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Users have different interactions with CORAL according to their point in the user life cycle, shown in the figure below.
Users first hear about one or more of the labs' capabilities, and wish to use the equipment. They then register with the lab of interest, demonstrating the intended use and ability to pay; and they are approved for the use of that lab by the lab administration. At this point they become CORAL Members. They are then oriented as to lab-wide policies and procedures for accessing the lab and given key access to the facility, at which point they become fully qualified Lab Users.
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 largest facilities distinguishes these two steps with different roles, while some other labs do not. Once users have been qualified on an instrument, they are allowed to use it as much as they like, but if they stops using it for sufficiently long, their qualification expires and their 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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