up and shows the database, but no welcome window appears.
Find the answer to this question in the Configuration Issues section 2.3.11.7.

17.1.2 Every time I add, edit, or delete a record in JCMS Im prompted with a dialog box.
MS Access has an option that allows this feature to be turned on or off. Section 2.3.3 describes how to configure these database options.

17.1.3 What to do about an end/debug error message

Occasionally an error dialog box will be displayed with two buttons, end and debug. This dialog box is displayed only when the program encounters a serious bug. If you see this dialog box you should write down a description about what you were doing at the time and the exact text of the error message. Then contact your Administrator as soon as possible. If your Administrator is not available, select the end button and close any program code windows that are left open. You can check your data entry via the various JCMS query forms. If the data looks okay, then continue to work, but be sure to report the bug so it can be fixed in the next release. Oftentimes, the bug is a minor thing that can be worked around until the next release. If you detect a data problem, stop all data entry and report the problem immediately.

17.1.4 Error messages when editing date fields

Why are date fields giving error messages when edited? Problem: If the format the dates are in is MM/DD/YYYY (a 4 digit year), when this is edited, JCMS expects the date to be in the format MM/DD/YY (a 2 digit year) and gives an error. Most of the dates have now been changed to use a pick control, eliminating this problem. Solution: Remember to highlight the whole field when editing and enter the whole date with a two digit year. A second, more permanent solution is to change the computer to use two digit dates. From the Start button, choose Settings Control Panel. Double click on the Regional Settings Icon. Click on the date tab. Change the Short date style to mm/dd/yy. This will change how all dates on this computer are displayed.

17.1.5 Error message: user Admin does not have permission to use this form
JCMS does not recognize user Admin as a JCMS Administrator. In fact, JCMS prevents user Admin from working in JCMS at all. In order to use JCMS you need to be logged on as mtsadmin, an owner, or a secretary of an owner. NOTE: Microsoft Access will not prompt for a logon unless user Admin has a password. So assign a password to the Admin user before using JCMS. See the Installation section 2.2.3 on initializing passwords for more information about user accounts.

153

17.1.6 Error message about could not find file

Figure 16-1 Could Not Find File Error The most common reason for this error message is that the file server is not available over the network. JCMS is looking for the linked data tables located on the file server. This message also occurs if the data tables have been moved and the client interface has not been updated to re-link the tables. A message similar to this may appear during the server or client installation before the re-link data source step has been completed.

17.1.7 A note about session boxes

Session boxes provide a history list for the data entry person. MS Access limits the size of this list to 2048 characters long (including some format characters that do not display in the box). If the session box string grows to long, JCMS will warn that the string will be reset soon. You can keep working and the session box will reset before the MS Access limit is reached. The only loss to the user is the history list starts over again. NO DATA IS LOST when you see the warning message or when the session box is reset.

17.1.8 List boxes of mice information are scrambled!

On several forms, there are list boxes with rows of mouse information (e.g., the Add and Edit Approved Strain forms). The rows of data in these list boxes sometimes get messed up if there are semicolons or commas in the data. Oftentimes, users put semi-colons into strain names and this will cause the problem. The easy fix: remove any commas or semicolons from strain names or any other controlled vocabulary tables. If this doesnt solve the problem, report the bug to the Jackson Laboratory.

17.1.9 Warning message about not saving a record.

This message appears when there was an error on the form that was not corrected. This type of error may be something such as an invalid date or entering something that is not in a pick list. Answer yes if the information on the form was not supposed to be Figure 16-2 Error: You can't save this record at this time submitted / entered into the database and the form should just be closed. Answer no if the information needs to be entered and correct the information on the form, then resubmit it.

17.1.10 Other FAQs

Also check the Configuration issues in section 2.3.11, the online JCMS Discussion Forum, and the online colony management website FAQs.

154

18 Technical Guide
18.1 Security
The JCMS security implementation is based on the premise that people who have access to JCMS are not malicious. JCMS security is therefore limited to trying to prevent accidental changes to the database. JCMS has two components, an interface component and a database component. The interface component is installed on all workstations that require access to the database. Each installation of the interface component has its own set of user accounts. Data security is implemented as a hierarchy with two parameters: access level (horizontal) and ownership (vertical). Higher access levels inherit all access permissions from lower access levels plus additional permissions associated with the higher level. The vertical access parameter (ownership) comes into play only when a user attempts to submit a record-update or a record-addition to an ownership-protected table in the database. We define three security access levels: Administrator, Owner, and Secretary. In the diagram below, groups are illustrated in solid outlined boxes. An individual logon account can belong to only one access level. In practice this means that secretaries can belong to more than one secretary group (secretary level is the only level that has more than one group associated with it). Also note there is exactly one mtsadmin. Administrator mtsadmin

Owner

Owner 1

Owner 2

Owner n

Secretary

Owner 1 secretary group

Owner 2 secretary group

Owner n secretary group

Figure 17-1 Administrator - Owner - Secretary Security Relationship Individual secretaries can belong to many secretary groups. Thus, it is possible to for an owner to share the services of a single secretary; however, you need to be careful. Any secretary that belongs to more than one owner-secretary group will have the ability to edit records owned by all owners associated with the secretary in the same edit session. It may be a better administrative policy to give one person more than one access account (log on name) if needed. Several tables in the database have an owner field: Mouse, Mating, ExpPlan, ExpData, and Sample. Litters inherit ownership from their mating. When editing involves Mouse, Mating, Litter, Experimental Plan, Experimental Data, or Sample, access to the records is restricted by owner.

18.2 Changing Security Access to Forms

Access to the database is restricted by the form interface. That is, each form is assigned an access security level. Users cannot use forms that have a higher security level than their assigned level. The opposite is also true; users can use all forms with security level less than or

155

equal to their assigned security level. The mtsadmin has the highest access level and therefore has complete access to the database. The DbFormPrivileges table controls the access security level (or privilege level) for certain forms. The administrator may change the level between secretary, owner, and administrator for these forms by using the Set Form Access Privileges button on the Administrator button bar. The forms not listed in this table are required to stay at a certain security level. Any changes will take effect the next time JCMS is started by a particular user.

18.3 Data Integrity

Data integrity is only loosely enforced. If all data are entered through the user interface forms, then data integrity will not be a problem. There is one important exception. It is possible for users to conflict in their usage of the database. If multiple users access the database simultaneously and change records there is the possibility of conflicting edits.

18.4 Back up the Database

Having a backup strategy that is followed regularly is very important. Routinely make full copies of the JAX-CMS folder and all of its contents. If you have moved JCMS out of the JAX-CMS folder, be sure when backing up to copy both the database (JCMS_db.mdb) and interface (JCMS.mdb) files from wherever you have installed them. MySQL backups should be conducted by your MySQL system administrator according to published industry recommendations.

18.5 The Dbinfo Table

The Dbinfo table has release information in it as well as counters for maximum pen ID and maximum auto mouse ID number and maximum auto litter ID number.

18.6 Access to the Primary Data Tables

JCMS allows access to the primary tables through a set of data-sheet forms. Use this level of access to the data only sparingly to correct mistakes in data entry. Entering or changing data this way can cause the data to have multiple problems because the normal forms interface enforces business rules which will not be enforced here. From the Administrator button bar (click the Administrator button on the main button bar), click the button labeled Access to primary data tables. Each table can be opened in datasheet view, which appears similar to a spreadsheet. Use the scroll bars to navigate. Click on the column headers and drag to resize them if some of the information in the field is not visible. Note: the Pen Group table is maintained for historical purposes for those users who upgraded from releases prior to 4.0.0. Changes to this table will have no effect on current pens and rooms.

18.6.1 Editing Records in Datasheet View

Any field that is typed in will be changed by the database as soon as the cursor moves into another field. Some changes will not be allowed and will generate an error message. Add records by scrolling to the bottom of the list and entering the new record into the bottom row. It is not allowed to add the record unless values are entered into all of the required fields. Adding will occur when the mouse is clicked on a different row. A key must be entered into any field with a name that begins _xxx_key. The key should be a number one larger than in the previous row. This is an internal number that normally is not visible. The database is using this key field to keep

156

track of the records. When the forms are used, the database is generating this number automatically. When the tables are used in datasheet view, this number must be added manually. To delete records from the table, click on the box at the left side of the row in the table. The whole row will be highlighted. Press the delete key. A dialog box will ask confirmation that a record should be deleted.

18.7 Temporary Tables

JCMS creates temporary tables for storing query results that are generated by the user query forms (e.g. query matings) and some of the experimental data forms. Temporary tables are bound to the query output form (i.e., the results of the query) or other screen forms. When the query results form is deleted or other forms are closed, the temporary tables can be removed. When JCMS starts up it attempts to delete all temporary tables. If a table is still bound to a form then it may not get deleted. An Administrator can delete temporary tables, but be aware that if one of the client installations currently has a query results form bound to the table, the temporary table could be locked (undeletable). MTSTemp These temporary tables are named MTSTempX. X in the name MTSTempX is an integer that makes the current temporary table name unique in the tables collection. Temporary tables that are not bound to any form are deleted on startup.

18.8 Temporary Queries

The cage use summary report creates temporary queries named ___BillingReportQueryxxxxx. These are deleted when JCMS starts up.

18.9 Screen Resolution

The forms used by this system are rather large and take up quite a bit of screen space. Every effort has been made to make them fit on a normal screen. Many just fit with a screen resolution of 800x600 on a 17 screen. For a smaller screen, try using a higher resolution such as 1024x768. Otherwise, some forms will have to be scrolled to see the entire contents.

18.10 Printer Notes

The cage card reports use the default printer and default paper location. Many modern printers will use the sheet feeder as the default whenever there is paper in the sheet feeder. To print cage cards, open the sheet feeder and load the cards into the envelope feeder part of it. Also set the printer to use as straight a paper path as possible. Many printers have an option for sending sheets out the back if it is open or have a toggle switch to change the path. The cage cards are designed to print on either the upper left side or center of the paper depending on the card format used. If the envelope feeder places the cards in another location, a programmer will have to change the margin settings to match the location of the envelope feeder. It is possible to have a programmer customize what printer and paper location is used by changing the File-Page Settings information in the Design View for an individual report.

157