# The daily work, *under one roof*.

Eleven starting points for the facility manager: room logs, work queues, service requests and the records behind your reports. Explore the forms, the handoffs and the saved views, then fit them to how your facility runs.

[Book a demo](https://streamcell.com/demo) · [Start with daily room logs](https://streamcell.com/library/daily-room-log)

## Key facts

- **Facilities compared**: 66, from 138 public procedures, October 2026
- **Jobs in the block**: 11
- **Sits beside**: Your census and billing systems

## Who is the Operations block for?

The facility manager and the supervisors who run the rooms. When every lab runs the same process differently, in spreadsheets and email, you want your team to build the forms you already use and let the steps run themselves.

## What comes in the Operations block?

Eleven forms, one per job.

- **The work queue**: 9 facilities compared, 5 ways.
- [Daily room logs](https://streamcell.com/library/daily-room-log): 12 facilities compared, 7 ways.
- **Cage wash checks**: 14 facilities compared, 6 ways, plus 1 too thin to place.
- **Room out of range**: 10 facilities compared, 5 ways.
- **Aquatic water quality**: 9 facilities compared, 4 ways.
- **Enrichment and exemptions**: 7 facilities compared, 5 ways.
- **Weans, splits and the census**: 20 facilities compared, 5 ways.
- **Animal transfers**: 13 facilities compared, 4 ways.
- **Service requests**: 15 facilities compared, 7 ways.
- **Per diem and service charges**: 19 facilities compared, 5 ways.
- **What managers track**: 10 facilities compared, 8 ways.

| Form | Code | Statuses |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Husbandry task | HT | Open → Assigned → Waiting on lab → Done → Verified → Closed |
| Daily room log | DRL | Draft → Submitted → Issue raised → Reviewed |
| Cage wash check | CW | Recorded → Retest due → With manager → Out of service → Closed |
| Environmental deviation | ED | Open → With facilities → Back in range → Reviewed → Closed |
| Water quality log | WQ | Recorded → Out of range → Corrected → Reviewed |
| Enrichment record | EN | Standard → Exemption requested → Exempt → Review due → Back to standard |
| New cage | CSW | Set up → With facility office → On census → Closed |
| Animal transfer request | ATR | Requested → With receiving PI → Under review → Approved → Denied → Moved → Closed |
| Service request | SR | Submitted → Accepted → In progress → Done → Declined |
| Billing change request | BC | Submitted → With billing office → With facility supervisor → Done → Declined |
| Census and space review | CSR | Draft → With attending vet → Reviewed with deans → Closed |

## See how the work connects

The work queue at 9 facilities, the room round at 12 and new cages at 20. Below, the workflows that do each handoff.

1. **Where does the room work start?**
   - A manager or supervisor: 5 of 9. Schedules or briefs the staff.
   - The PI or lab: 3 of 9. Its own people give some or all of the care.
   - Not stated: 1 of 9
2. **Where does a problem found on rounds go first?**
   - A manager or supervisor: 3 of 9
   - The PI or lab: 2 of 9
   - The program office: 1 of 9
   - Not stated: 3 of 9
3. **The vet side hears of it** (4 of 9 facilities)
Each dot is one of the 9 facilities whose documents we read. At each fork, where one way clearly leads at a fork, it is outlined.

1. **The daily room log is kept on paper at the room** (10 of 12 facilities)
2. **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
3. **The procedure says part of it is copied by hand into a second record** (6 of 12 facilities)
Each dot is one of the 12 facilities whose procedure we read. Where one way clearly leads at a fork, it is outlined.

1. **How does a new cage get its card?**
   - A ready-made card, with a strip or number sent back: 6 of 20
   - The office makes it on request: 4 of 20
   - The lab's card, then the office's: 3 of 20
   - A card on the cage, and nothing sent: 3 of 20
   - Entered in the facility's software: 1 of 20
   - Not stated: 3 of 20
2. **When does the census hear of it?**
   - The same day: 2 of 20
   - When the office handles the strip, card or request: 12 of 20
   - At the next count or daily log: 2 of 20
   - Not stated: 4 of 20
Each dot is one of the 20 facilities whose procedure we read. Where one way clearly leads at a fork, it is outlined.

| Area | What the workflows do |
| --- | --- |
| Husbandry | Assign task emails Priya Sood her room work. Raise an issue on the room log emails the manager; Verify locks a task once it is checked. |
| Cages | A New cage record tells the facility office, which marks it On census once it's in the census system. Both PIs sign a transfer. |
| Service | Noor Adler's lab sends a request. The facility accepts it and marks it done, which emails the lab. |
| Billing | A billing change request takes a new account or a disputed charge to the billing office. Every change stays in the audit trail. |

Today, 8 of 15 facilities require the service to be in the protocol, and 4 of 19 state a dispute window for a charge, from 3 to 60 days.

## What will the manager see?

Of 10 facilities' manager reports, 7 give a census, 4 space, 4 money and 0 open work. These views show it.

- **Today's tasks by person** (kanban): The supervisor's board.
- **Weekend tasks** (calendar): The weekend's work.
- **Open problems** (grid): Exceptions not yet verified.
- **Temperature by room** (chart): Highs and lows over time.
- **New cages not yet on the census** (list): 12 of 20 facilities wait on the office.
- **Open service requests** (kanban): Outstanding work, by status.
- **Cages by PI and month** (pivot): From the census and space review.

## Make room for your way of working

It starts from the most common way; each other way is a few changes.

- **A paper log at the room** (4 of 12 facilities): The default: one record per room per round.
- **A log plus concern forms** (3 of 12 facilities): Concern found tells the vet team.
- **Paper plus a team chat** (1 of 12 facilities): Raise an issue posts to Slack or Google Chat.
- **Paper, then retyped** (1 of 12 facilities): The census is a field; export the month.
- **Paper plus electronic logs** (1 of 12 facilities): Floods and deaths get their own forms.
- **One log per study** (1 of 12 facilities): Kept per protocol.
- **Scan at the cage** (1 of 12 facilities): A view shows each room's last round.
How the daily room log is kept, at 12 facilities.

- **New cages** (20 facilities): a ready-made card plus a strip or number sent back at 6, the office making the card at 4.
- **Billing** (19): the bill made in a census or billing system at 6, posted by the office at 6. The request form fits both.

## Find your starting point

Your first yes is where to start.

1. Does a supervisor or manager schedule or brief your husbandry staff?
2. Is your room log a sheet on the door?
3. Does the facility office make the card for a new cage?
4. Does a lab ask for special care or a service by form or email?

- **Start from the work queue**: Like 3 of 9: today's tasks by person.
- **Start from the room log**: Like 4 of 12, the default.
- **Start from new cages**: Like 4 of 20.
- **Start from service requests**: A web form at 5 of 15; a PDF or email at 5.
- **Start from billing change requests**: Account changes and disputes, beside your bill.

## Keep what already works

- **The census and the bill.** Streamcell sits beside your census and billing systems. It does not count cages or issue invoices.
- **The card on the cage.** Make it as you do now; the New cage record holds what it shows.
- **The cage in SoftMouse.** Records link to it; moves are made there.
- **One thing Streamcell can't do:** an if-then step. High and low limits run as two workflows.

## What do buyers ask operations software to do?

From 23 public procurement documents for animal facility software.

- **10 of 23**: ask for census tracking.
- **8 of 23**: ask for per diem and service billing.
- **7 of 23**: ask for cage cards.
- **4 of 23**: ask for anything in husbandry.
- **3 of 23**: ask for service requests.
US and Canadian programs, 2010 to 2026.

The block starts where buyers' lists are thinnest: husbandry and service.

## Can I add the Operations block myself?

**Add the block.** Adding it yourself is coming soon. Today, a demo sets it up for your facility.

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

## Set up the *Operations block* for your facility

Book a demo, and we start the block from how your team runs its rooms today.

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

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Source: https://streamcell.com/library/operations
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