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Exercise: DTS HIV Serology

This exercise walks through a complete PT cycle for the Dried Tube Specimen (DTS) - HIV Serology scheme. By the end, you will have created a PT Survey, enrolled participants, collected results, evaluated responses, and generated final reports.

Scheme: Dried Tube Specimen (DTS) - HIV Serology

Time required: 20–30 minutes

Prerequisites: - Access to a training/test instance of ePT - Admin login credentials (PT Administrator or PT Manager) - The participant bulk import Excel template (downloaded in Step 1)

Exercise Overview

Step Action Role
1 Add 8 new participants (bulk import) Admin
2 Enroll participants in the HIV Serology scheme Admin
3 Create a new PT Survey Admin
4 Add a DTS HIV Serology shipment with samples Admin
5 Enroll participants in the shipment Admin
6 Ship the PT Survey Admin
7 Submit results as participants Participant
8 Evaluate, generate reports, and finalize Admin
9 Review performance reports Admin
10 Download reports as a participant Participant

Admin Section

Step 1: Add New Participants (Bulk Import)

  1. Log in as PT Administrator / PT Manager
  2. Go to Configure → PT Participants
  3. Click Bulk Import Participants
  4. Download the Excel template by clicking the link on the right side of the page
  5. Open the file and fill in details for 8 new participants:
  6. Fields with red headings are required (Participant ID, Name, etc.)
  7. Use a naming convention you can recognize later, e.g. TRAIN-001 through TRAIN-008
  8. You may leave the password field blank (the system will auto-generate) or set a password you will remember for Step 7
  9. Save the Excel file and upload it on the same page
  10. Verify the participants appear in the PT Participants list

Tip: If you set a custom password, use the same one for all 8 participants — this makes Step 7 much faster. Note down the Participant IDs and passwords for later use.

Step 2: Enroll Participants in the Scheme

Scheme enrollment is a one-time setup. Participants must be enrolled in the HIV Serology scheme before they can be enrolled in any DTS shipment.

  1. Go to Configure → Scheme Enrollments
  2. Select HIV Serology from the scheme type dropdown
  3. Click on Enroll the Participants for Dried Tube Specimen - HIV Serology
  4. Select your 8 new participants from the Available list (left) and move them to the Enrolled list (right)
  5. Click Enroll Selected

Don't see your participants? Make sure you uploaded the file in Step 1 and that the participants are in Active status. Check Configure → PT Participants to verify.

Step 3: Create a New PT Survey

  1. Go to Manage → PT Survey
  2. Click Add New PT Survey
  3. Enter a PT Survey Code (e.g., TRAIN-2026-01) — letters, numbers, and hyphens only
  4. Select today's date as the PT Survey Date
  5. Click Add

Step 4: Add a DTS HIV Serology Shipment

  1. Your new PT Survey should appear in the list — click Add Scheme
  2. Select Dried Tube Specimen - HIV Serology from the dropdown
  3. Scroll down and configure:
  4. Shipment Code — keep the default or customize it
  5. Result Due Date — set a date at least a few days from now
  6. Samples — add 5 samples using the +Sample/Control button
  7. For each sample, set the expected reference result. Use a mix so participants can be properly evaluated:
Sample Suggested Expected Result
Sample 1 HIV Positive
Sample 2 HIV Negative
Sample 3 HIV Positive
Sample 4 HIV Negative
Sample 5 HIV Positive
  1. Click Add Shipment

About DTS samples: In HIV Serology, participants test each sample using the national testing algorithm (typically Test-1 screening, then confirmatory Test-2 and Test-3 as needed). The expected result is the final interpretation for each sample.

Step 5: Enroll Participants in the Shipment

  1. Your new shipment should appear in the list — click the red Enroll button
  2. Select all 8 participants from the Available list and move them to the Enrolled list
  3. Click Enroll

Don't see your participants? They must already be enrolled in the HIV Serology scheme (Step 2). Go back and check if needed.

Step 6: Ship the PT Survey

  1. Go to Manage → PT Survey
  2. Find your PT Survey in the table (it should be near the top)
  3. Click Ship Now
  4. Confirm by clicking Yes

Your PT Survey is now shipped. Participants can begin submitting results.

What just happened? The shipment is now visible in the Participant Portal. In a real scenario, this is when physical DTS samples would be distributed to testing sites alongside the ePT notification.

Participant Section

Step 7: Submit Results as Participants

Repeat this for at least 3 of the 8 participants you created. To make evaluation meaningful, have some participants submit correct results and others submit intentionally incorrect results.

For each participant:

  1. Go to the Participant Login page
  2. Log in using the participant's credentials (from Step 1)
  3. Click PT Result Submission on the left menu
  4. Find the shipment you created in Step 4
  5. Click Enter Result
  6. Fill in the result form for each sample:
  7. Test Kit — select any test kit from the dropdown for Test-1 (and Test-2, Test-3 if applicable)
  8. Individual test results — select Reactive or Non-Reactive for each test
  9. Final Interpretation — select HIV Positive or HIV Negative
  10. Documentation fields — fill in lot number, expiry date, etc. (these affect the documentation score)
  11. Click Submit
  12. Log out and repeat for the next participant

Suggested result pattern for the exercise:

Participant Submit correct results? Purpose
Participant 1 Yes — match the expected results Should pass evaluation
Participant 2 Yes — match the expected results Should pass evaluation
Participant 3 No — submit some incorrect final interpretations Should fail, to demonstrate evaluation scoring

Tip: Fill in the documentation fields (lot numbers, expiry dates) for at least one participant and leave them blank for another. This demonstrates how ePT scores documentation separately from test accuracy.

Video guide: https://youtu.be/RE_rS5GlcJs

Admin Section (continued)

Step 8: Evaluate, Generate Reports, and Finalize

8a. Evaluate:

  1. Return to the Admin section
  2. Go to Analyze → Evaluate Responses
  3. Find your shipment (use the search box) and click View
  4. Scroll to the bottom and click the green Evaluate button
  5. Review the results table — you should see:
  6. Participants who submitted correct results marked as Passed
  7. Participants who submitted incorrect results marked as Failed
  8. A Response Score (test accuracy) and Documentation Score for each participant

Note: Evaluation can be run multiple times and is invisible to participants. Use this to verify results are scored correctly before generating reports.

8b. Generate Reports:

  1. Go to Analyze → Generate Reports
  2. Find your shipment and click View
  3. Scroll down and click the green Report button
  4. Click Generate Participant Reports
  5. Wait a moment and refresh the page — reports generate in the background

8c. Finalize:

  1. Go to Analyze → Finalize Reports
  2. Find your shipment and click View
  3. Scroll down and click the green Finalize button
  4. Click Generate Reports and Finalize Shipment
  5. Wait a moment and refresh the page

Important: Finalization is permanent. Once finalized, participants can download their individual reports. In a real scenario, ensure evaluation and reports are correct before this step.

Step 9: Review Performance Reports

  1. Go to Reports → Shipment Reports
  2. Find your shipment and click the green shipment code link
  3. An Excel file will download — open it and explore the sheets:
  4. Summary — overall shipment statistics
  5. Participant results — per-participant scores and pass/fail status
  6. Sample-level detail — how each participant responded to each sample

Participant Section (continued)

Step 10: Download Reports as a Participant

  1. Go to the Participant Login page and log in as one of the participants who submitted results
  2. Click View PT Results → Individual Reports on the left menu
  3. Search for your shipment and download the report
  4. Open the PDF — it includes the participant's results, scores, and any corrective actions

Video guide: https://youtu.be/oUsc9-CgvxI

Exercise Checklist

Use this to verify you've completed each step:

  • [ ] 8 participants added via bulk import
  • [ ] 8 participants enrolled in the HIV Serology scheme
  • [ ] PT Survey created with a recognizable code
  • [ ] DTS HIV Serology shipment added with 5 samples and expected results
  • [ ] 8 participants enrolled in the shipment
  • [ ] PT Survey shipped
  • [ ] Results submitted for at least 3 participants (mix of correct and incorrect)
  • [ ] Shipment evaluated — pass/fail results visible
  • [ ] Participant reports generated
  • [ ] Shipment finalized
  • [ ] Performance report downloaded and reviewed (admin)
  • [ ] Individual report downloaded as a participant

Troubleshooting

Problem Solution
Participants not showing in scheme enrollment Verify they were imported successfully in Configure → PT Participants and are in Active status
Participants not showing in shipment enrollment They must be enrolled in the scheme first (Step 2)
Participant can't see the shipment after login The PT Survey must be shipped first (Step 6). Also verify the participant is enrolled in the shipment (Step 5)
Evaluation shows no results Make sure at least one participant has submitted results (Step 7)
Reports not generating Wait a moment and refresh the page. Report generation runs in the background
Participant can't download reports The shipment must be finalized first (Step 8c)