AutoLit® User Guide
Examining Results in Synthesis
Administrative Tools
Support and FAQs
Best Nest Building Practices
SLR Basics: How to Perform Systematic Review
NMA Basics: How to Perform a Meta-Analysis
Best Practices for Writing a Publishable Manuscript
This is an old revision of the document!
Allocation allows you (an admin) to assign modules to specific users for sets of records. By default, the feature is off.
Admins can go to the Nest Settings, scroll down to Allocation and click the toggle bar on.
Turning on Allocation will reveal an Allocation page under the Nest Home menu bar where you may allocate records on various criteria.
If you turn on Allocation, you must assign all modules or none, at the moment there is no mix and match of allocated and unallocated modules. As an admin you can assign all user types including yourself and each assigned user will only be able to view records allocated to them (regardless of whether they are an admin). Records unallocated for a particular module will not be presented to any user in that module and must be allocated first.
In order to allocate records, records must be present in the nest. So first ensure you add a Literature Search to pull in records to be screened.
You can allocate records for the following modules: Screening, Tagging, Extraction and Critical Appraisal.
This page can be accessed under the Nest Home menu bar or by clicking on any module that has unassigned records will direct you to “Allocation Admin.”
In the top right dropdown, you can select the module you want to allocate records in. If you have just added a search, you will only be able to add screening allocation at this time since no records have been advanced beyond screening.
Add a filter to only assign a specific set of records to a user. These are the same filters that are available to use in Study Inspector. For instance, you can filter by a range of Ref IDs and assign the resulting records to a single user.
This is not necessary if you want to assign all records to one user, you can move straight to the next step.
Note: some filters are automatically added, displayed in grey, and cannot be removed for different allocation modules. This is because they are a necessary filter for studies in that module. For example, only records that have been included in Screening will be displayed in the Tagging allocation module, so a “Final Screening Status: Included” will be displayed.
Below, select the user you would like to allocate these records and hit Confirm. Allocated users are not notified in anyway, but only allocated records are displayed to them when they open the nest. In the below example, 4 filtered records out of 37 are being allocated. The A nest to a users name means they are an admin of the nest.
Once confirmed, the visual venn diagram will display names of users who have been allocated records with exact numbers when you hover over each venn, as well as unallocated records. It shows the overlap (if there is any) of assigned records between users. In this example, 4 records were allocated to Jeff Johnson, while 33 records remain unallocated.
Clicking on each venn will automatically add a filter to display a list of corresponding records below to allow ease of allocating records. For example, to quickly allocate the rest of the unallocated records, here we can click on the “Unallocated” venn and it will filter to the remaining 33 records.
In addition to allocating records, you can deallocate records from users. To do so, filter to the module and records of choice, click the “Allocate” dropdown, select “Deallocate,” select the user and click Confirm.
Note: Deallocating users from records does not remove their work performed/decisions that were made prior to deallocation.
In the case you assign a record to multiple users but your nest is configured in single modes (i.e. Standard Screening, Standard Tagging, etc.), this does not mean it will be reviewed twice. It just means it will show up in each users' queue until one of them completes the work on the record, where it will be removed from the other users' queue.
As you allocate records in each module, the allocation module status can be viewed in the dropdown:
While nest menu progress bars display overall nest progress, individual users can view their progress in the Navigation bars within each module. In the below example, the top bar displays progress on all studies in nest, while the navigation numbers displays individual users' progress within the specific module of the nest.
If your nest has dual modes configured for any of the modules, separate allocation is required for reviewer-level steps and adjudicator-level steps. In the example below, both Dual Two Pass Screening (allocation modules circled in red) and Dual Extraction are configured (allocation modules circled in blue).
It can get a little tricky so be sure to be intentional about allocating users to different steps.
Note: you cannot prematurely allocate users to steps when decisions affecting those steps haven't been made. For example, you cannot assign adjudication steps before reviewer-level work is complete.
If your nest is configured for Dual, Two-pass Screening, the procedure for Allocation in order is:
When you switch between Screening modes, all Allocation will be removed. This means that, when you switch Screening modes, you will need to re-allocate all studies in the queues for Screening steps (such as Abstract reviewer-level screening, Abstract adjudication, etc.). If you return to a previous Screening mode, the Allocation for that mode will be saved, but the most recent Allocation will not be available.
Allocation for any study that has proceeded to the Tagging stage or later will not be impacted by switching Screening modes.
In Study Inspector, you can use the Allocation filters to view a list of records and users they were assigned to. To export this as a table, click the Download button in the top right corner.
