Organizations using both a Quality Vault and a LIMS Vault can utilize the Spark messaging framework to create a standard Vault to Vault connection. This connection transfers Batch, Related Batch, Material, Related Material, Product, Product Family, Product Variant, Product Marketed, Organization, Asset Family, and Asset records across Vaults and automates the creation and updating of CrossLink documents. See About the Quality-LIMS Vault Connection for detailed information about how the connection works.
Note: The Quality-LIMS Vault Connection is only available for organizations with both a Quality Vault and LIMS Vault. In order to transfer object records, your Quality Vault must have the QMS application. In order to sync documents, your Quality Vault must have the QualityDocs application.
Quality-LIMS Vault Connection Components
The following components support the standard Quality-LIMS Vault Connection.
Connections
The following Connection records are available from Admin > Connections:
- Quality to LIMS (
quality_to_lims__v) is available in your Quality Vault - Quality - LIMS Connection (
quality_lims_connection__v) is available in your LIMS Vault
You will still need to establish the Vault to Vault connection before you can use it.
Integration & Integration Points
The Integration and Integration Point objects enable Vault to manage the message queues and define what documents and data the connection maps from one Vault to another. These records are read-only and are used by Vault to manage the connection and track any connection errors.
The Quality to LIMS connection record includes the following default Integration records with standard Integration Point records in your Quality Vault:
| Integration Name | Integration Point Name(s) | Sent From | Sent To |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quality-LIMS Reference Object Integration | Quality - LIMS Asset | Quality | LIMS |
| Quality-LIMS Reference Object Integration | Quality - LIMS Asset Family | Quality | LIMS |
| Quality-LIMS Reference Object Integration | Quality - LIMS Batch | Quality | LIMS |
| Quality-LIMS Reference Object Integration | Quality - LIMS Material | Quality | LIMS |
| Quality-LIMS Reference Object Integration | Quality - LIMS Organization | Quality | LIMS |
| Quality-LIMS Reference Object Integration | Quality - LIMS Product | Quality | LIMS |
| Quality-LIMS Reference Object Integration | Quality - LIMS Product Family | Quality | LIMS |
| Quality-LIMS Reference Object Integration | Quality - LIMS Product Marketed | Quality | LIMS |
| Quality-LIMS Reference Object Integration | Quality - LIMS Product Variant | Quality | LIMS |
| Quality-LIMS Reference Object Integration | Quality - LIMS Related Batch | Quality | LIMS |
| Quality-LIMS Reference Object Integration | Quality - LIMS Related Material | Quality | LIMS |
| Quality/LIMS Document Integration | LIMS Documents Outbound | Quality | LIMS |
| Quality/LIMS Document Integration | LIMS Documents Inbound | LIMS | Quality |
The Quality - LIMS Connection record includes the following default Integration records with standard Integration Point records in your LIMS Vault:
| Integration Name | Integration Point Name(s) | Sent From | Sent To |
|---|---|---|---|
| LIMS/Quality Object Integration | LIMS - Quality Asset | Quality | LIMS |
| LIMS/Quality Object Integration | LIMS - Quality Asset Family | Quality | LIMS |
| LIMS/Quality Object Integration | LIMS - Quality Batch | Quality | LIMS |
| LIMS/Quality Object Integration | LIMS - Quality Material | Quality | LIMS |
| LIMS/Quality Object Integration | LIMS - Quality Organization | Quality | LIMS |
| LIMS/Quality Object Integration | LIMS - Quality Product | Quality | LIMS |
| LIMS/Quality Object Integration | LIMS - Quality Product Family | Quality | LIMS |
| LIMS/Quality Object Integration | LIMS - Quality Product Marketed | Quality | LIMS |
| LIMS/Quality Object Integration | LIMS - Quality Product Variant | Quality | LIMS |
| LIMS/Quality Object Integration | LIMS - Quality Related Batch | Quality | LIMS |
| LIMS/Quality Object Integration | LIMS - Quality Related Material | Quality | LIMS |
| LIMS/Quality Document Integration | Quality Documents Outbound | LIMS | Quality |
| LIMS/Quality Document Integration | Quality Documents Inbound | Quality | LIMS |
Integration Rules
To support the Quality-LIMS Vault Connection, it may be necessary to transform data from the source Vault’s data model to fit within the target Vault’s data model. You can use Integration Rules to incorporate configurable rules for mapping object and document fields between two Vaults. Learn more about creating and managing Integration Rules.
Field rules define the specific set of rules that apply to an integration rule. Ensure the following field rules for the Inbound Document integration rule are active in both your Quality and LIMS Vault:
document_classification__vdocument_link_field__vdocument_major_version_number_field__vdocument_minor_version_number_field__vdocument_subtype__vdocument_type__vdocument_version_link_field__v
These field rules are active by default. If any of these field rules are inactivated, the connection creates a User Exception Message while attempting to transfer a document.
Queues
This feature includes four (6) standard message processing queues: three (3) in your Quality Vault and three (3) in your LIMS Vault. You can access and manage these queues from Admin > Connections > Spark Queues.
In your Quality Vault, you have:
- Quality - LIMS Reference Object Outbound Queue (
qual_lims_ref_object_outbound_queue__v) - LIMS Documents Outbound Queue (
lims_documents_outbound_queue__v) - LIMS Documents Inbound Queue (
lims_documents_inbound_queue__v)
In your LIMS Vault, you have:
- LIMS - Quality Reference Object Inbound Queue (
lims_quality_object_inbound_queue__v) - Quality Documents Outbound Queue (
qual_documents_outbound_queue__v) - Quality Documents Inbound Queue (
qual_documents_inbound_queue__v)
User Exception Objects
Vault includes the User Exception Message object and its child object, User Exception Item, to help you track and resolve any errors that occur with your Quality-LIMS Vault Connection. If either end of your integration can’t process an incoming message, Vault creates a User Exception Message record to capture the failure. Vault also creates individual User Exception Item records for each item that failed on the related Integration Point record in the outbound Vault.
You can view and manage these messages from Admin > Connections > User Exception Messages. If you want specific users or groups to receive notifications when Vault creates User Exception Message records, you must create a custom lifecycle for the User Exception Message object and configure a notification entry action.
A User Exception Message means that you need to update your configuration. After you update the configuration, Vault attempts to resolve any errors the next time the connection runs. You can also select the Rerun Integration action to run the connection and resolve errors.
Standard Document Type Groups
The following Document Type Group records are available to support this connection:
- Quality to LIMS Connection is available in your Quality Vault
- LIMS to Quality Connection is available in your LIMS Vault
Vault uses these document type groups to determine which document types to transfer from one Vault to another. When a document belonging to one of these groups enters its Steady state, Vault sends a Spark message to create a CrossLink document in the connected Vault and updates the document fields to reflect changes made to the document in the source Vault. If configured, Vault also sends Superseded versions of documents created since the connection last ran. You must configure a Document Type reference lookup to map the document type in the source Vault to the document type in the target Vault in order for Vault to transfer documents.
Standard Document State Types
The following Document State Types are available to support this connection:
- Steady, Obsolete, and Superseded are available on document lifecycles in your Quality Vault
- Steady, Obsolete, and Superseded are available on document lifecycles in your LIMS Vault
Vault creates documents that are transferred through the connection in the states that you assign to these state types. Learn more about defining defining document state types.
Note: In most cases, the inbound document state types should be associated with the Steady state.
Last Successful Run Field
On every inbound Integration record, the Last Successful Run field captures the date and time that the integration last ran with no errors. Vault uses this date to query changes since the integration’s last successful run.
You can use the Last Successful Run field in the following ways:
- If you don’t want Vault to transfer existing object records or existing Steady state documents as CrossLink documents, set this field to the date and time when you will activate the connection.
- If you need to rerun every Integration Point within the Integration record, you can clear the Last Successful Run field. The next time an action in either Vault triggers the connection, Vault will re-process all documents or object records within the scope of that integration point.
When activating a Quality-LIMS Vault Connection, set the Last Successful Run field on each active Integration to the date and time that you want transfers to start. If you do not set a value on the Last Successful Run field, Vault will transfer all relevant records and documents.
Configuring the Quality-LIMS Connection
You must complete the following steps in both your Quality Vault and your LIMS Vault to configure the standard connection:
- Ensure the connection’s integrations and child integration points are set to Active. By default, integration and integration points are inactive.
- Define reference lookups for controlled fields within the integration scope and load these to each Vault. See details about configuring reference lookups below.
- Update any required fields that are not defined in the connection to either have a default value or to make values not required. See details about updating fields below.
- Update existing records and CrossLink documents to prevent Vault from creating duplicates when the connection runs. See instructions and information about object record creation below.
- Ensure the connection’s standard Document Type Groups are set to Active and add all necessary document types to each group.
- Update document lifecycles to assign document states to the connection’s standard document state types. In both Vaults, we recommend setting the connection’s document state types to the Approved state.
- Enable CrossLinks. See details about this step below.
- Optional: Enable the transfer of Steady state and Superseded document versions. See details about this step below.
- We recommend that you create a flash report to run when there are active User Exception Message records in either Vault.
- Establish the Vault to Vault connection between your Quality Vault and your LIMS Vault. See Creating & Managing Connections for detailed instructions.
If you don’t complete these steps in both Vaults, the connection will not work.
Configuring Reference Lookups
Reference lookups are a configuration component referenced by integration rules that allow you to map the value of a field on a target object or document indirectly from a value in the source Vault. When you configure the Quality-LIMS Vault Connection, you need to add reference lookups for controlled fields within the integration scope. We recommend creating CSV mapping files and loading these to your Vault to create reference lookups.
For example, in order for Vault to transfer documents from one Vault to the other, you need to create Document Type reference lookups to map the source document types to the target document types. See Creating & Managing SDK Reference Lookups for detailed instructions.
Loading Mappings
After you create CSV mapping files for documents and object records, you can use Vault Loader to load reference lookups to your Vault:
- Navigate to the Loader tab.
- Select your CSV File. See the sample Object mapping file and the sample Document Type mapping file.
- In the Object Type drop-down, select Reference Lookups.
- In the Action Type field, select Create.
- Click Start Load.
Load Document Type reference lookups in your Quality Vault. Load both Object reference lookups and Document Type reference lookups in your LIMS Vault. After you load reference lookups, confirm they loaded successfully. Then, navigate to Admin > Connections in each Vault and review the reference lookups to ensure they appear as expected.
Updating Fields
In order for the connection to run successfully, you need to update any required document or object fields that are not defined in the connection to either have a default value or to make values not required. For example, in the Quality Vault, update the Unit of Measure field on the Batch object. Keeping Unit of Measure as a required field will cause errors when the connection runs if you don’t extend the Integration Rules.
Object Fields
Update fields to be optional or to have a default value on the Batch, Related Batch, Material, Related Material, Product, Product Family, Product Variant, Product Marketed, Organization, Asset Family, and Asset objects in your Quality Vault, and on the same objects in your LIMS Vault.
Document Fields
In addition to updating document fields to be optional or to have a default value, you need to configure field-level security on the Major Version Number document field on the Base Document type. In both Vaults, add an Editable security override for the Application Owner account.
Updating Existing Object Records & CrossLink Documents
Object Records
When creating an object record as part of the connection, Vault populates the Link (link__sys) field on the target record or CrossLink with the Global ID (global_id__sys) of the source record. These fields let Vault know which records to update in the target Vault when data is updated in the source Vault.
If your Vault contains existing records that you want the Quality-LIMS Vault Connection to update, you can manually enter the Global ID value from the source record in the Link field on the target record. Once the connection is active, Vault will update these existing records rather than creating new ones.
CrossLink Documents
If your Vault contains existing CrossLink documents bound to a specific Steady state version and you don’t want Vault to create duplicates when the connection runs, you can:
- Enter the Global ID value from the source document in the Link field on the CrossLink document
- Enter the Global Version ID value from the source document in the Document Version Link field on the CrossLink document
Enabling CrossLinks
CrossLink documents enable content from one Vault to be used in another Vault within the same domain. In order for the connection to create documents across both your Quality and your LIMS Vaults, you’ll need to enable CrossLinks in both Vaults.
When you enable CrossLinks, you can also choose to exclude document overlays and signature pages from the document in the source Vault when Vault creates the CrossLink document in the target Vault.
Transferring Steady State & Superseded Document Versions
When enabled, Vault can transfer all Steady state and Superseded document versions between Vaults when the connection runs.
When users create multiple versions of the same document within a five-minute window, Vault recognizes all versions (Steady state and Superseded) and creates them as CrossLinks.
When disabled, Vault only transfers the most recent Steady state version created within a 5-minute window.
Connection Limitations
The Quality-LIMS Vault Connection does not support the transfer of minor document versions.
See Standard Vault to Vault Connection Limitations for additional limitations.
Related Permissions
You need a System Admin security profile as well as the following permissions to set up the standard Quality-LIMS Vault Connection:
| Type | Permission Label | Controls |
|---|---|---|
| Security Profile | Admin: Application: Manage Connections | Ability to set up the Quality-LIMS Vault Connection |
| Security Profile | Object: User Exception Item, User Exception Message: Read | Ability to see User Exception Item and User Exception Message records if a connection failure occurs |