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I work in the sciences, and have an idea for a program/tech solution to a common problem animal researchers run into, and my old lab griped about daily. I have the problem defined, and I have several ideas about a solution; my skill set doesn't include programming and my University doesn't care about developing "programs" only biotechnology ideas.

I'd like to pursue this, but getting bogged down trying to get started.

As I see it, I can fund this out of pocket and hire programmers to build this piecemeal, or find a partner who's willing to take a risk and work on this.

It's a long shot, but any helpful advice?

Sorry if wrong sub.

I work in the sciences, and have an idea for a program/tech solution to a common problem animal researchers run into, and my old lab griped about daily. I have the problem defined, and I have several ideas about a solution; my skill set doesn't include programming and my University doesn't care about developing "programs" only biotechnology ideas. I'd like to pursue this, but getting bogged down trying to get started. As I see it, I can fund this out of pocket and hire programmers to build this piecemeal, or find a partner who's willing to take a risk and work on this. It's a long shot, but any helpful advice? Sorry if wrong sub.

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[–] • 0 pt

standard is to use Excel

Well see there is your problem right there.

I know right?!

Part of the logic on the tablets was to allow the tablet to live in clean areas you can't bring stuff into without a sterilization cycle. Without specifying exactly what that area is, the QR code was more to allow rapid identification of samples, and to pull up the database entry for that sample. "What sample is this again, and what do I need to do to it again? Oh! Right."

Research Labs have a larger budget then you might think. Our discretionary purchase limit is 5K at least where I work/worked. If you need it, you need it. Over 5K, you fill out a sole source form, and then you buy it.

[–] • 0 pt

So an app with hooks into your local DB, using the QR code as the key. You wouldn't want to keep it in excel because updating that from a mobile app would be a pain in the dick.

Also tie it into whatever task-tracking app you're using, so you can get info on what you're supposed to do to the thing you're looking at.

That seems fairly straightforward, honestly. Unfortunately I don't do mobile app development.

[–] • 0 pt (edited )

Yeah, that pretty well defines the problem... I was flabbergasted when I started grad school that nothing existed to accomplish this, but I've looked and it all falls well short. Graduated, so... Should use my degree and experience for something!

MS Access is almost taboo in the sciences for some reason, but realistically should be the ideal for this, especially how standardized this should be.

I think part of the dominance of Excel is that what you see is what you get, and everyone has experience with it in undergrad, even researchers from China.

In terms of task tracking, a notes field, and Outlook calendar would be the common ones.

[–] • 0 pt

Access is shit. If I were doing this, I'd probably go with Mongo. Less problems if you have specimens that have different field requirements, etc.

A notes field directly in whatever DB solution you use wouldn't be ideal unless you included some way to futz with it in the app. A better way might be to tie into Jira or some other task tracker, though I'm not sure how feasible that would be... you'd want it to do task lookup based on QR and user, presumably.