How to manage research goals

Enhance your ELN & LIMS with goal management

Overview

It’s the beginning of a new year and it’s time to review the professional goals we set last year and set up new goals for this year. While you’re evaluating the successes and challenges of last year’s goals, ask yourself if the organization could have been a contributing factor to any of the challenges faced in the past. As you assess, think about how you currently plan and track goals. How often do you follow up? What tools have you used to track progress (excel, calendar/planner applications, pen, and paper)? If you think you or your research team could benefit from improved organization and goalkeeping, consider trying Labii’s Project Manager application. With Labii ELN & LIMS (https://www.labii.com), you can easily track progress on goals and directly link goals with associated experiments.

Labii was designed to be flexible and customizable, it can be configured to meet each company’s research needs. Labii can be easily customized to meet your specific research needs. A few examples of the applications Labii has to offer are the Electronic Lab Notebook (ELN) and Inventory Manager. Learn more about how Labii can help you stay organized at https://www.labii.com/. One of Labii’s applications is the Project Manager, this too can be used to help you stay focused. The application keeps track of tasks, jobs, and goals. A goal table can be created to track the research progress (shown below).

How to add a goal table

Tracking the progress of your goals is crucial to scientific success, Labii can help you organize, track, and assign your research goals in the new year. In order to use Labii ELN & LIMS to manage your research goals, you first need to create a goal table with the details of the goal you want to set. To add a goal table:

Go to Settings -> Tables -> + Table -> Select “goal” for type -> Click submit.

You can also add an application to help you easily add goals. To enable this feature:

Go to Settings -> Applications -> Project Manager -> Install

After installing the Project Manager application, the goal table will be added automatically.

How to add a goal

After a goal table has been added, you shall be able to add a new goal by clicking the Goal table -> + Goal, this will redirect to a fillable form to add the details of your research goal.

• Name - Name your goal to keep things well organized

• Description - Put as much information as possible about your research goal

• Year - Select the year for your goal

• Date Start - Set a start date

• Date Due - Set a due date

• Status - Track your progress by setting and regularly updating the status of goals

• Parent - The main goal, this can be used to create sub-goals

• Assignee - Who is responsible for completing this goal

You can also add sub-goals by setting parent.

Once submitted, navigate to the “Sections” view and fill in the details for each section. For example, you can:

• Type in your detailed overview of the goal

• Add the cost estimation Provide assignees an idea of what to expect for each goal and milestone

• The sub-goals (milestones) will be displayed when the sections view for the parent goal is open

• Annual Review: Keep track of goal progression by filling this field in by the end of the year to see how much of each goal remains.

How to link goals

To help you track the progress of your research goals, Labii makes it easy to link goals with experiments. By linking experiment tables with your research goals, you can track progress and manage your records at the same time. If you want to link your experiments with goals, you can:

• Go to the experiment table in Settings

• Click the “columns” tab

• Add a new column with the widget “ForeignKey”, set the column configuration to “GL” You are good to go!

When adding a new experiment, you can choose a goal that the experiment is related to, making goal tracking simple and efficient.

Summary

When planning out goals, remember a few important tips:

• Outline each goal with as much detail as possible

• Set detailed, realistic milestones

• Ensure there is accountability for each task

• Make sure the timeline is reasonable Establish a system (like Labii) to regularly track progress for each goal

Staying on track is crucial in science, but let’s face it - staying organized can be difficult. Labii ELN & LIMS wants to help you plan, track, and evaluate your research goals in 2022. Go to https://www.labii.com to take control of your project management.