Symplectic Elements
Symplectic Elements has an Equipment Module which can store details for pieces of equipment as well as relationships with other objects in other Symplectic Elements modules, such as Publications, People, Grants and Professional Activities.
Knowledgebase articles
The Symplectic Elements support site holds a series of articles which explain how the Elements system works - these are links to articles which are relevant to the Equipment module (access requires a login to their support site):
Types and Fields
The default settings for the Equipment module include four types:
- Database
- Instrument
- Software
- Service
Other types of equipment which are available to use (but not currently enabled in the default settings) are:
- Laboratory
- Collection
- Biological Material
- Reagent
- Facility
The metadata schema for different equipment types in symplectic is determined by the Underlying fields for each equipment type. The table below shows all underlying fields in the default schema for equipment, and their availability for each type. The types Collection, Biological Material and Reagent are not included here - their fields are the same as the Laboratory type.
| Field name | Field Type | Database | Instrument | Software | Service | Laboratory | Facility |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| name | text | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| description | text | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| additional-name | text | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| coded-in | text | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| contacts | person-list | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| data-input | text | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| data-output | text | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| addresses | address-list | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| url | url | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| developed-by | person-list | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| inventory-number | text | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| manufacturers | address-list | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| model-number | text | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| fee-for-service | boolean | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| protocol | text | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| restrictions | list | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| service-fee-url | url | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| algorithm | text | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| operating-system | text | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| licence | text | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| purpose | text | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| version | text | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| sub-type | text | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| start-date | date | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| finish-date | date | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| training-available | boolean | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| contact-organisation | text | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| contact-email | text | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| contact-phone | text | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| capabilities | list | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| available-for-use | choice | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| contact-url | url | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
This is available as a CSV file with the names of the fields as they appear for different types in the Elements UI:
Field mapping with the uniquip schema and SAP
| Uniquip Field | Description | Symplectic | SAP |
|---|---|---|---|
| type | Either “equipment” or “facility” | Type | - |
| institutionID | Uniquie identifier within the institution | From SAP | ID |
| doi | Digital Object Identifier | - | - |
| name | Name of the equipment | name | Equipment Description |
| description | Technical description and capabilities | description | - |
| manufacturer | The manufacturer of the equipment | manufacturers | Manufacturer |
| manufacturerID | Identifier for the manufacturer | - | - |
| model | Name of the model or type of device as attributed by the manufacturer | model-number | Model number |
| modelID | Identifier used to identify the model by the manufacturer | - | ManufactSerialNumber |
| commissionedDate | Date equipment was commissioned (ISO 8601) | start-date | - |
| decommissionedDate | Date equipment was decommissioned (ISO 8601) | finish-date | - |
| measuredVariables | What the equipment measures | capabilities | - |
| subject | Subject(s) equipment is relevant to, as defined by the institution | - | Class |
| infraportalDiscipline | Discipline(s) equipment is relevant to, as defined by the UKRI Infraportal | - | - |
| contactName | Name of contact person | contacts | ZT Function |
| contactID | Identifier for contact (ORCID) | contacts | ZT Function |
| contactEmail | contact email for enquiries | contact-email | - |
| managingDepartment | Name of the department that manages the equipment | contact-organisation | ZS Function |
| managingDepartmentID | Identifier used to identify the department | - | ZS Function |
| managingFacility | Name of the facility that manages the equipment | - | - |
| managingFacilityID | Identifier of the facility that manages the equipment (ROR) | - | - |
| location | Geographical location (address, place name) | address | Location Description |
| postcode | postcode for the location | - | - |
| access | Access information, including whether the equipment can be accessed / used remotely | available-for-use | - |
| photo | URL(s) of photograph(s) of equipment | - | - |
| webAddress | URL(s) of web pages about the equipment | contact-url | - |
| researchOutputs | Link(s) to research output(s) generated by the equipment | relationships | - |
| documentation | Link(s) to documentation for the equipment | - | - |
| relatedInfo | Link(s) to related information about the equipment | - | - |
| relatedServices | Link(s) to related services, such as scheduling and booking | - | - |
| funder | Name of the organisation that funded the equipment | relationships | - |
| funderID | Identifier of the organisation that funded the equipment | relationships | - |
| awardName | Name of the funding award | relationships | - |
| awardID | Identifier for the funding award | relationships | - |
| awardDate | Date of funding award (ISO 8601) | relationships | - |
| overUKRI | Equipment value at purchase was over UKRI reporting threshold of £138,000 (Yes / No ) | relationships | - |
| additionalFunding | Any other funding information or funding sources | relationships | - |
Uniquip fields present in Symplectic Elements but not present in SAP
- description
- commissionedDate (start-date)
- decommissionedDate (finish-date)
- measuredVariables (capabilities)
- contactEmail (contact-email)
- access (available-for-use)
- webAddress (contact-url)
- researchOutputs (relationships - i.e. links to other Symplectic Elements objects)
- funder (relationships)
- funderID (relationships)
- awardName (relationships)
- awardID (relationships)
- awardDate (relationships)
- overUKRI (relationships)
- additionalFunding (relationships)
Uniquip fields present in SAP but not present in Symplectic Elements
- subject (Class)
- managingDepartmentID (ZS Function ID)
Uniquip fields not present in SAP or Symplectic Elements
- infraportalDiscipline - this can be one of the following values
- Biological Sciences, Health & Food
- E-Infrastructure & Data Energy
- Environment
- Physical Sciences
- Engineering
- Public Policy or Delivering Public Services
- Social Sciences, Arts & Humanities
- managingFacility
- managingFacilityID
- postcode
- photo (there is a possibility that Symplectic Elements can support a “thumbnail”)
- documentation
- relatedInfo
- relatedServices