Coffey Geosciences - QESTLab Laboratory Supervisor Training Course
Scope
The laboratory supervisor training course provides detailed instructions for the duties normally performed by laboratory supervisors and data entry personnel. It covers sample registration, billing, checking data input, test report signing and distribution. It also covers the duties of laboratory technicians - finding work to be done and entering raw test data.
Audience
The course is intended for staff at Coffey Geotechnical who normally perform the tasks of sample registration, billing, checking results, and signing and distributing test reports. This may vary depending on staffing arrangements at each laboratory and may include both laboratory supervisors and data entry personnel.
Pre-requisites
The course assumes a good knowledge of the various Australian and Road Authority standards for the sampling and testing of concrete, aggregates/soils and asphalt.
It also assumes general computer skills and familiarity with Windows operating systems.
Getting started with QESTLab
This module covers the process of starting and logging on to QESTLab, and a description of the main screen in QESTLab.
By the end of this module users will be able to start and log on to QESTLab, change their password, have an understanding of the main screen in QESTLab, and use the QESTLab tree to navigate the main areas of QESTLab.
Suggested duration: 15 minutes
Logging in to QESTLab
Step 1. To start QESTLab double click the QESTLab Client icon
on the desktop.
Step 2. When QESTLab has loaded the QESTLab log in screen will appear. Enter your QESTLab login name and password provided to you by your QESTLab administrator.
The first-time password that is generated by the system by default is "QEST_password" (minus the quotes). You will be prompted to change this when you access QESTLab for the first time.
Changing your password
The first time you log in to QESTLab change your password to something known only to you.
Step 1. With QESTLab running click the Security menu then select Change Password.
Step 2. In the Old Password field type your current password.
In the New Password field type your new password. Re-enter your new password in the Confirm Password field.
Step 3. Click OK to save your new password.
Logging out
Logout and change user
It is possible to log a different user in to QESTLab without shutting down QESTLab and restarting.
Step 1. With QESTLab running click the Security menu then click Logout.
Step 2. To login another QESTLab user, click the Security menu then click Login.
The new user can then enter their username and password as normal.
NOTE:
1. If you are logged on and the computer that you are running QESTLab on is unattended then there is the possibilty that another person may use the computer to carry out work under your name. When not using QESTLab it is recommended that you either Logout off QESTLab or lock the computer.
2. While you are logged in the Audit Trail keeps a log of every action you make in QESTLab. This is a security feature that enables the tracking of every change made to every field in QESTLab. For this reason you must only work in QESTLab when logged on using your own account.
Close QESTLab
To close QESTLab down on your computer click the File menu then click Exit, or click on the X button in the top right corner of the QESTLab screen
QESTLab operates like Windows Explorer. There is a left hand and a right hand window. Navigation in QESTLab is done using the tree in the left hand window.
The QESTLab tree
Notice the names of the nodes in the tree. Each node allows the user to manage a different area in QESTLab. For example, the Samples node is used to register samples in QESTLab.
The QESTLab tree will look different for users with different levels of permissions in QESTLab. If a user does not have access to a particular area in QESTLab, that node will not be displayed in the tree. For example, if you do not have rights to modify clients in QESTLab you will not see the clients node in the tree. The image below shows all the possible nodes in the QESTLab tree.
Below is a brief description of the different areas in the tree.
| Clients | Users with sufficient rights may add, remove and maintain details for all your customers in this area. |
| Projects | Add, remove and maintain the list of projects your organisation is working on. |
| Work Orders | Work orders are a convenient way to register a group of samples. They are similar to a test request. Select the work orders node to register and search for work orders. |
| Samples | Individual samples are registered and displayed under the samples node. Select the samples node to register or search for samples. |
| Tests/Documents | Select the tests/documents node to search for tests, test reports, or documents other than work orders or samples. Expand this node to see the filters that can be used to search for various documents in QESTLab. |
| Billing | When invoices are raised they are displayed under the billing node. |
| Equipment | Equipment is registered in QESTLab and displayed under the equipment node. Expand the equipment node to see the different types of equipment that can be registered in QESTLab. |
| Lists | QESTLab lists allow you to maintain lists of commonly used items, such as concrete plants, aggregate/soil materials, tester names, and many others. This makes data entry faster and simpler. Lists are displayed and maintained under the lists node. |
| Reports and Charts | This area is used to create and run reports and charts for quality control or other management functions. |
| Specification | Specifications are used to set acceptable limits for test results. They are created and maintained under the specifications node. |
The QESTLab tree can be hidden by clicking on the Show/Hide Tree button 
in the toolbar.
Laboratories
The Lab dropdown box above the tree shows the labs to which you have access.
The global lab
Most users will have access to only one laboratory. In this case you will see this lab plus the (global) lab. The global lab contains data (generally clients, plus other data) that needs to be available to all labs.
Note that if you change the lab selected in the Lab dropdown box the tree will change. If you notice that the tree looks unfamiliar or nodes are missing check that you have your lab selected and not the (global) lab.
Accessing more than one lab
If you have been granted rights to more than one laboratory you will see these labs in the Lab dropdown box. Select a laboratory to restrict the data shown in QESTLab to that lab. (all) will also be shown in the laboratory list. Selecting a lab of (all) simply displays information for all laboratories that the user has access to.
Notice that if all laboratories is chosen, then the tree will group items by laboratory, as shown below for the Lists.
This functionality can be turned off by clicking the Show/hide lab nodes button 
on the toolbar. If this is de-selected then information is not grouped by laboratory.
Filters
Filters are a way of searching for documents in QESTLab, such as samples, test reports, or invoices. Filters are displayed in the left hand window underneath the QESTLab tree. Filters are included with QESTLab and new ones may be created as required by your QESTLab administrator.
Since different filters are used to search for different things, notice that a different filter appears in the filters area depending on which node is selected in the QESTLab tree.
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Activity - start, logon, navigate QESTLab
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Concrete testing
Registering concrete samples
This module covers the process of registering a group of concrete samples, called a concrete sample group in QESTLab. It describes all the screens in detail.
By the end of this section users should be able to register a concrete sample group. They should also be able to include a billing document for the capturing of billing information for the sample, and a concrete test report to report the test results.
Suggested duration: 1 hour
Overview
Concrete samples are added and displayed in the QESTLab tree under the Samples node.
There are two main documents (screens) for concrete testing in QESTLab - the concrete sample group document and the concrete sample document.
- The concrete sample group level contains, as the name suggests, information that is applicable to a group of concrete samples taken from the same project on a particular day. This includes the client, project and date cast, as well as other information.
- The concrete sample document stores the actual fieldsheet data for that sample, and the test data for each of the specimens in that sample.
In the QESTLab tree the concrete sample group is displayed with the concrete sample(s) 'hanging' off. In the example the concrete sample group is highlighted and shows the client, project and date cast. There is only one concrete sample in the example, but there may be many concrete samples, one for each fieldsheet for that project for that day. It is shown with the fieldsheet number, plant, time sampled, and mix.
Notice the two other documents displayed at the same level as the concrete sample document. These document are the concrete test report document, and the QESTLab billing document. These are normally added whenever a concrete sample group is registered. The concrete test report is used to report concrete test results, and the billing document is used to store charges associated with the sample, for inclusion on an invoice at the end of the month.
The advantage of having two documents is that the concrete sample group allows information common to all samples to be entered once, billed once, and reported on the same test report.
Registering a concrete sample group
To register a concrete sample group follow the steps below:
Step 1. Select the Samples node in the tree, and click the New sample button 
.
Step 2. The Add Sample(s) and Document(s) window is displayed. To add a concrete sample group, select Concrete Sample Group from the Type of Sample to be added.
Step 3. In the Select group(s) area, select the concrete sample group as shown above, or select individually the documents to be added to the sample. Users with sufficent rights will also be able to create, edit and delete document groups at this screen.
Note that if a document is not listed on this screen then your organisation is not licensed for that document. If a document appears but is greyed out then your user account does not have rights to view or edit that document.
In order to generate charges for the sample a billing document must be added when registering a concrete sample group. For more details on billing see Billing and Invoicing. In order to report test results a concrete test report must be added. For more detail on reporting test results see the article Concrete testing - the test report.
Step 4. Select the laboratory at which you wish to register the sample. (This selection will be disabled if the laboratory context has been established in the QESTLab tree.)
Step 5. Leave the Sample ID field blank to automatically create a sample ID using the QESTLab sample counter.
Step 6. To copy an existing sample click the Copy details from existing sample drop down list. This lists all concrete sample groups for the selected laboratory in the QESTLab database. Select a sample to copy if required. Note that for large databases it may take up to a minute to populate this list. The exact fields that will be copied to the new sample is defined in the QEST Administrator Console by a user with QESTLab administrator rights.
Step 7. Click OK to add the new sample. The selected documents will appear in the QESTLab tree below the concrete sample group as shown below.
Note the hierachical arrangement of the concrete sample. The concrete sample group document (highlighted) appears first and the concrete sample, billing, and test report documents all 'hang' off the concrete sample group.
Note the concrete sample group document (highlighted) in the tree displays the sample number assigned using the concrete sample counter, but the client, and project and date cast are not yet populated. Similarly the concrete sample does not yet display the fieldsheet number, plant or other details in the tree. These will be displayed when the concrete sample group document and the concrete sample document are completed.
The concrete sample group document
The next step in the registration is to complete the fields in the concrete sample group document. The concrete sample group document provides a means of entering information that applies to many concrete samples (fieldsheets).
Completing the concrete sample group document
Step 1. Select the concrete sample group document in the tree.
Step 2. The concrete sample group document is displayed in the right hand window. Some customers have requested their own customised version of this document which may look slightly different to the example below.
Any field with a 
button can be selected from a list. For fields with two boxes, either select the item from the list or enter the code in the first box and press Enter on the keyboard.
Select a client and project and enter the date cast, date received, and moisture cure time. The remaining fields can be completed if required. Remarks appear on the concrete test report in the remarks box at the bottom of the report as shown below.
The concrete sample document
The last step in the registration process is to complete each concrete sample document in the concrete sample group. The concrete sample document contains the fieldsheet data and the details of each specimen.
Completing the fieldsheet data
Step 1. Click on the concrete sample document in the tree.
Step 2. The concrete sample document in displayed in the right hand window. Again, this document may look slightly different to the example below.
Step 2. Enter the following data:
- The unique fieldsheet number.
- The grade, this will automatically populate the F'c field.
- Select the name of the person who did the sampling in the Sampled By drop down box.
The remaining data on this screen is optional. Each field is described in the table below.
| Fieldsheet | The unique fieldsheet number. The fieldsheet number must be unique and can be the number from a pre-printed fieldsheet or simply a sequential number managed by the laboratory. |
| Time Batched | Time, in 24 hour format, that the batch of concrete was batched. Any format is acceptable. eg 1200, 12.00, 12:00, 12, 12a, 12 pm, etc. |
| Time Sampled | Time, in 24 hour format as above, that this sample was taken. |
| On Site | |
| Sampled By | Select the name, or enter the code, of the person who took the sample. Populated from the QESTLab Sampled by list. |
| Grade | Grade of the concrete in this sample. eg N32. The grade is used to populate the F'c. |
| F'c | Design strength of the concrete. Automatically populated from the grade. eg 32. The F'c is used to calculate which specimens have failed strength testing. |
| Plant | Select the name, or enter the code, of the plant that batched the concrete. Populated from the QESTLab Concrete plant list. |
| Mix | The mix code of the mix in the batch. |
| Max Agg | The size of the maximum aggregate in the mix. |
| Supplier | The concrete supplier for the plant selected in the Plant field. The supplier field is populated with the supplier name entered in the concrete plant list for this plant. |
| Design Slump | The design slump of the mix. |
| Meas. Slump (initial) | The measured slump before additives. |
| Meas. Slump (final) | The measured slump after additives. |
| Truck | The reference number of the truck that delivered the batch of concrete associated with this docket number. |
| Docket No. | Docket (ticket) number for the batch. |
| Batch No. | Batch number for the batch. |
| Water Added Before/After Test (WABT/WAAT) | Check the relevant box to display the litres field, and enter the amount in litres. |
| Weather | The weather at sampling time. Populated from the QESTLab Weather list. |
| Temperature Air/Concrete | Air/concrete temprature at time of sampling. |
| Compaction | Select the concrete compaction method. Populated from the QESTLab Concrete compaction method list. |
| Sampling Method | The sampling test method number used for this sample. |
| Conditioning | |
| Load | The size of the concrete load in the batch. |
| Prog Load | |
| Sampling Location | Select the sampling location. |
| Location | Enter details of the location if required. |
| Remarks | Enter remarks regarding the sample if required. |
Step 3. Slump only tests
If the sample was taken for slump testing only, and no specimens are to be added, tick the Slump Only box to identify the sample as a slump only sample.
Note that this will only register as one slump test when charges are generated later. If you wish to charge for more than one slump test you can manually alter this in the billing document later.
Step 4. Registering concrete specimens
To register and display the specimens for this sample select a test group from the Test Group drop down box. Test groups are setup by a QESTLab administrator in the concrete test groups list. They contain commonly added groups of specimens and are used to save time during sample registration. Note that once a test group is selected and the sample is saved, the test group field is hidden and no longer available for selection.
Alternately specimens may be added manually, without selecting a test group, by simply entering the number of specimens in the No. field. Also, note that even if specimens are added using a test group, extra specimens may be added by increasing the number in the No. box.
Step 5. The concrete specimens are shown below the fieldsheet information. Notice that much of the data has been completed for each specimen. This is contained in the concrete test group.
If this is correct then the process of sample registration is complete.
Activity - register a concrete sample group
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Checking concrete test results
This module covers the checking of concrete test results and signing of concrete test reports.
By the end of this section users with sufficient rights should be able to use a filter to display concrete test results that are complete and ready for checking, and then mark them as checked.
Users should also be able to use a filter to display concrete test reports that are ready for signing, and sign them either individually or as a group.
Suggested duration: 1 hours
QESTLab:Concrete testing - checking results#Overview
QESTLab:Concrete testing - checking results#Checking results
QESTLab:Concrete testing - the test report
Activity - checking concrete test results and signing concrete test reports
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Signing and distributing concrete test reports
This module covers the signing and distribution of concrete test reports
By the end of this section users with sufficient rights should be able to use a filter to display concrete test reports that are ready for signing, and sign them either individually or as a group.
They should then be able to distibute them either by printing the report or by saving the report as a .pdf file, or by emailing the .pdf file directly from QESTLab.
QESTLab:Concrete testing - the test report#View and sign test reports
Activity - signing test reports
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QESTLab:Concrete testing - the test report#Distribute test reports
| Activity - distributing concrete test reports |
Soils field testing
Registering work orders
This module covers the process of registering a group of soil field testing samples. In QESTLab this is done using a work order, which is equivalent to a test request or work request.
By the end of this section users should be able to register a group of field samples as a work order, with all the necessary tests to be condutcted on the samples. As part of the registration process they should also be able to register a billing document and test report documents with the work order.
Suggested duration: 1 hour
QESTLab:soils field testing - sample registration
QESTLab:soils field testing - the aggregate/soil sample screen
Activity - register a work order
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Checking Results
This module covers the checking of test results and signing of test reports.
By the end of this section users with sufficient rights should be able to use a filter to display concrete test results that are complete and ready for checking, and then mark them as checked.
Users should also be able to use a filter to display test reports that are ready for signing, and sign them either individually or as a group.
Suggested duration: 1 hours
QESTLab:soils field testing - checking results#Overview
QESTLab:soils field testing - checking results#Checking results
QESTLab:soils field testing - the test report
Activity - checking results and signing test reports
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Signing and distributing soil field test reports
This module covers the signing and distribution of soil field test reports
By the end of this section users with sufficient rights should be able to use a filter to display soil field test reports that are ready for signing, and sign them either individually or as a group.
They should then be able to distibute them either by printing the report or by saving the report as a .pdf file, or by emailing the .pdf file directly from QESTLab.
QESTLab:Soils field testing - the test report#View and sign test reports
Activity - signing soil field test reports
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QESTLab:Soils field testing - the test report#Distribute test reports
| Activity - distributing soil field test reports |