# The room is checked. *Where does the log go?* Of 12 facilities whose procedures we read, 10 keep the daily room log on paper at the room, and we found 7 ways it is kept and passed on. The most common, at 4 of 12, is a paper log at the room, a monthly grid at 3 of them, that the day's caretaker initials. [Open the Operations block](https://streamcell.com/library/operations) · [See the log](https://streamcell.com/library/daily-room-log#the-form) ## Key facts - **Facilities compared**: 12, from their public procedures, October 2026 - **Ways it's done**: 7 - **Part of**: [The Operations block](https://streamcell.com/library/operations) ## What the procedures reveal Three findings a facility manager would stop on. - **8 of 12**: send the log or its problems first to a facility manager, supervisor or director. A vet is a receiver in 2 of 33 handoffs, both at one facility. - **6 of 12**: state that part of the round is copied by hand into a second record, such as a census retyped into a spreadsheet. - **4 of 12**: logs record the 24-hour high and low temperature. 7 record a temperature at all. ## Where do facilities part ways? One path from the round to whoever reads the log, and the four points where the 12 facilities split. 1. **Who does the round?** - Husbandry and animal care staff: 4 of 12 - The PI or lab: 2 of 12 - A designate: 1 of 12 - Not stated: 5 of 12 2. **The round goes on paper at the room** (10 of 12 facilities) 3. **How is the log kept and passed on?** - A paper log at the room: 4 of 12 - A log plus concern forms: 3 of 12 - Paper plus a team chat: 1 of 12 - Paper, then retyped: 1 of 12 - Paper plus electronic logs: 1 of 12 - One log per study: 1 of 12 - Scan at the cage: 1 of 12 4. **Who reads it first?** - A manager, supervisor or director: 8 of 12 - The PI or lab: 3 of 12 - A named contact: 1 of 12 5. **And when it's urgent?** - A phone call: 4 of 12. Or a text, at 1. - Direct contact, channel not named: 1 of 12 - Not stated: 7 of 12 Each dot is one of the 12 facilities whose procedure we read. Where one way clearly leads at a fork, it is outlined. ## How is the room log kept and passed on? The second fork, way by way: where the round is recorded. - **A paper log at the room** (4 of 12 facilities): Initialed each day. Problems go by word of mouth or a call, and the sheets are reviewed or filed later. - **A log plus concern forms** (3 of 12 facilities): A log book for the round, and a separate form, card or incident log for each concern. - **Paper plus a team chat** (1 of 12 facilities): A check sheet for the routine; problems go to a chat channel. - **Paper, then retyped** (1 of 12 facilities): The daily census is retyped each month into a spreadsheet for the IACUC. - **Paper plus electronic logs** (1 of 12 facilities): Monitor readings copied onto the sheet; floods and deaths logged electronically. - **One log per study** (1 of 12 facilities): Kept by the lab and filed with the IACUC when the study ends. - **Scan at the cage** (1 of 12 facilities): A code on each cage; each check is scanned into a shared spreadsheet. Each dot is one facility whose procedure we read. Counted from public procedures, October 2026. Vet staff are the first reader at none of the 12. 3 of 12 check twice on weekdays, with the morning round due by 9:30 or 10:00. ## What should a daily room log contain? The fields facilities' logs carry, with how many of 12 carry each one. **Daily room log** (DRL). Statuses: Draft, Submitted, Issue raised, Reviewed. Counts are of 12 facilities' forms. **Room and round** - Room (Link: Housing Room, required): 4 of 12 - Round (Dropdown, required): 2 of 12 - Checked at (Date and time, required): 5 of 12 - Checked by (User, required): 8 of 12 - Species (Dropdown, required): 3 of 12 **Animals** - Animals (Dropdown, required): 9 of 12 - Food OK (Checkbox, required): 6 of 12 - Water OK (Checkbox, required): 5 of 12 - Census (adults) (Number): 3 of 12 **Room conditions** - Temperature now (Number, required): 6 of 12 - High, last 24 h (Number): 4 of 12 - Low, last 24 h (Number): 4 of 12 - Humidity now (Number): 4 of 12 **Tasks done** - Tasks (Checklist): 4 of 12 **Feed** - Feed use-by date (Date) **Aquatic checks** (opens when the workflow reaches it) - Water clear (Checkbox) - Tank and filter working (Checkbox) - Water changed (Checkbox) - pH (Number) - Ammonia / nitrite (Number) **Issue** (opens when the workflow reaches it) - What kind (Dropdown, required) - What's wrong (Rich text, required): 1 of 12 - Who was told (User) **Comments and sign-off** - Comments (Rich text): 5 of 12 - Signed (Signature, required): 8 of 12 All 12 facilities list what to record, on a printed log or in their procedure. 9 of 12 record a health check of the animals, 8 who did the round and 6 the food. 1 adds water checks for its fish and frog rooms. Some logs copy each other: two share the same 17 columns. ## Find your starting point Answer yes or no to find the facilities that work the way yours does. 1. Does anything from the round go into a computer: a spreadsheet, a chat channel, an app or an electronic log? 2. Do the routine checks go on the computer, not only the problems? 3. Do you scan a code on each cage to record the check? 4. Do you post problems in a team chat channel? 5. Does a lab keep the log for one study and hand it to the IACUC at the end? 6. Does a problem found on the round go onto a separate form, card or log? - **A paper log at the room**: You work like 4 of the 12 facilities we read, the most common way. Each round is a record, and the month shows as a calendar. - **A log plus concern forms**: You work like 3 of the 12. A concern emails the vet team from the round itself. - **Paper plus a team chat**: You work like 1 of the 12. Issues post to Slack or Google Chat. - **Paper, then retyped**: You work like 1 of the 12. The census is a field on each round, exported each month. - **Paper plus electronic logs**: You work like 1 of the 12. Floods and deaths become records linked to the room. - **One log per study**: You work like 1 of the 12. Filing it emails the IACUC office the record's PDF. - **Scan at the cage**: You work like 1 of the 12. Staff open the room's record instead. ## What do the rules ask for? A daily look at every animal. None sets the log's form or how long it is kept. - **Animal Welfare Act regulations:** every covered animal observed daily, with problems reaching the attending vet (9 CFR 2.33). They do not cover purpose-bred mice and rats. - **The Guide**, as guidance: animals observed at least daily, weekends and holidays included; rooms at 20 to 26 °C for mice and rats; humidity of 30% to 70% for most mammals. - **CCAC guidelines** (Canada): daily observations recorded and initialed, with the time, even when nothing is wrong. ## How does Streamcell run it? The default is the paper log at the room: one record per room per round. 1. **Round**: Priya Sood ticks food and water and logs 22 °C and 45% humidity. Submitting locks the signed fields. 2. **Concern**: She sees a skin lesion on 7756 and sets Animals to Concern found. Jules Ferreira is emailed and opens HC-0184. 3. **Out of range**: A reading outside the room's range emails the manager, and the round shows Issue raised. 4. **Reviewed**: The manager presses Mark reviewed. At 10:00, a morning round still in draft emails whoever started it and the manager. Each room type gets its own range workflow, because Streamcell has no if-then step. Facilities that want paper on the door keep it. ## The research behind this guide We read the public procedures of 12 research animal facilities in the US and Canada, all universities, in October 2026. Counts are facilities, not documents. ## Start from the *Operations block* The daily room log and the other records that keep a facility running, as one package your team changes to fit. [Open the Operations block](https://streamcell.com/library/operations) --- Source: https://streamcell.com/library/daily-room-log Last reviewed: 2026-10-16 Streamcell is made by Iseehear Inc., 250 University Avenue, Suite 200, Toronto, ON M5H 3E5, Canada. Book a demo: https://streamcell.com/demo