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Users have different interactions with CORAL according to their point in the user life cycle, shown in the figure below.
A user first hears about one or more of the labs' capabilities, and wishes to use the equipment. He first registers with the lab of interest, demonstrating the intended use and ability to pay; and he is approved for the use of that lab by the lab administration. At this point he becomes a CORAL Member. He is then oriented as to lab-wide policies and procedures for accessing the lab and given key access to the facility, at which point he becomes a fully qualified Lab User.
Equipment training and qualification is really independent of lab status, but since equipment use is the main purpose for which people become users, it is shown on the diagram. Generally speaking, lab instruments require a two-step training before users are allowed to use them unattended. The first step is called training, and the second step is called follow-up or qualification. The WNF lab distinguishes these two steps with different roles, while the other labs do not. Once a user has been qualified on an instrument, he is allowed to use it as much as he likes, but if he stops using it for sufficiently long, his qualification expires and his user role is removed. To use the instrument again, the user must go through the qualification step again. How long a period of disuse triggers this loss of qualification is dependent on the instrument.
Prolonged absence from the lab, in the sense of not using equipment, results in a user's deactivation. CORAL retains the data for that user, making re-registration easier, but in order to use lab equipment again, the user must re-register and go through an abbreviated form of orientation as well as retraining on lab equipment.
The
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