User Guide

Simply Experiment is a purchase request management system designed for research labs. It replaces spreadsheets and email chains with a structured workflow that takes a purchase request from creation all the way through PI approval, ordering, and receiving.

The platform has two parts:

• Web App — Create requests, manage approvals, track inventory, and configure your lab.
• Chrome Extension — Capture item details directly from vendor websites (Amazon, Fisher Scientific, VWR, and more) with one click, and automatically fill TDX request forms for faster submission.

Request Lifecycle

Every purchase request follows this flow:

A PI can also reject a request or send it back for changes at the “Requested” stage.

For PIs (Setting Up Your Lab)

For Lab Members (Joining a Lab)

The Shopping Cart is where you build a purchase request by adding items, allocating funding, and submitting it for PI approval.

Adding Items

There are two ways to add items:

• Chrome Extension (recommended) — Navigate to a vendor product page and click the extension icon to auto-capture item details. See the Chrome Extension section.
• Manual entry — On the Cart page, fill in the vendor name, item name, catalog number, quantity, and unit price. Click Add Item.

Funding Allocation

Submitting a Request

The Chrome Extension lets you capture product details from vendor websites and add them to your cart without manual data entry.

Installation

Capturing Items

Side Panel — TDX & Ariba Integration

The extension includes a side panel that both PIs and members can use to manage the TDX and Ariba workflow:

• Submit orders to TDX with automatic form filling — The side panel auto-populates the TDX request form with your order details (vendor, items, funding accounts, etc.), eliminating manual data entry.
• Track requisition & PO numbers — Enter and look up Ariba requisition numbers and purchase order numbers directly from the side panel.
• Upload packing slips — Attach packing slip images to the corresponding TDX ticket when items arrive.
• Mark items as received — Record storage location, safety data sheet status, and mark items as received in bulk.

Additional Extension Features

• Vendor Info tab — Extract vendor contact details (phone, address, fax) from a vendor's Contact Us page and save them to your lab.
• Manual Entry tab — Manually enter item details when auto-extraction is not available.

The My Requests page shows all purchase requests you have created. Use it to check the status of any request and view its full history.

Searching and Filtering

• Use the search bar to find requests by requester, item name, vendor, catalog number, keywords, date/month/year, or purchaser. The search is synonym-aware — for example, searching “NaCl” will also match “sodium chloride.” Combine multiple terms to narrow results (e.g., “Smith 2025” or “sodium March”).
• Filter by status (Draft, Requested, Approved, Ordered, Received, Rejected).
• Sort by date, request number, or status.

Request Details

Click any request to see full details including:

• All items with vendor, quantity, price, and item-level status.
• Funding allocations (WBSE accounts and GL codes).
• Attachments (quotes, packing slips, etc.).
• Full audit trail showing every status change and who made it.
• TDX ticket and Ariba requisition/PO tracking numbers.

Editing and Deleting

• You can edit requests that are still in Draft status.
• Members can delete their own draft, approved, or rejected requests.
• PIs can delete any request in the lab.

Exporting

Export your requests to Excel for reporting or record-keeping using the Export button.

The Inventory page tracks what your lab has on hand. Items are automatically added to inventory when a request is marked as received, or they can be imported from an Excel file.

Browsing Inventory

• Search by item name, catalog number, vendor, location, requester, or date/month/year. Combine multiple terms to narrow results (e.g., “Smith 2025”).
• The search is synonym-aware — searching “NaCl” will also find “sodium chloride.”
• Sort by any column (name, vendor, price, quantity, location).

Editing Items

Click any item to view or edit its details: storage location, quantity on hand, unit of measure, safety data sheet status, and default funding account.

Finding Duplicates & Merging

Use the Find Duplicates feature to scan your inventory for items that may have been entered more than once. The system identifies potential duplicates by matching item names, catalog numbers, and vendors. You can then review and merge them into a single entry to keep your inventory clean.

Importing Inventory PI

When a lab member submits a request, it appears in the PI's Approval Queue. This is where PIs review, approve, or reject requests.

Reviewing a Request

Each pending request shows the requester, items, total cost, funding allocation (with account labels and WBSE codes), and justification.

Actions

• Approve — Moves the request to Approved. TDX templates and approval emails are auto-generated.
• Reject — Moves the request to Rejected. You can include a reason.
• Request Changes — Sends the request back to Draft so the member can revise and resubmit.
• Batch Approve — Select multiple requests and approve them all at once.

After Approval

Once approved, the system auto-generates vendor-specific TDX Excel templates and an approval email. Use the Chrome Extension's side panel to submit these to TDX and track them through Ariba.

Auto-approval lets PIs set spending thresholds so that routine, low-cost requests from lab members are approved instantly without waiting for manual review. This speeds up the purchasing workflow for everyday lab supplies while still requiring PI review for larger purchases.

How It Works

When a lab member submits a request that falls within all configured spending thresholds, the request is automatically moved from Requested to Approved without PI intervention. The system generates TDX templates and sends an approval notification just like a manual approval. Requests that exceed any threshold are sent to the PI's Approval Queue for manual review as usual.

Setting Up Auto-Approval

Threshold Rules

• All thresholds are per member — each lab member has their own independent spending tracked against the limits.
• Leave a field blank to skip that check. For example, setting only a per-request limit of $500 means any single request under $500 is auto-approved regardless of cumulative spending.
• When multiple limits are set, all must pass for a request to be auto-approved. A $200 request could fail if the member has already spent $1,900 this month against a $2,000 monthly limit.
• The per-month limit must be greater than or equal to the per-request limit, and the per-year limit must be greater than or equal to both. The system enforces this when saving.
• Cumulative spending includes all requests with status Approved, Submitted to TDX, Ordered, or Received within the current calendar month or year.

What Gets Auto-Approved

A request is auto-approved only when all of these conditions are true:

• Auto-approval is enabled for the lab by the PI (lab-level toggle on the Manage Lab page).
• The request total is within the per-request limit (if set).
• The member's cumulative monthly spending plus the request total is within the per-month limit (if set).
• The member's cumulative yearly spending plus the request total is within the per-year limit (if set).

If any condition fails, the request goes to the PI's Approval Queue for manual review. The PI can still approve, reject, or send it back for changes.

The Manage Lab page is the PI's control center for the lab. It is organized into several tabs:

Funding Accounts

Add, edit, or deactivate WBSE/funding account numbers. Each account has a label (e.g., “NSF Grant 2024”) and a WBSE number. Active accounts appear in the funding allocation dropdown on the Shopping Cart. Deactivating an account hides it from new requests but does not affect existing ones.

Members

• Invite members by email (individually or in bulk).
• Set roles — assign as Member or PI.
• Activate/deactivate members. Inactive members cannot create requests.

Vendors

View all vendors your lab has ordered from. The system prevents duplicates through intelligent name matching. You can merge duplicate vendors and edit vendor contact information.

Subscription

View your current subscription status (trial, active, expired), days remaining, and manage billing.

Automatic Approval

Configure spending thresholds so routine requests are approved automatically. See the Auto-Approval section for full details.

Expenses

View expense breakdowns by funding account to track spending across grants.

Simply Experiment uses two roles. Your role determines which features you can access.