FAQs
Toolsquare is an all-in-one solution to efficiently manage your equipment and users. It offers a booking tool so you can neatly plan your resources. It minimises equipment breakdowns and repair costs because its access control system ensures safe usage. And it reduces downtime because issues are immediately reported. What’s more, the data dashboard provides insights into the weakest links in your workflow. With the data you can increase your productivity.
It definitely is. Our team makes sure you are set up and informed so you are ready to use it. The platform itself is very intuitive. You will easily find your way around. If you do have any questions along the way, you can always reach out to us via phone or email.
No, but everything except the booking tool is mobile-friendly.
Access to equipment is controlled by our Toolsquare units which are connected to the equipment. People who wish to use a machine have to swipe their user card against the unit. If they are authorised, the unit grants access. If not, the unit displays a message denying access. In that case, the equipment stays locked.
Lab managers
Lab managers are the main responsible people on the platform. They can manage users, assign access to equipment, check the dashboards on equipment usage,...
Technical contacts
For each equipment one or more technical contacts can be assigned. They can put equipment out of order, change settings and most of all: receive notifications when an issue is reported. They can also resolve those issues on the platform.
Users
Users can see all different equipment, see their own jobs and the issues they reported. They can also make bookings for the equipment they have access to.
Lab managers can easily add or remove users. When you remove a user, the data is pseudonymised so the use of equipment can still be linked to the user group they belonged to.
Two possibilities:
Via a bulk edit: you can apply a filter to the user list (ex: the user group they are attached to), select all and change access to any kind of machine family.
You can go to a specific piece of equipment, there you’ll see a list of people who have access, there you can remove people or add them. Note: access is always managed on a machine family level. So if you give someone access to centrifuge 01 they’ll also have access to all centrifuges in that family (ex: common centrifuges).
No, for now it is only possible to grant access to a machine family.
Users see a notification appear on the Toolsquare unit indicating that they have to request access to their lab manager.
When logging in on the platform, users see a coloured bar appear at the top of the page asking them to register their access card.
Below the login screen you can click on “Forgot my password”. You will receive an email to reset your password.
On the platform there’s a setting for each machine to Allow or Deny access when no connection can be made. For safety critical equipment it’s best to Deny access.
There is an unlimited number of users you can add to the system.
You can ask your Toolsquare contact to display user procedures, or checklists as we call them, on the Toolsquare units attached to your equipment. You can show different checklists on each machine. After swiping their access card, the users will see them appear on the unit and be reminded of the procedures.
No, but you can include a link to a manual in the description of each piece of equipment.
Yes. You can ask your Toolsquare contact to display different user procedures or checklists on each piece of equipment.
You can ask your Toolsquare contact to display user procedures on the Toolsquare units attached to your equipment.
The user does not gain access to the machine.
Log in to the Toolsquare platform and select “Reports” in the menu on the left. Then click on “# of jobs” and then filter on “User’s Email”.
You can see how long a machine has been used, how many jobs have been logged, what the occupancy rate is of each machine, and so much more.
When you click on Reports, you will see the Data Dashboard. Now click on the three dots. Note that you can also export data.
By measuring the electricity current OR by connecting to an output of the equipment itself. For some type of equipment we measure if someone is active on the pc (ex: a microscope).
Users can easily book machines in our reservation tool on our platform. They simply log in on our platform, then click on Reservations. They can book a machine in the calendar by clicking and dragging. There are two views available: a week and month view. The next booking is shown on the unit so people don’t have to look in the calendars when working in the lab. This also allows for a hybrid way of working where you don’t need to make a reservation for reservation’s sake, but only when it’s part of a time critical workflow.
Yes, users can see all bookings. Bookings by other users are greyed out.
Users can click on their own reservation and press the Delete button. Then they can make a new one.
Users can indicate something is wrong with the machine via our Toolsquare unit by selecting the sad smiley on the display. They are invited to add more information on the issue afterwards, via e-mail.
Only a lab manager or technical contact can resolve issues.
Yes. Log in to the Toolsquare platform and click on “Machines” in the column on the left. Now, you have an overview of all machines and their status.
Lab managers as well as Technical contacts can put a machine back in service via the platform. This also works quite well on a mobile phone as the website is responsive (renders well on the smaller format of your phone).
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You can reserve the equipment in the calendar with a note that maintenance is planned.
Please reach out to your Toolsquare contact.
Please send a mail to: support@toolsquare.io. In case of an urgent matter, you can reach support by phone on +32 485 60 64 57
We can connect any machine with Toolsquare.
We can develop custom integrations. Please reach out to your Toolsquare contact.
The Toolsquare units make use of your wifi. We work together with the IT department to set up a secure environment. It is not possible to plug in an internet cable.
The Toolsquare unit does not directly connect to the equipment. Therefore it’s not possible to start your equipment remotely via the Toolsquare unit, nor is it possible to read machine settings or procedures.
All user data is transferred from and to our servers using encrypted connections (HTTPS). Information exchanged between our hardware units and servers uses an encrypted protocol (MQTTS).
All user data is only accessible to logged in users, limited to the user themselves, Lab Managers or Toolsquare administrators. Toolsquare requires the usage of strong passwords.
User data is only visible to the user and the Lab Managers. The user data is safely stored on a private network in the cloud. Access to the public parts of the Toolsquare infrastructure is managed via a Firewall.
Toolsquare uses multiple security protocols to ensure communication with the systems occurs in a secure manner.
These protocols include, but are not limited to:
- HTTPS: encrypted http traffic
- MQTTS: encrypted message queue traffic
- SSH: Secure Shell
- Source control: signed source contribution
- VPN with OpenSSL encryption
Toolsquare stores the least information required to generate usage information on machines. This includes name and contact information, information on user groups and the machines the user has access to. As part of the usage information, Toolsquare stores the start and end times of the usage and the information a user has entered via the Toolsquare unit.
Prices depend on the number of machines and users and the type of subscription. Please email team@toolsquare.io to receive a quote.
