Exit this survey 

Survey on animal husbandry management systems

 

*

1. Your name and details

Your name and details   Full name
E-mail
Position
Institution
Department
City
Country

*

2. How many people work in your animal facility? (please enter 0 if there are none of this category)

How many people work in your animal facility? (please enter 0 if there are none of this category)   Scientists
Technicians
Animal caretakers
IT system administrators
Data(base) curators
Name of the animal facility you are reporting on

3. What is the average number of mice living in your animal facility at the same time?

What is the average number of mice living in your animal facility at the same time?   < 500 500 - 1,000 1,000 - 2,000 2,000 - 5,000 5,000 - 10,000 10,000 - 20,000 > 20,000 I don't know

What is the average number of different mouse lines or projects?

4. How many mice in total (alive and dead) are managed by your animal husbandry management system?

How many mice in total (alive and dead) are managed by your animal husbandry management system?   < 1,000 1,000 - 5,000 5,000 - 10,000 10,000 - 20,000 20,000 - 50,000 50,000 - 100,000 100,000 - 250,000 > 250,000

Comments

5. Does your animal husbandry management system contain data from any other animals than mice?

Does your animal husbandry management system contain data from any other animals than mice?   Yes No

If yes, please name the species:

6. How do mice enter your animal facility from outside?

How do mice enter your animal facility from outside?   Mice can be imported alive from other facilities (if their hygienic status is acceptable) Living mice have to pass a quarantine unit before they enter our facility Mice are generated by using IVF or embryo transfer only (with fresh or frozen sperm or embryo samples) and are born inside the facility

7. Is a unique identifier (e.g. a number) assigned to each and every mouse (including wildtype mice) living in your animal facility?

Is a unique identifier (e.g. a number) assigned to each and every mouse (including wildtype mice) living in your animal facility?   Yes No

If yes, please give an example of the format the unique identifier has:

8. When are unique mouse identifiers assigned to your mice?

When are unique mouse identifiers assigned to your mice?   At embryo harvest After birth (as soon as the birth is recorded) Sometime between birth and weaning At weaning Not at all (we don't use unique identifiers)

Other (please specify)

9. How can your mice be identified unambiguously when they are housed in one cage together with other mice ?

How can your mice be identified unambiguously when they are housed in one cage together with other mice ?   Our mice have a microchip / transponder / RFID implanted. Our mice carry ear labels that are unique in a cage. Our mice are marked by ear clipping. These numbers are unique among the mice housed in one cage at the same time. Our mice are marked by toe clipping. These numbers are unique among the mice housed in one cage at the same time. Our mice are marked by tattoos. These tattoos are unique among the mice housed in one cage at the same time. Our mice are marked by color codes. These codes are unique among the mice housed in one cage at the same time.

Other (please specify)

10. Please describe how cage cards are generated in your mouse holding rooms and which kind of information they contain

Please describe how cage cards are generated in your mouse holding rooms and which kind of information they contain   They are handwritten We fill in preprinted templates manually Cage cards can be printed from the animal husbandry management system Our cage cards contain barcodes Our cage cards contain information whether mice are genetically engineered They contain information on animal licenses They contain information on feeding Further information is added manually We use cage cards with different colours for different purposes We don't use cage cards at all

11. Which media do you use to report the mouse and breeding related data produced in your animal facility (mouse properties, matings, litters, cage occupations, etc.)?

Which media do you use to report the mouse and breeding related data produced in your animal facility (mouse properties, matings, litters, cage occupations, etc.)?   Paper / lab journals Files such as MS Excel, MS Word, etc. MS Access Filemaker Software applications driven by a relational database Software and graphical user interface (web application, Java Applet / Servlet, etc.)

Comments

12. If your animal husbandry management system is a database-driven software application, where was it developed and is it available for others as well?

If your animal husbandry management system is a database-driven software application, where was it developed and is it available for others as well?   It was developed in-house and customized to our facility and needs It was developed by a different academic institution It was developed and custom-maded by a company It was developed by a company and licensed without any adaptations You can buy user licenses from a company It is offered for free without access to the source code It is offered for free with access to the source code (i.e. as open-source software) It is not offered to anyone else

Comments

13. If you use any database-driven software tools for the animal husbandry management, please enter the name of the software (plus literature or web site), the company / institution that developed it and the name/model of the database management system:

If you use any database-driven software tools for the animal husbandry management, please enter the name of the software (plus literature or web site), the company / institution that developed it and the name/model of the database management system:

14. For how many years has the current animal husbandry management system been in use in your institution?

For how many years has the current animal husbandry management system been in use in your institution?

15. How satisfied are you with the current state of your animal husbandry management solution?

	very satisfied	satisfied	quite satisfied	not satisfied	N/A
Functionality	*How satisfied are you with the current state of your animal husbandry management solution? Functionality very satisfied	Functionality satisfied	Functionality quite satisfied	Functionality not satisfied	Functionality N/A
Intuitive use	Intuitive use very satisfied	Intuitive use satisfied	Intuitive use quite satisfied	Intuitive use not satisfied	Intuitive use N/A
Flexibility	Flexibility very satisfied	Flexibility satisfied	Flexibility quite satisfied	Flexibility not satisfied	Flexibility N/A
Reliability	Reliability very satisfied	Reliability satisfied	Reliability quite satisfied	Reliability not satisfied	Reliability N/A
Scalability regarding amount of data managed	Scalability regarding amount of data managed very satisfied	Scalability regarding amount of data managed satisfied	Scalability regarding amount of data managed quite satisfied	Scalability regarding amount of data managed not satisfied	Scalability regarding amount of data managed N/A
Time needed for reporting	Time needed for reporting very satisfied	Time needed for reporting satisfied	Time needed for reporting quite satisfied	Time needed for reporting not satisfied	Time needed for reporting N/A
Costs of acquisition (licenses)	Costs of acquisition (licenses) very satisfied	Costs of acquisition (licenses) satisfied	Costs of acquisition (licenses) quite satisfied	Costs of acquisition (licenses) not satisfied	Costs of acquisition (licenses) N/A
Running costs (for user support, training, data curation)	Running costs (for user support, training, data curation) very satisfied	Running costs (for user support, training, data curation) satisfied	Running costs (for user support, training, data curation) quite satisfied	Running costs (for user support, training, data curation) not satisfied	Running costs (for user support, training, data curation) N/A
Quality control / preventing users from entering erroneous data	Quality control / preventing users from entering erroneous data very satisfied	Quality control / preventing users from entering erroneous data satisfied	Quality control / preventing users from entering erroneous data quite satisfied	Quality control / preventing users from entering erroneous data not satisfied	Quality control / preventing users from entering erroneous data N/A

16. Please comment on your plans for further improving your animal husbandry management system. Is there a need or a wish to switch to a different mode of reporting?

Please comment on your plans for further improving your animal husbandry management system. Is there a need or a wish to switch to a different mode of reporting?

17. Do you use any workflow management software in order to cope with the logistical aspects of daily work and to keep track of the projects running in parallel (management of single work steps, responsibilities for tasks, deadlines, overviews and reports, visualising process chains etc.)?

Do you use any workflow management software in order to cope with the logistical aspects of daily work and to keep track of the projects running in parallel (management of single work steps, responsibilities for tasks, deadlines, overviews and reports, visualising process chains etc.)?   Yes, we have some features of a workflow management system integrated into our animal management system Yes, we have a stand-alone dedicated workflow management software running independently from our animal management system No, we manage our workflow by assigning tasks in meetings, communicating by e-mail, reporting tasks and results in files, etc.

If yes, which software do you use and which features does it have?

18. If you don't use any dedicated workflow management software, how do you communicate the to-do list to the people working inside the mouse facility?

If you don't use any dedicated workflow management software, how do you communicate the to-do list to the people working inside the mouse facility?   By e-mail By phone By entering tasks and their results in the animal management software By entering tasks and their results in a flat file In meetings

Other (please specify)

19. Which kind of costs are calculated using data stored in your system?

Which kind of costs are calculated using data stored in your system?   The costs of animal housing The costs of animal breeding The costs of animal treatments The costs of animal phenotyping These costs are calculated independently We don't calculate these costs at all

Comments

20. What kind of animal treatments are tracked with your animal husbandry management system?

What kind of animal treatments are tracked with your animal husbandry management system?   Ear clipping or toe clipping Invasive or harmful tests Surgery Narcosis Exposure to radiation / drugs / chemicals for mutagenesis (such as ENU) Treatments are tracked, but outside the animal husbandry system Treatments are tracked indirectly via animal licenses None

Other (please specify)

21. Which of the following breeding information is reported in your animal husbandry management system?

Which of the following breeding information is reported in your animal husbandry management system?   Breeding strategy used for a cohort Purpose of a single mating Average litter size of a given mouse strain / line Average percentage of male mice born Relation of different genotypes Number of pups that died between birth and weaning Plug date Generation code (e.g. F2N1) Coat colour (especially for chimeras)

22. Is there a way to graphically visualise an animal pedigree for a given mouse?

Is there a way to graphically visualise an animal pedigree for a given mouse?   Yes, it shows the offspring of a given mouse Yes, it shows the ancestors of a given mouse Yes, including mouse identifiers Yes, including mouse genotypes Yes, including phenotype attributes No, there is no graphic display of a pedigree

23. How many gene loci / genotypes can be assigned to one mouse in your animal husbandry management system?

How many gene loci / genotypes can be assigned to one mouse in your animal husbandry management system?   None 1 2 3 An indefinite number of gene loci / genotypes

24. Are licenses for animal experiments managed by your animal husbandry management system?

Are licenses for animal experiments managed by your animal husbandry management system?   Yes, mice used for experiments that are subject to authorisation are reported Yes, the system checks whether a user has a personal license to perform an assay Yes, the system checks whether the maximum number of animals approved by the supervisory body is reached No, we don't report the licenses and the number of animals used for experiments in our animal husbandry management system

Other (please specify)

25. Does your animal husbandry management system tell you where a mouse was located before it was moved to its current location (i. e. are mouse movements tracked, which might be relevant for narrowing down the group of potentially infected mice after a hygienic issue)?

Does your animal husbandry management system tell you where a mouse was located before it was moved to its current location (i. e. are mouse movements tracked, which might be relevant for narrowing down the group of potentially infected mice after a hygienic issue)?   Yes No Our mice will not be moved into a different cage during their life time

26. Does your animal husbandry management system support different cage or rack types and different cage sizes / animal capacities per cage?

Does your animal husbandry management system support different cage or rack types and different cage sizes / animal capacities per cage?   Yes No

27. Do users of your facility have access to your animal husbandry management system from outside via internet?

Do users of your facility have access to your animal husbandry management system from outside via internet?   Yes, by using a terminal server Yes, by using a virtual private network (VPN) connection Yes, it is a web application; you can logon to it from the internet if you have a valid login and a password No, our system is not available from the internet

Other (please specify)

28. Technical equipment for data input/output available in the animal facility/lab

Technical equipment for data input/output available in the animal facility/lab   Notebook computers Desktop computers Thin clients PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) Barcode scanners Barcode label printer for samples Cage card printers connected directly to a computer (e.g. via USB-port) Cage card printers attached to the network Laser printers for documents Wireless LAN Bluetooth Uninterruptible power supplies (UPS)

Other (please specify)

29. Is long-term funding available to ...

	yes	no
perform animal husbandry with experienced animal care takers	*Is long-term funding available to ... perform animal husbandry with experienced animal care takers yes	perform animal husbandry with experienced animal care takers no
run the informatics system (hardware, software licenses, gain in data storage capacity, user support)	run the informatics system (hardware, software licenses, gain in data storage capacity, user support) yes	run the informatics system (hardware, software licenses, gain in data storage capacity, user support) no
perform data quality control and data curation	perform data quality control and data curation yes	perform data quality control and data curation no

30. Please name the funding sources of your animal facility

Please name the funding sources of your animal facility   Funding by the institute or company (approx. %)
Funding from research grants (approx. %)
National funding (approx. %)
Service fees (approx. %)
European Commission (approx. %)
Charities (approx. %)
other, please specify sources (approx. %)