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By Gary Wells, Technical Sales Consultant
 Wouldn't it be nice to be able to quickly know exactly what was going on within your vivarium without having to hunt down paperwork, locate clipboards, page personnel, dig through log sheets, observation reports and so much other paper? Are you struggling with FDA, GLP and AAALAC compliance issues? Today's world of technology allows for many new advanced automation tools to be applied to your vivarium to not only make your headache go away but provide tools that can give you tangible measurements on facility, equipment and work flow efficiencies and performance.
Facilities are constantly looking at ways to improve workflow, eliminate waste, automate mundane operations and meet capacity challenges. In this world of doing more things with less, Edstrom's Vivarium Management solutions help manage the administrative tasks so your staff can concentrate on the job at hand; insuring the health, welfare and safety of your animals. By integrating Edstrom's Watchdog® and ViewPortTM solutions into your daily operation a high level of facility management is achieved by understanding what is happening in real time.
The Watchdog system is a powerful animal facility management tool that incorporates automated recording and archiving of data to support research studies. The Watchdog system is fully integrated to monitor room temperature, humidity, air pressure and air flow, lighting control, access control, the automated watering system and a wide variety of other variables that are critical to monitor, record and report. From the data collected, facility users are able to run specific reports to compliment the particular investigation's results. If room parameters are out of tolerance, alarms can be programmed to call, page or email the investigator, facility manager or building security to resolve the issue promptly.
As the Watchdog system was designed with the vivarium manager and user in mind, all of the important elements of control and monitoring such as environment, access, lighting and watering, are built in to one system rather than having to manage multiple systems for each function. In addition, all data that is collected is time and date stamped. With access control, you even know who accessed a room.
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"We have used the Watchdog system for watering for five years. I like it because I only need to make one call for everything. Edstrom has even provided assistance by logging on the system remotely. This versatility makes my life easier."
Steve Gates
Facility Technician
Rosewell Park Cancer Institute
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Today's web-based technologies provide an excellent way to monitor and manage the vivarium remotely, either from your intranet within your facility or via the internet from home. Watchdog provides you with a browser-based window into your vivarium. Reports can be run locally from your own PC rather than having to schedule with an administrator at the facility.
Another great tool that aids in managing the workflow side of the vivarium is ViewPort. ViewPort focuses on improving communications by displaying and capturing room duties, observations and messages automatically and instantly. ViewPort eliminates the need for duty lists, clipboards and observation logs by providing an efficient method to capture information via touch screens or wireless tools such as PDAs and wireless tablet PCs.
Duties that traditionally have been collected via a clipboard are entered electronically within the vivarium at the time of completion, date and time stamped, and ready for reporting or simply monitoring via Watchdog Web on your desktop. No more paper filing. The data is live and in real time. Also, observations can be entered immediately upon discovery for animal health, equipment issues or room condition. If there is an observation discovered that needs immediate attention, the ViewPort system will automatically inform the animal care technician or investigator via email, page or phone. This is a powerful tool, especially when the investment in animals or equipment is so high. It allows for text messaging between animal care staff and other people outside the vivarium easily and quickly.
As you look at other areas that can be automated, look at what information you find important such as monitoring freezers, refrigerators, cage and tunnel washers, sterilizers, RO machines and other process based equipment. Any piece of equipment can be monitored, alarmed, and recorded for future reference very easily within an automated system.
Animal facility managers are becoming increasingly aware of the need to run a “lean” operation, improve efficiencies, know their capacity limits, labor challenges and the importance of maintaining consistent SOP's. Managers have shown interest in knowing the status of equipment such as racks, where they are in the facility and when maintenance is due is critically important. Having the ability to integrate census management into the vivarium management system is important. Allowing technicians to schedule procedure rooms, hoods and other equipment to eliminate bottlenecks is desperately needed. Edstrom Industries is always looking at ways to add and enhance our vivarium management system to make it an even more effective automation tool for you and your facility.
Applying these work flow management tools and integrating them into an automated vivarium system such as Watchdog and ViewPort will make your facility operate at its' peak, most cost effective performance providing a competitive edge for many years to come. Let us show you how.
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