Welcome to the User Guide. This is the guide page available inside eCAT so that you can get a feel for the features and power of the system. The tutorial videos are a great place to get started. There is also a textual guide to the system on the left and a series of A-Z videos on the right.

Tutorial Videos

	Getting started A brief, step by step guide to getting started with the electronic lab notebook eCAT. This video tells you about all the things you can do with eCAT - add structure to your data, share it with colleagues, access it online, and communicate with colleagues using eCAT's notifications system.		Google Docs and eCAT Google Docs is a popular document sharing and editing application used in many labs. To new users the electronic lab notebook eCAT's dashboard is similar to the Google Docs dashboard so it will feel familiar. But with eCAT you can do so much more - watch this video and find out how!
	Patent preparation If you're planning to file for a patent, your need to put in place appropriate SOPs and prove that you followed them in practice. This video covers how to do that with the electronic lab notebook eCAT.		Running a trial of eCAT This video is a step by step guide to running a trial of the electronic lab notebook eCAT. It covers things like setting up file stores, configuring eCAT for initial use, and tips on a successful role out to a group of new users.
	eCAT and wikis Wikis are popular for sharing general lab information. But they don't allow you to add structure to your data, so experimental data is still recorded in paper lab notebooks. eCAT is a step beyond wikis. Watch this video to learn how labs are using the electronic lab notebook eCAT to record and share all their data, including experimental data, in a single, integrated online environment.		eCAT for postdocs and graduate students If you're planning to file for a patent, your need to put in place appropriate SOPs and prove that you followed them in practice. This video covers how to do that with the electronic lab notebook eCAT.
	Personal version of eCAT eCAT is a powerful collaborative electronic lab notebook, but growing numbers of postdocs and graduate students are discovering that its also a great way to document their own work and get organized. Find out why in this video.		eCAT for PIs eCAT lets everyone in the lab record and share data in a single, integrated environment, is web based, includes a simple notifications system, and is very flexible - data can be organized and structured to suit your research needs. Find out why PIs are adopting the electronic lab notebook eCAT for their labs in this video.

A-Z Videos

These videos are intended for individual pages within the eCAT application and are also linked on those pages. They are collected here in one place for convenience. Please be aware they assume you are viewing a given page.