Overview
This guide helps new users quickly understand and start using the Dharini platform without external support. Please read the sections relevant to your role and follow the steps as you use the platform.
Introduction
Section titled “Introduction”Dharini is an open-source platform for end-to-end disease surveillance and field sampling, covering environmental and clinical surveillance of livestock diseases. It connects field sampling, laboratory work and genomic analysis. It replaces manual, paper-based processes with a guided digital system that ensures accuracy, traceability, and accountability.
Dharini has three components:
- The mobile app (Android) – used in the field to register sites, complete scheduled visits, and collect samples. It works without internet and syncs when connectivity returns.
- The web portal – used in the office and the laboratory to set up projects, sites and teams, process samples, monitor results, and import and export data.
- The hosted service – Dharini is hosted on AWS, which stores the master data, configuration and field-entered data. If you prefer not to use the cloud instance, you can run your own instance in your data centre or on your own server, because Dharini is fully open source.
By using Dharini, organizations can:
- Collect field data in a structured and guided manner
- Track samples seamlessly from field to laboratory
- Reduce human errors and missing information
- Monitor operations and test results in near real time
Dharini is designed for use by Field Collectors, Lab Technicians, and Team Admins, all working together on a single connected platform.
Modules
Section titled “Modules”| Module | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Getting Started | Creating an account and workspace, logging in, roles and navigation |
| Team Admin Guide | Projects, teams and access, sites, collection plans, data import, user management |
| Field Collector Guide | Collecting samples in the mobile app, online or offline |
| Lab Technician Guide | Receiving, processing and testing samples |
| Dashboards & Analysis | Home, the disease surveillance Dashboard, and Comparison |
| GeoLens | Map layers, proximity analysis and site comparison for planning sampling |
| SNP Analysis | Variant calling and interactive genome views for pathogen sequences |
Platform Overview
Section titled “Platform Overview”Dharini connects field operations, laboratory workflows, and administrative oversight into one unified system.
Key Benefits
Section titled “Key Benefits”Data Integrity
Section titled “Data Integrity”Every sample carries a barcode from the moment it is collected, so it can be traced from the field to the lab and on to its test result.
Operational Efficiency
Section titled “Operational Efficiency”Collectors, lab staff, and admins all work on the same records, so there is no re-entering of data and no paper hand-offs.
Real-Time Visibility
Section titled “Real-Time Visibility”Admins can monitor visits, sample status, and test results on dashboards, maps, and comparison charts.
Offline-First Design
Section titled “Offline-First Design”Field collectors can work in low or no network areas. Data syncs automatically once connectivity is restored.
How Dharini Is Organized
Section titled “How Dharini Is Organized”Dharini is organized in layers. It helps to know where you sit:
- Workspace – your organization’s space on Dharini. All projects, people and data live inside a workspace. If you belong to more than one workspace, you choose one after you log in on the web portal, and you can switch from the left-hand menu.
- Project – a surveillance programme for one or more diseases in selected locations (for example, a state or a set of districts).
- Team – a group of people inside a project (for example, a collection team or a lab team). Each team has a team lead.
- Site – a place where samples are collected (for example, a farm). Each site has a collection plan that says who visits, how often, and for how long.
- Visit – one scheduled or unscheduled trip to a site. A visit produces samples.
- Sample – a collected specimen with a unique barcode. Samples move through the lab and end with a test result.
User Roles
Section titled “User Roles”Your role decides which screens and buttons you see. Dharini has seven roles, described in more detail in Getting Started.
| Role | Where you work | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| Workspace Admin | Web portal | Runs the whole workspace: creates projects and teams, invites people, manages members, settings, sample types and species. Added automatically to the person who signs up and creates the workspace |
| Project Admin | Web portal | Named as the admin of a project (also called Project Viewer in the system). Follows the project’s teams, sites, visits, samples and test results with read-only access, and can submit sequences for SNP Analysis |
| Team Admin | Web portal | Oversees a project and its teams: sites, visits, samples, test results and team progress, and the dashboards |
| Collector Admin | Mobile app | A lead collector who collects samples and also adds and removes team members and tracks team progress |
| Collector | Mobile app | Registers sites, completes visits, and collects samples |
| Lab Admin | Web portal | Manages lab team members and processes samples through the lab flow |
| Lab Member | Web portal | Processes samples through the lab flow (the day-to-day lab technician role) |
The person who signs up and creates a workspace becomes its Workspace Admin automatically. Some people also hold a Super Admin role that manages the whole Dharini installation. Super Admin is managed by the Dharini team and is not a role you can assign.
Team admins use the web portal to run projects and people. Depending on their access, they can:
- Create projects and set up teams
- Invite people to the workspace and to projects
- Create sites, assign collectors, and set collection plans
- Reschedule visits and keep an eye on overdue visits
- Import existing data from Excel templates
- Watch dashboards, GeoLens maps, comparison charts and sequencing results
- Download project data as CSV or through the Data Playground
Learn more about Team Admin workflows →
Field collectors use the Dharini mobile app to collect samples and record site information directly from the field. They can:
- See upcoming and overdue visits
- Create new sites and start visits at sites that are not on their schedule
- Record disease information, photos and comments for each visit
- Collect clinical and environmental samples and attach barcodes by scanning, bulk generation or typing
- Work offline and sync when connected
- Leave a half-finished visit and resume it later
Learn more about Field Collector workflows →
Lab technicians (Lab Members and Lab Admins) use the web portal to process samples. They can:
- See samples by stage: Collected, Received, Virus Isolation, Pre-processed, Extracted, Rejected and Test Results
- Receive samples, accepting or rejecting each one
- Record pre-processing (including pooling), virus isolation, extraction and testing
- Record results, including Ct values and subtypes
- Process many samples together with Process Selected
- Retest samples
Learn more about Lab Technician workflows →
Logging In
Section titled “Logging In”Dharini uses one-time passwords (OTPs), not passwords.
- Mobile app: choose Email or Phone, enter your registered email address or number, and enter the code that is sent to you.
- Web portal: choose Email or Phone, enter your registered email address or number, select Send OTP, then enter the 6-digit code and select Verify & Login.
An OTP is valid for 3 minutes. You can only log in with an email address or phone number that is already registered in Dharini. New people are normally added by an invitation from an admin. Someone setting up a brand-new organization can use Signup on the web login page.
Key Logic & Guardrails
Section titled “Key Logic & Guardrails”Dharini enforces rules to maintain data quality:
Mandatory Fields
Section titled “Mandatory Fields”Visits and sites cannot be saved until the required fields are filled in. The app tells you what is missing.
Duplicate Prevention
Section titled “Duplicate Prevention”A barcode can only be used once. The mobile scanner rejects a barcode that was already scanned in the current visit or is already assigned to another sample.
Sync Status Visibility
Section titled “Sync Status Visibility”On the mobile app:
- A banner reading You are working offline. Changes will sync when online. appears when the phone has no network
- A sync icon with a number appears at the top of the Home screen when visits are waiting to be uploaded
- Syncing pending visits… appears while data is being uploaded
- After you submit a visit, the success screen tells you whether the visit was synced or saved to sync later
Audit Trail
Section titled “Audit Trail”Lab steps record who performed them and when, so every sample has a traceable history.
Support Best Practices
Section titled “Support Best Practices”- Keep your app updated to the latest version
- Make sure location and camera permissions are enabled
- Open the app with a network connection at the end of each field day so that pending visits upload
Troubleshooting
Section titled “Troubleshooting”For common issues and their solutions, see the Troubleshooting Guide.
By following this guide, users can independently operate the Dharini platform efficiently and accurately.