In Uncountable, there are often times where you may wish to remove a data entity or an instance of a data entity from the system. This could be because it was made in accident, or a field is no longer needed or potentially several other reasons. However, given Uncountable is meant to house critical scientific data within the tool, some of which may be used for critical research and needs to remain in tact for many years – throughout the platform you will most of the time be utilizing an “Archive” option to remove an entity rather than a full, hard delete.
The shift from Delete to Archive is specifically to protect previous data, and users from accidentally removing fields that may be needed in the future. In addition, for customers in a GxP environment, no entity should be removable for audit purposes.
When Archiving a field (ingredient, process parameter, experiment workflow, experiment, etc.) within Uncountable, the effect of the archive is usually the following:
- The field is no longer useable in new experiments.
- Previous data that used that field remains as is.
- The archived field is hidden in listing tables by default, usually behind a filter or checkbox that could be removed if needed.
- The archived field is simply re-added to the usable library by an admin.
- The archived field will no longer be searchable/filterable/plottable in the tool.
Before – delete actions would normally cause a full removal from the system, thereby risking previous data validity if done in accident. By utilizing an archive function, the user is not compromising previous data while maintaining a “clean” view of the world going forward.
Archiving all library fields (ingredients, process parameters, outputs) can be done in singular and bulk by using the checkboxes on the left to select certain fields, and then using the Archive function.
From ingredient/output details page, you can also select the Archive option in the gear icon at the top of the page:
You will note that in listing tables by default, or in modals when adding fields to experiments – you will see a filter that is selecting for the Archived status of the field. This can be removed if desired by the user and special configuration by the Uncountable team can make this a more permanent filter if needed.
When you are wishing to delete an experiment (or multiple), you can do that from either the enter recipe or enter measurements page, by clicking on the “Delete” button. You can always search for this button in the “Search Actions” bar above if needed.
Note that when you are deleting an experiment – Uncountable will prompt you to type in the word “delete” as an additional, purposeful confirmation of the desire to delete the experiment.
NB. Deleted experiments in Uncountable are actually Archived – and these experiments are recoverable by Uncountable Admins.
If you wish to delete a project – you will be presented with 2 options, Delete and Archive. Delete will only remove the folder itself, not the Experiments inside. Those will get moved to the nearest parent project or All Projects folder.
If you Archive a project, you can toggle on/off the ability to see those projects.
