How to use iLab as an ASU PI

Sign up for an iLab account

  1. Navigate to ASU’s landing page for iLab Solutions and click on the sign-up button in the upper-right corner.
  2. Select the option for “ASU user (with ASURITE ID)” and log in with your ASURITE credentials.
  3. If you are a PI with a grant in which you are listed as the Lead PI role in ASU’s Financial System, then you will skip the registration process and be brought to iLab’s Home page because your profile already exists.

    If you are PI without a grant, then you will be prompted to select a PI/Advisor or Lab/Class name. Search by the PI/Advisor last name or the Lab/Class name and select from the list. If you are performing research under a program or gift of your own funds and you do not see your name listed, contact iLab Support with your name, ASU email, ASURITE ID and department for setup.

Overall navigation

The hamburger menu (three lines at the top left of the screen) allows you to access the following features:

  • Home lists submitted service requests, messages, recently used cores and institutions.
  • Core Facilities lists all core facilities at your own institution, partner institutions, and other outside institutions using iLab as well as a search function.
    • My Reservations provides an overview of all current, upcoming and recent reservations in iLab.
    • Invoices lists all invoices from your department.
  • Manage Groups: Displays all groups in which you are a member, and allows you to request membership into another group at ASU or another institution.
    • My Group directs to the same page as clicking Manage Groups. Hovering your mouse reveals a sub-menu of your groups to display the names and contact information of everyone in the group.
    • My Departments displays the groups affiliated with your department at your institution.
    • People Search displays the names and contact information of everyone in groups for which you are a member.

The top of the screen provides access to various system functions

  • Search allows you to search for specific cores and services. Enter a key term or the first few letters and click ‘Go.’ Your results will display on the page.
  • Clicking your Username will reveal the following options:
    • My Profile, which allows you to view and edit your user profile.
    • System upgrades, which grants access to all messages regarding the system and updates/feature/bug fixes of the iLab software.
  • The Help link brings you to iLab’s customer support portal.
  • Sign Out logs you out of the system.

When you visit a specific core facility on iLab, you will see tabs at the top right that will allow you to:

  • Learn about the facility
  • Schedule equipment
  • Request services/training
  • View your requests
  • Contact the facility

Grant and other account management

Programs and gifts may be added to a group for spending management as needed. Grants appear automatically in the group designated as the Lead PI role in ASU’s Financial System. All researchers delegated to spend on a grant must request membership into the Lead PI’s group, including the co-investigator. A grant’s expiration date is fed directly from ASU’s Financial System; if it is expired, researchers will not be able to request new services. Unbilled services rendered during the period of performance may still be charged within 60 days after the grant’s expiration.

Assigning spending permission

How to assign spending permission to a researcher within your lab or group:

  1. Open the hamburger menu (three lines) at the top left of your iLab screen. 
  2. Select the relevant group under “Manage Groups.”
  3. Click on the “Membership Requests & Accounts” tab, where the current members of the group will appear in a grid with checkboxes underneath each available account. 
  4. Assign spending permission by checking the box underneath an account for any given user. The box will highlight in green to signify the change is in effect.

Unassigning spending permission

To remove a person’s spending permission, follow the steps under “Assigning spending permission” above, but uncheck the box or boxes you want to unassign.

If there are unbilled charges pending on an account, a popup window will appear summarizing these charges. To unassign spending permission on the account under this circumstance: 

  1. Make sure the researcher has permission to spend on another account, which will pay for the unbilled charges. 
  2. Select this new account from the “Account” dropdown menu. 
  3. Click the link to “Update all Service Requests / Reservations Listed Above.” The window will refresh with the account unassigned and the charges moved to the new account you selected.

Requesting an account

To add a program or gift to your lab or group:

  1. Open the hamburger menu (three lines) at the top left of your iLab screen. 
  2. Select the relevant group under “Manage Groups.”
  3. Click on the “Membership Requests & Accounts” tab.
  4. Click to expand the section labeled “Request Access to Additional Accounts.” Instructions will appear describing the proper format for the account along with a field in which to request it to your group. Pay close attention to the formatting, including the number and placement of dashes (-). If the format is not matched exactly, then you will receive an error.

Selecting payment information

When making a reservation or requesting services, you are required to provide a funding source to charge for services, which must be assigned on the lab or group settings page. Fund types available include Account and Center Fund. Distinguish between the two types from the first dropdown menu.

Account displays programs, grants and gifts.

Additional options are available in the three dropdown menus below the account, including Department Reporting Roll, Department Reporting and Audit Reporting. These tags are optional and are not required to successfully submit a request or make a reservation. Check with your department financial manager to find out if a specific tag is required for your unit. 

Center Fund: If your group was awarded a balance toward use of a core facility, selecting Center Fund will allow you to select it from the next menu. Note: You must be assigned permission to spend on a Center Fund in the same way as any other account type.

Clicking on the “Split Charge” button in the lower-right corner of the “Payment Information” section allows you to split the cost of a reservation or any charge within a service request on multiple funds. Change the percentage of each split to the desired amount and make sure the total equals 100%.

Related topics

The links below redirect to the iLab Help Site on these related topics:

Research group member management

You can manage members of a research group from the “Members” tab of the group’s settings page, including adding/removing members, approving membership requests and setting thresholds for automatic spending approval. Requests that require PI financial approval are accessible via “View Requests” from the hamburger menu. The links below redirect to the iLab Help Site on these related topics:

Approving requests

If the projected cost of a request exceeds the auto-approval threshold set for your group members, you will need to approve the request before work may begin. You will receive an email notification from [email protected] with the request details and a link to the core page to provide your approval. You may also view and approve all requests submitted by your group members. The links below redirect to the iLab Help Site on these related topics:

Reviewing invoices

Invoices are accessible from the hamburger menu on the top left of the iLab window. You will also receive a direct link by email whenever an invoice is generated. It is important to review the charges on an invoice right away to ensure it is accurate.

Modifying the charge account

The charge account listed for each service item on an invoice may be changed within three business days before it officially posts to the ASU Financial System. To do so, click on the dollar symbol to open a charge summary for the request, check the box for each service item requiring modification, select the new account from the dropdown menu, then click to save.

Note: The researcher/owner of the service items must have permission to spend on the new account prior to updating the invoice. See the “Grant and other account management” section above for further instructions.


Tip: Refresh your browser window to verify the new account has been successfully assigned as intended.

Disputing charges

You have three business days after the invoice is created to dispute a charge before it officially posts to the ASU Financial System. To dispute a charge:

  1. Hover your mouse over the charge’s total cost. A yellow flag will appear.
  2. Click on the yellow flag. A window will open that prompts you to select a reason for the dispute and to provide a note. Include a detailed description of the issue.
  3. Click on “initiate dispute.” Your message will be delivered to the Core Facilities Financial Office, which will work with the lab managers to verify your claim and apply any necessary changes.

Running reports

Reports are accessible from the hamburger menu and allow you to run reports on all billed and unbilled data in iLab for which you have manager or PI access. Learn more on the iLab Help Site “Reporting” page.

Reconciling in Workday

Once an invoice is generated in iLab, a countdown of three business days starts. During this time, charges may be disputed or modified to post to a different account. The invoice locks for additional editing after this period and posts as an Internal Service Delivery to the accounts listed through ASU’s Financial System, Workday.

The number of journal lines for a single invoice may vary depending on revenue/expense account combinations, as well as variations in optional worktags. When viewed from the Workday report, “Detailed Revenue Expense and Ledger Accounts,” an invoice’s journal lines display as the following (by report header):

  • Business document: Internal Service Delivery Document ID, displayed as a hyperlink that redirects to the entire ISD (Note that viewing the ISD displays all charges processed by the facility, not just the transactions associated with the invoice)
  • Memo: Name of the Core Facility that rendered services
  • Line memo: URL to view the entire invoice online (copy/paste the URL into a new browser tab for viewing)
  • Actuals: The journal line subtotal for an invoice

FAQ

You may link a researcher to your group and assign them permission to spend on your account(s) by following these steps:

  1. Open the hamburger menu (three lines) at the top left of your iLab screen. 
  2. Hover your mouse over “My Groups” and click on your group name when it appears.
  3. Select the “Members” tab and click on “link existing user” below the list of current members. 
  4. Type in the researcher’s name (last name preferred).
  5. When the researcher’s name appears, click on it.
  6. Indicate their level of membership in the group (“Member” is standard), then click “invite”. The start/end dates are not required. The researcher will now appear in your list of current members.
  7. Go to the “Membership Requests & Accounts” tab and refresh your web browser.
  8. To give a member spending permission, check the box(es) next to that person’s name under the appropriate account(s). The box(es) will highlight green, signifying the changes have been saved. 

If you tried searching for a researcher’s name but they did not appear as a search result, either their name in iLab does not match what you entered, or they have not yet registered for an iLab account. Have the researcher request membership into your group.

If you found the researcher’s name and tried to invite them but nothing happens, check to see if they were once a member of your group but their membership expired. A link “Show Expired Memberships” is visible on the top-right of the list of current members on the “Members” tab. Click on it, and expired members will appear highlighted pink. If the researcher’s name is in the list, click the pencil icon to modify their membership start/end dates.

Check the dates and facilities listed in this popup window. If the dates are within the past six months, check with the facilities to find out whether the researcher has unbilled charges. If so, you may remove the researcher from your group after the charges are billed and post to the ASU Financial System.

If the dates are older than six months and the facilities confirm there are no unbilled charges for that researcher, then modify the researcher’s membership end date to yesterday’s date by clicking on the pencil icon by their name.

A grant may not be visible in your group for these reasons:

  • You are not listed as the Lead PI on the grant in ASU’s Financial System. If you are a co-investigator, then anyone needing to request services or make reservations on the grant should request membership into the lab or group of the Lead PI. If you are supposed to be listed as the Lead PI, contact the Grant Contract Officer to update the ASU Financial System and the grant will appear in your iLab group the day after the change is effective.
  • Your grant is expired or not yet active according to ASU’s Financial System. Contact the Grant Contract Officer to update the ASU Financial System and the grant will appear in your iLab group the day after the change is effective.

If you wish to charge a different account than the one listed, you can modify the account so long as the invoice was generated within 3 business days and has not posted to the ASU Financial System. 

To change the account:

  1. Click on the dollar symbol icon for the request whose charges need a new account. A summary window will appear.
  2. Check the box(es) for each charge you wish to update.
  3. Select the new account from the dropdown menu. Note: The researcher who is listed as the owner of the request must have permission to spend on the new account. 
  4. Click the save button to set your changes. Tip: Refresh your web browser to see an updated version of the invoice to ensure the changes were made as intended.

If a charge on an invoice seems incorrect, dispute the charge directly on the invoice ASAP. You only have three business days to make any changes to the charge before it is processed in ASU’s Financial System. 

  1. Open the invoice in iLab via the link provided at the bottom of the notification email or find it on the “Invoices” page in iLab.
  2. For each charge in dispute, hover your mouse over the total cost to reveal a yellow flag, then click on it.
  3. A popup window will appear. Select the reason for your dispute and provide a detailed description in the dispute notes section. Click the “Initiate Dispute” button.
  4. Your dispute will be delivered to the facility’s finance office for review. They will follow up with the lab managers to verify how the charge should be modified and make any applicable changes directly on the invoice.

You must ensure any reservations or service requests occur prior to the account’s expiration date (a.k.a. the period of performance). Many core facilities generate invoices after the service month has closed, meaning the account may not be charged until after the account has expired, which is not problematic. The billing workflow is not tied to this expiration date and has a longer administrative window to close out any final expenses, so long as they occurred during the period of performance.

One of two scenarios will prevent you from submitting a request:

  • A question in the request form is required but you did not provide an answer, or the form was not saved when completed. Open the request details by clicking on the blue triangle and view the form. Review your responses to check that all questions are answered, then click the save button. You should now be able to submit your request. If you continue to have trouble, submit a ticket to iLab Support by clicking the “Help” link in the upper-right corner of the site.
  • You did not select an account under “Payment Information,” or you do not have permission to spend on a fund. Make sure you have selected an account to pay for your request; if you do not have permission to spend on an account, set this up through your Lab or group settings page.

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