IDBS Polar Request: Lab Work Request Management, Integrated By Design

IDBS Polar Request brings lab work request management directly into the Polar platform—alongside experiment execution, structured workflows and compliance. It connects the demand for scientific work to the people, inventory and capacity needed to deliver it.  From preclinical and stability studies to method development and process characterization activities to other contracted programs, team activities and laboratory operations are prioritized, scheduled, tracked and completed on time.

Request is not a layer on top of your lab systems. It lives inside the same GxP-managed environment where experiments are planned, executed, analyzed, shared and reviewed—bringing together what you need to do, what you need to do it with and what you actually did, so that requesting and tracking work stays connected to where work is actually done.

From test request to delivered result

Test requesting, in context

Raise requests directly from within Polar—without switching systems or re-entering data. When analysis is required, it is captured in a request that includes the details of the samples, the analysis required and any other information needed by the team fulfilling the work.

• Raise requests directly from the Request UI, Launchpad, Inventory or Advance—sample and method data carry through automatically
• Define the analysis type, service provider and sample details in a single, structured form
• Associate inventory items with jobs directly—samples pulled from Inventory carry their details through automatically, with a bidirectional link maintained between the inventory record and the request
• Every request is tracked from creation to completion, with full linkage to the original record maintained throughout

Scheduling & prioritization

Assign work to the right people at the right time directly in Polar, with no separate ticketing tool or calendar overlay needed. Fulfillers complete jobs in the same system they receive the request in. Nothing leaves the platform.

• A fully redesigned My Teams view presents consistent data across jobs and items—one clear, interactive view of all active and pending work
• A cleaner, more intuitive scheduler makes planning with confidence straightforward
• Powerful new filtering, sorting and search options help users instantly focus on priorities
• Assign jobs by team availability, with priority adjustments in real time as workload shifts

Capacity management & visibility

Know how much work your lab is carrying, where it sits and whether delivery is on track—from live data, not a report generated yesterday. As Request scales across teams and locations, managing high volumes of work including scheduling, prioritization and capacity utilization becomes increasingly complex.

• Split oversized jobs into smaller, manageable units and assign work across multiple team members—maintaining full linkage to the original request
• Combine low-volume jobs into a single package of work to analyze more efficiently and reduce wasted effort
• Manage split and grouped work just like any other job—scheduled, tracked and completed in one place
• See demand, capacity and priorities in one view to make confident decisions about workload and resourcing

Collaborative working

Whether work crosses departments, sites or organizational boundaries, Request acts as the single source of truth. Internal service teams and external partners, including CROs and CDMOs, can collaborate with role-based access. Inventory, instrument references, experimental records and files remain linked throughout.

• User roles—Administrator, Manager, Fulfiller and Requestor— control what each person can see and do
• View and track request-related inventory directly from the request: samples, materials and equipment with key lifecycle parameters including status, location, quantity, owner and physical state, all manageable without leaving the request.
• External collaborators access only what they are permitted to see, reducing the risk of shared drives and email attachments
• Every interaction is logged in an audit trail that supports GxP compliance

Tracking & notifications

Status, results and approvals flow back to the request automatically. Email notifications have been enhanced to provide clearer, more complete information about assigned and scheduled jobs—so teams stay informed without needing to log in to check details.

• Monitor progress in real time using dashboards and one-click status updates
• Enhanced email notifications provide clearer, more complete information about assigned and scheduled jobs—no need to log in just to check status
• Results return through the same data model—ready for downstream analytics and review in Polar Insight
• A refreshed Request and Job Search experience gives quicker access to what matters

Lab operations need more than a request form. They need lab work request management connected to where work is done

Most labs don't lose time to bad science. They lose it to unclear priorities, overloaded teams and work sitting in someone's inbox waiting to be noticed. A request form tells you what someone needs. It doesn't tell you who can do it, when they can do it or whether the materials are ready to go.

Request changes that relationship. Work is visible across the team—not just to the person who raised it. Managers can see the queue, balance the load and catch bottlenecks before they become delays. Fulfillers know exactly what is expected, when and in what order. By bringing visibility, prioritization and coordination into a single workflow, Request helps streamline lab operations and keep work moving.

With Request sitting inside Polar, that visibility connects directly to inventory status, experiment timelines and team capacity to give the whole lab a shared picture of what is happening and what comes next.

The labs that move fastest are not the ones with the most resource — they are the ones with the clearest view of how to use it.

One platform. No lost work. Faster science.

Whether you are raising work, fulfilling it or overseeing how it is distributed and delivered across teams, Request gives every role what it needs to operate with clarity and confidence at scale.

Full traceability, end to end

Requests, jobs, inventory, results and experiments―all in one system, no integration gaps, no data reconstruction.

Access and accountability

Role-based controls determine who sees what and who does what — with full audit trails and GxP-ready record management built in, not bolted on.

In-context inventory and instruments

View inventory availability, equipment status and calibration state from within a request — before work begins.

Native request engine

Raise, schedule, fulfil and track lab work requests in one platform—no ticketing layer, no switching between systems.

In-Workflow interactions

Raise requests and fulfil work directly within Advance spreadsheets and execution workflows—without leaving the experiment.

Built for enterprise

Developed in close collaboration with one of our largest and most intensive users, shaped by the real-world demands of request management at enterprise scale.

See how Polar Request works within the Polar platform.
https://www.idbs.com/2026/02/interactive-polar-product-guide/