A Complete Guide to Animal Research Management in 2026 & Beyond

• Seamlessly connect all workflows, from protocol creation, submission, and approval, to animal procurement, care management, billing, and post-approval monitoring.
• Ensure full audit readiness, keeping every record up-to-date, easily accessible, and transparent for compliance checks and inspections.
• Improve communication, so you don’t need to wait for emails or rely on hallway conversations, and everyone will have access to the same information in real time.
• Simplify tracking so researchers and facility teams can track protocol changes in real-time, see where each animal is in the care cycle, and quickly respond to health issues or regulatory concerns.

1 Protocol Management: From Submission to Approval

One of the most time-consuming parts of animal research is the protocol approval process. With Key Solutions, the process becomes faster, more efficient, and transparent.

• Creating and routing protocols efficiently. Investigators create protocols in the system and submit them directly. The committee manager performs an initial quality check. If something's incomplete or unclear, the protocol goes back to the PI with specific feedback. If it's ready, the manager assigns it to a review panel and designates reviewers.
• Polling for review level before scheduling meetings. The manager polls reviewers to determine whether a protocol needs full committee review or can go through designated member review. This happens before the meeting gets scheduled, so you're not wasting full committee time on routine protocols. Reviewers see the protocol, assess the procedures and pain categories, and recommend the appropriate review level.
• Streamlined review and comment cycles. Reviewers access the protocol, provide their comments, and recommend approval or request modifications. The system tracks every comment and the PI's response. When modifications are needed, the manager can see what changed between versions—no hunting through email threads to figure out what the PI actually revised.
• Organized committee meetings with clear agendas. The system generates meeting agendas automatically based on what's ready for full committee review. During the meeting, the committee discusses protocols, captures minutes, and votes. Approvals, requests for modifications, or denials get documented immediately.
• Automatic tracking of approvals and expirations. Once approved, protocols are active for three years. The system tracks expiration dates and sends renewal reminders before protocols expire—so PIs aren't scrambling to submit renewals after their approval lapses.
• Amendment management without starting over. When a PI needs to change procedures, add animals, or modify endpoints, they submit an amendment. The system shows exactly what's changing from the approved version. Minor amendments (personnel changes, funding updates) can be reviewed administratively. Significant amendments go through the appropriate review process. Either way, the system maintains version control so you can see the complete protocol history.
• Audit-ready documentation. Every review, every comment, every revision, every approval decision gets captured with timestamps and reviewer identifications. When OLAW asks about your review process or AAALAC wants to see protocol documentation, it's already organized.

This eliminates the common problems: protocols sitting on someone's desk waiting for review, PIs not knowing where their protocol is in the process, committee members reviewing outdated versions, and administrators manually tracking what needs to go on the next agenda.

2Post-Approval Monitoring: Ensuring Protocols Match Practice

Once protocols get approved, the real work begins—making sure what happens in the lab matches what the IACUC approved. Post-approval monitoring is how you verify compliance, but it's traditionally been a manual, time-intensive process.

• Risk-based protocol selection. The system helps identify which protocols need monitoring based on risk factors: USDA-covered species, Category D or E pain levels, novel procedures, past compliance issues, or protocols nearing expiration. This means your PAM team focuses attention where it matters most instead of randomly selecting protocols.
• Pre-visit preparation with complete context. Before conducting a monitoring visit, the PAM coordinator pulls up the approved protocol, sees current animal numbers from facility management, reviews any health events from veterinary records, and checks amendment history. They're walking into the lab with complete information, not partial knowledge.
• Structured monitoring with consistent checklists. During visits, the team uses standardized checklists covering: are procedures matching the approved protocol, are animal numbers within approved limits, is pain management being applied as described, are personnel properly trained, are records being maintained. This creates consistency across all monitoring activities.
• Documenting findings and tracking corrections. When issues are identified, they're documented immediately with specific descriptions of the deviation and recommended corrective actions. The system tracks when findings were reported, when the PI responded, what corrective actions were proposed, and when they were completed. No more chasing email threads to verify whether issues got resolved.
• Connecting findings back to protocol improvements. If monitoring reveals that multiple labs are struggling with the same procedure, that signals a training need. If a protocol's approved procedures aren't working in practice, that feedback goes to the IACUC for potential amendment. The loop closes between what gets approved and what actually works.
• Meeting reporting requirements. Federal regulations require reporting PAM activities in semiannual reports to the Institutional Official. The system compiles monitoring visits, findings, and corrective actions automatically, so the required reports don't require manual data collection.

This shifts PAM from a compliance audit to a continuous improvement process—catching problems early, providing education where needed, and ensuring protocols remain accurate to actual practice.

3Laboratory Animal Resource System (LARS): Managing Daily Operations

Once protocols are approved and monitoring is in place, you still need to manage the actual animals—ordering them, housing them, tracking them, and billing for them. This is where facility management connects to protocol approvals.

• Animal requisitions tied to approved protocols. When a PI needs animals, they submit a requisition through the system. The requisition automatically links to their approved protocol. The system checks: Does this protocol have approval for this species? Are there enough animals remaining in the approved quantity? Is the protocol still active? If everything checks out, the requisition gets routed to the facility manager for processing. If not, it gets blocked with a clear explanation of why.
• Vendor management and order tracking. The facility manager processes approved requisitions, sends orders to vendors, and tracks deliveries. When animals arrive, the system generates receipts showing: vendor, species, strain, quantity, arrival date, and destination protocol. This creates an audit trail from order to arrival.
• Automated cage card generation. When animals arrive or get transferred, the system prints cage cards containing: protocol number, PI name and contact information, animal species and strain, arrival or birth date, and any special housing requirements. The cage cards can include barcodes or RFID tags for scanning, linking the physical animal directly to its digital record.
• Real-time census tracking. As animals arrive, get transferred between protocols, breed, or reach endpoints, the census updates automatically. Facility managers can see at any moment: how many animals are in each room, which protocols they belong to, what housing type they're in, and how much space is available. No more manual headcounts that are outdated by the time you finish them.
• Space capacity planning. The system tracks cage capacity by room and by species. Before approving a requisition, it can verify that space exists for the incoming animals. This prevents overcrowding and helps facility managers plan room assignments and cage cleaning schedules efficiently.
• Animal transfers between protocols. When animals move from one approved protocol to another (common in breeding colonies or shared resources), the system documents the transfer with both protocol numbers, transfer date, and animal counts. Both PIs see the transfer in their records, and billing adjusts automatically.
• Billing integration with protocol charges. The system calculates per diem charges based on actual animal days per protocol. It tracks supply charges, procedure fees, and any special services. Invoices generate automatically and tie directly to the PI's grant or department account. PIs can see current charges before invoices arrive, and facility managers don't spend days reconciling census with billing.
• Compliance reporting for USDA and institutional needs. The system tracks animals by pain category (B, C, D, E) as required for annual USDA reports. It generates facility census reports, animal usage reports by protocol or by PI, and any custom reports needed for institutional review or accreditation.

This eliminates common facility management problems: animals arriving without proper protocol coverage, census numbers that don't match between systems, billing disputes over animal charges, and the inability to track where animals actually are when someone needs to find them.

4Laboratory Animal Health System (LAHS): Veterinary Care and Medical Records

While facility management tracks where animals are and what protocols they're on, veterinary staff need to track animal health, provide clinical care, and maintain medical records that comply with federal requirements.

• Centralized health records linked to protocols. When a vet tech or veterinarian examines an animal, they access its health record directly through the cage card scan or protocol lookup. The record shows: previous health events, ongoing treatments, protocol-specific monitoring requirements, and approved humane endpoints. This gives clinical context for every treatment decision.
• Documenting clinical observations and treatments. When animals require veterinary attention, staff document: clinical signs observed, diagnostic tests performed, treatments administered (drugs, dosages, routes), response to treatment, and follow-up plans. Each entry includes the staff member's identification and timestamp. For protocols requiring daily monitoring, the system can prompt for required observations.
• Standing orders for routine care. For common procedures (post-surgical pain management, breeding colony health checks, sentinel testing), veterinarians create standing orders that define: what needs to be done, how often, which staff can perform it, and what to document. Technicians follow the standing orders, and the system tracks completion.
• Clinical task scheduling and assignment. The system generates task lists for veterinary staff based on: animals requiring daily monitoring, post-operative care schedules, medication administration times, and health check schedules. Tasks get assigned to specific staff members, and the system tracks completion. This ensures nothing gets missed during busy shifts.
• Procedure workflows with required steps. For complex clinical procedures, the system can enforce step sequences. For example, a surgical protocol might require: pre-operative exam documented, anesthesia administered and recorded, surgical procedure performed and described, post-operative monitoring initiated, pain management administered. Each step gets checked off as completed, creating a complete procedural record.
• Health event escalation and communication. When a health issue exceeds normal parameters or reaches humane endpoints, the system flags it for veterinary review. The vet can see the protocol's approved endpoints immediately and make informed decisions about treatment, temporary removal from study, or euthanasia. The PI gets notified automatically when their animals require attention.
• ntegration with protocol compliance. Health records feed into post-approval monitoring. If a protocol specifies certain monitoring frequencies or humane endpoints, PAM can verify they are being followed by reviewing the health records. If animals are consistently reaching humane endpoints earlier than expected, that signals the protocol may need modification.
• Regulatory compliance for medical records. The system maintains records meeting federal requirements: individual records for non-rodent species, group records allowed for rodents, documentation of clinical disease management, diagnostic and therapeutic procedures recorded, and preventive care tracked. When inspectors review veterinary care, the documentation is already organized.

This ensures veterinary care is consistent, documented, and integrated with protocol requirements—rather than being a separate system that only connects to research when problems arise.

Book a 30-minute demo. We'll use scenarios from your facility.

Not a sales pitch. Not a feature tour. A working session where you describe your current bottlenecks and we show you exactly how the integrated approach addresses them.

You'll talk to people who understand IACUC review processes, facility management realities, veterinary care requirements, and compliance monitoring—because we built this system working with research administrators who deal with these problems daily. Schedule Your Demo