How to administer InteLIS¶

This guide covers the tasks an in-lab administrator does inside InteLIS: creating logins, defining what each role can reach, maintaining facilities and analyzers, and keeping the dropdown lists on the request form correct.

It does not cover installing, updating, or backing up InteLIS. Those are server tasks and live under the installation and maintenance guides.

Before starting¶

An account with administrator rights

Everything below sits under ADMIN in the sidebar.

Add a user¶

InteLIS has no self-registration. Every login is created by an administrator.

Go to ADMIN → Access Control → Users.
Select Add User.
Fill in the details.

Field	What to enter
Full Name	The user's name as it appears on reports and in the activity log
Email	The user's address
Phone Number	The user's number
Role	The role that sets what this user can reach
Testing Lab	The lab this user works in
Mobile App Access	Whether the account can use the mobile app
Signature	A signature image, used on result PDFs. 100 by 100 pixels
Login ID	The identifier the user signs in with
Password and Confirm Password	The starting password

Select Submit.
Give the Login ID and password to the user directly.

Set the Testing Lab on every user. It scopes what the user sees to their own lab's work.

Never share one login between staff. The activity log and the tester, reviewer, and approver names on reports record whoever was signed in. A shared login makes those records worthless.

To disable a departing user, edit the account and set the status to inactive. Do not reuse the login for someone else. The old records stay attached to the name.

Add or change a role¶

A role is a named set of permissions. Users get their permissions from their role, never individually.

Go to ADMIN → Access Control → Roles.
Select Add Role, or select Edit on an existing role.
Fill in the details.

Field	What to enter
Role Name	A name staff recognise, such as Lab Technician
Role Code	A short unique code
Landing Page	The page users with this role open on after signing in
Access Type	Testing Lab for lab staff, Collection Site for facility staff
Status	Active or inactive
Privileges	Tick each page this role can reach

Select Submit.

Set the Landing Page to the page the role uses most. Data entry staff open straight onto the request form.

Use the permission search box to find a page rather than scrolling the list.

Give each role the permissions its work needs and no more. Approval is the check on result quality. A role that can both enter and approve its own results removes that check.

To find out which roles hold a given permission, use the Permission filter on the Roles page.

Add a facility¶

Every sample is attached to a health facility and a testing lab. Both are records on the Facilities page.

Go to ADMIN → Facilities.
Select Add Facility.
Fill in the details.

Field	What to enter
Facility Name	The name staff will search for
Facility Code	The national unique code
Facility Type	Health facility or testing lab
Email(s)	Addresses for emailed results, separated by commas
Report Email(s)	Addresses for report distribution
Testing Point(s)	The service points, such as VCT or PMTCT
Lab Manager	The contact person
Province/State and District/County	The location
Linked Hub Name	The hub this facility routes samples through, if any
Test Type	Every test type this facility takes part in

Select Submit.

Set the Test Type. A facility not linked to viral load does not appear in the facility list on the viral load request form. This is the usual reason a facility is "missing" from the form.

For a testing lab, upload the signatories. They appear on result PDFs issued by that lab.

To find facilities whose province or district is missing or wrongly linked, set Show Orphaned Facilities on the Facilities page. Those facilities behave unpredictably in the geographic filters until fixed.

To load many facilities at once, use Bulk Upload.

Add an analyzer¶

Go to ADMIN → System Configuration → Instruments.
Select Add Instrument.
Enter the name, the test types it runs, and the configuration file that tells InteLIS how to read its result files.
Select Submit.

The configuration file is what makes file import work for that analyzer. Without it, results exported from the analyzer cannot be read. See How to capture viral load results.

Connect the Interface Tool¶

The Interface Tool passes results from an analyzer into InteLIS without anyone typing them. Each installation of the tool connects to InteLIS once.

Go to ADMIN → Facilities.
Open the testing lab.
Scroll to Interface Tool Connections at the foot of the page.
Select Generate Connection Code.
Enter the three groups of the code, and the InteLIS URL shown above them, into the Interface Tool on the lab computer.

The code expires. The page shows the time remaining. If it expires, generate another.

Only one code can be outstanding at a time. To start again, cancel the current code first.

Once connected, the installation appears under Connected Installations with a status and a Last Seen time. Use Last Seen when results stop arriving.

Action	When to use it
Reconnect / Reinstall	The lab computer is rebuilt or the tool is reinstalled
Revoke	The computer is retired or lost. Other installations are unaffected

Maintain the viral load option lists¶

The dropdowns on the viral load request form come from lists under ADMIN → VL Config.

List	Controls
ART Regimen	The regimen choices on the request form
Rejection Reasons	The reasons offered when rejecting a sample
Sample Type	The specimen types
Results	The result values for qualitative reporting
Test Reasons	The indications for testing
Test Failure Reasons	The reasons offered when a test fails
Recommended Corrective Actions	The actions suggested on high viral load results

Each list works the same way. Open the page, select the add option, enter the name, and save. To retire an entry, edit it and set the status to inactive.

Set entries inactive rather than deleting them. An inactive entry disappears from the form but stays readable on the records that already use it.

Maintain geography, partners, funders, and freezers¶

Page	Controls
ADMIN → System Configuration → Geographical Divisions	Provinces and districts
ADMIN → System Configuration → Implementation Partners	The partner list on the request form
ADMIN → System Configuration → Funding Sources	The funder list on the request form
ADMIN → System Configuration → Lab Storage	The freezers offered on the storage page

For geographical divisions, leave the parent blank when adding a province. Set the parent to a province when adding a district. A district added without a parent does not appear under any province on the request form.

Change general configuration¶

ADMIN → System Configuration → General Configuration holds the settings that change how InteLIS behaves across the installation.

Setting group	Examples
Appearance	The report header and logo
Formats	Time zone, date format, barcode format
Sample IDs	The Sample ID format and prefix, per test type
Results	Result PDF layout, the viral load threshold, the monthly testing target
Locking	How many days before a sample locks, and how many before it expires
Approval	Whether interface results approve automatically, and whether one person may both review and approve

Change one setting at a time and check the effect. These settings apply to everyone on the installation at once.

Two settings deserve care.

Same user can Review and Approve. Turning this on lets one person enter and sign off their own result. Turn it off wherever staffing allows.

Auto Approve Interface Results. Turning this on releases analyzer results without a human check. It is safe where the analyzer is trusted and the batch workflow is followed. It is not safe where Sample IDs are entered on the analyzer by hand.

Check who did what¶

Page	Answers
ADMIN → Monitoring → User Activity Log	Which pages a user opened, and when
ADMIN → Monitoring → Audit Trail	Which field changed, from what to what, by whom
ADMIN → Monitoring → Log File Viewer	System messages, for support requests

Use the Audit Trail when a result is questioned. It shows the change history for the record.

Confirm it worked¶

Change	Check
New user	The user signs in and sees the expected menu
Role change	Sign in as a user with that role, or check the Permission filter on the Roles page
New facility	The facility appears in the facility list on the viral load request form
New analyzer	The analyzer appears in Testing Platform when creating a batch
Interface Tool connection	The installation shows under Connected Installations with a recent Last Seen
Option list entry	The entry appears in its dropdown on the request form