What is it? Every sample is processed based on a “lab day”. The lab day used to be a 24-hour day, but it was extended to a 48-hour day in 2020.

Why do we need it? The purpose of the lab day is for Batch Reporting of Samples. This is one of the user options to receive sample reports as a periodic email rather than each sample as it becomes reported.
Note: This is an either/or setting. A user cannot receive individual report emails AND the batch reporting. It is one or the other.

Expiration: This “lab day” will expire in 14 days from the latter date of a lab day. At the time the “lab day” expires, all reports received thus far are sent out as part of the batch report. However, additional reports that did not generate until after the expired lab day will not be sent to end-users. Instead, the user will need to find the report manually on the asset.

How is it determined? The lab day is established when a lab receives the first sample for a given account. This begins the lab day “timer”. For example, Company A’s first sample is received by the lab on January 9th, 2020. This means that company’s lab day is January 9th-10th. The next lab day will begin on the 11th and end on the 12th, etc.

Does it stay that way permanently? Yes, this is kept track of by the system on the back end, and it is persistent. A schedule is established based on the first lab day for the account. This means that months later, several samples could be received. The lab day would be determined based on the appropriate interval dating back to that first sample the lab received on January 9th. For this example, let’s say the lab receives samples from Company A on March 7th, 8th and 9th. Depending on the timing of that first lab day, the lab day may be either March 7th-8th, or March 8th-9th. The only way to determine the lab day would be to calculate based on when the lab received the first sample for this customer. Please note that a developer can manually check this date via the ticketing system.