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Clients & Contacts

Every sample belongs to a client. Every client should have at least one contact before routine sample registration.

Client Organizations​

A client can represent an external customer, an internal department, a project account, or a partner lab. Client records commonly include name, client ID, email, address, billing details, publication preferences, and attachments.

Contacts​

Contacts represent the people tied to the client. They are used for sample registration, report delivery, and optional client portal access.

Contact FieldWhy It Matters
Name and emailUsed for report delivery and support identification
PhoneUseful for sample receipt questions or urgent out-of-spec conversations
Publication preferencesDetermines who should receive COAs or copies
Portal userAllows read-only access to that client’s own records when enabled

Create a Client​

  1. Open Clients.
  2. Select Add.
  3. Enter the organization name and client ID.
  4. Save the record.
  5. Add at least one contact before registering samples.

Create a Contact​

  1. Open the client.
  2. Open the Contacts area.
  3. Select Add.
  4. Enter name, email, phone, and delivery preferences.
  5. Save.

Deactivate Instead of Delete​

SENAITE/Bika is designed around traceability. Client records with history are normally deactivated rather than deleted so historical samples, audit trails, and reports remain intact. If a client record was created by mistake and has no valid history, contact Clearline support before attempting removal.

Client Portal Access​

Client portal users are scoped to their own organization. They can view their own published results and reports; they cannot see other clients. Labs commonly use this for external customers who need self-service COA downloads.

Good Client Hygiene​

Use consistent client IDs, avoid duplicate organizations, and add separate contacts for different departments or reporting recipients. Duplicates make registration slower and reporting riskier.