# Choosing vivarium software, *question by question*.

Start from the work your facility does every day, then ask each vendor five things: can your own team change the forms, does the next step happen without chasing, can staff use it at the cage, does every change stay on the record, and does it link to the colony system you already run. Security review and set-up time come next.

[Use the checklist](https://streamcell.com/library/choosing-vivarium-software#checklist) · [Browse the field guides](https://streamcell.com/library)

## Key facts

- **For**: Facility managers, attending vets, IACUC offices, research IT
- **Written by**: The Streamcell team at Iseehear
- **Read time**: About 6 minutes

## What should you decide before you look at any software?

Which records hurt most today, and who touches them.

List the records your team keeps on paper, in spreadsheets or in email: sick animal reports, health cases, room logs, cage wash checks, service requests, training. For each, write who fills it in, who has to act next and who asks for it later. That list is your requirements document, and it keeps a demo on your work instead of the vendor's script.

The field guides in this library show how real facilities do each of these jobs, from [sick animal reports](https://streamcell.com/library/sick-animal-report) to [daily room logs](https://streamcell.com/library/daily-room-log). Use them to see where your own process is common and where it is yours alone.

## Do you need a full suite, or an operations layer beside what you have?

It depends on whether your problem is the protocol office or the daily work in the rooms.

Enterprise suites cover protocol review, census and billing as well as animal care, and big rollouts can take a year or more. If your protocols and colony records already live somewhere that works, and the pain is the daily work around them, look for software that runs those records and links to the systems you keep. Ask each vendor which records you would move, and which stay where they are.

## What should you ask every vendor?

Ten questions, in the order the answers matter.

| Ask | Why it matters | What a good answer looks like |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Who changes a form when our process changes? | Vendor change requests are slow and often billed. | Your own staff, the same day, without code. |
| What happens after a record is saved? | Handoffs are where cases and requests stall. | A workflow tells the next person, and you set the rules. |
| Can technicians use it at the cage? | Reports written later are reports written twice. | A phone or tablet form, opened from the cage or rack. |
| Does every change stay on the record? | Inspections and protocol reviews ask for history. | A field-by-field audit trail you can show. |
| Does it link to our colony system? | Retyping animal IDs breaks the trail. | Records point at the animal where it already lives. |
| Does it cover all our species? | Rodent-only tools leave larger animals on paper. | The species you house, with their own records. |
| How do we see the work? | A list of records is not a morning round. | Tables, boards, calendars and charts you save. |
| What will our security review ask for? | University IT often sends a questionnaire and asks for single sign-on. | The documents exist, and the vendor names them. |
| How do we get started, and how long does it take? | Set-up time decides when anyone sees value. | A clear choice: set up for you, trained, or self-serve. |
| Can we get our data out? | You will report on it, and one day you may move. | Exports of any view, in formats your team uses. |

## How do you get a demo that tells you something?

Bring one real record and ask the vendor to run it from the first save to the last step.

1. **Bring your form**: A sick animal report or a room log, as you use it today.
2. **Ask them to change it live**: Add a field and a rule while you watch, and see who can do it.
3. **Follow the handoff**: Save the record and see who is told, and what they read.
4. **Ask for the history**: Open the record's audit trail as an inspector would.

Invite the people who will use it: a technician, a vet and someone from the IACUC office. Each asks a different question, and a tool that answers only one of them will not be used.

## Where does Streamcell fit?

Streamcell is the operations software an animal facility builds for itself.

Your team builds the forms, each form runs a workflow that tells the next person what to do, and a health case links to the animal's SoftMouse record. It runs [health cases](https://streamcell.com/product/health-cases), [room logs and cage wash](https://streamcell.com/product/room-logs), [service requests](https://streamcell.com/product/service-requests) and [training records](https://streamcell.com/product/training-records). Ask us the ten questions above in a demo.

## Ask us the *ten questions*

Bring a form you use today. We run it in Streamcell and answer each question on your own record.

[Book a demo](https://streamcell.com/demo)

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Source: https://streamcell.com/library/choosing-vivarium-software
Last reviewed: 2026-11-06
Streamcell is made by Iseehear Inc., 250 University Avenue, Suite 200, Toronto, ON M5H 3E5, Canada.
Book a demo: https://streamcell.com/demo