labs@atheron:~/industries/research-universities/apps$ build app --web --mobile

Research admin apps

Booking, workflows and training records that save your office hours.

Research administration is full of small, repeated tasks: a booking here, a status question there, a training record to check. We build apps that take those tasks off your staff, sign people in with their university accounts, and follow the rules your research office, ethics board and safety office already set.

Start a project See the example projects

// what matters here

What is different in this industry.

University sign-in

People sign in with the accounts they already have, and leavers lose access when their account ends.

Your rules, built in

Training before booking, reviewers before approval, rates by user type: set by your offices, enforced by the software.

Everyone sees where things stand

Applicants, researchers and staff see the status of their own requests without emailing anyone.

No advice from us

We build the workflow; ethics, safety and finance decisions stay with the people responsible for them.

// example projects

Priced examples for this service.

Each one is hypothetical, labelled as such, and priced live from our rate card. Open any of them in the estimator and make it yours.

Example projectWeb app

Shared equipment booking and billing

Hypothetical. Not a client, not a result.

// The problem

A university's core facilities book microscopes, sequencers and cytometers on paper sheets and shared calendars, and the facility manager spends days each month building recharge invoices by hand.

// What we would build

A booking system where researchers sign in with their university account, book only the instruments they are trained on, and are billed by the hour to the right grant account, with recharges posted to your finance system and outside users paying by card.

// What is in it

Instruments, rooms and staff time booked on one calendar, by facility
Sign-in with your university accounts
Bookings allowed only for people trained on that instrument
Usage billed to grant accounts at internal and external rates
Monthly recharges posted to your finance system
Card payment for outside users, and usage reports for each facility

// Stack

Next.js
PostgreSQL
SAML and OpenID Connect
Stripe
DigitalOcean Toronto

// estimate

Build: ≈ US$90,900 to US$139,000, delivered within 19 weeksCAD 129,500 to 198,000
Hosting: ≈ US$176 a monthCAD 250 a month
Support: ≈ US$2,500 a monthCAD 3,565 a month

Prices in your currency are estimates from today's Bank of Canada rate. All invoicing is in CAD or USD.

Timeline by milestone

Discovery: 2.9 to 3.4 weeks
Design approved: 3.4 to 5.9 weeks
Core features: 2.9 to 4.9 weeks
Full build: 1.9 to 2.9 weeks
Testing and fixes: 0.9 to 1.4 weeks
Launch: 0.9 to 1.4 weeks

Outside our hands, and added to the calendar

Your IT department's security and sign-on review: 4 to 8 weeks
Test access to your finance or research system: 1 to 4 weeks

How it is paid

Deposit 20%: CAD 25,900 to 39,600
Discovery 7.7%: CAD 9,971.50 to 15,246.00
Design approved 7.7%: CAD 9,971.50 to 15,246.00
Core features 23.3%: CAD 30,173.50 to 46,134.00
Full build 15.5%: CAD 20,072.50 to 30,690.00
Testing and fixes 7.7%: CAD 9,971.50 to 15,246.00
Launch 8.1%: CAD 10,489.50 to 16,038.00
Holdback, 30 days after launch (10%): CAD 12,950 to 19,800

Start from this example

Example projectWeb appAIOpen-source model

Ethics application workflow

Hypothetical. Not a client, not a result.

// The problem

A university's research ethics office receives applications as Word files by email, tracks them in an old FileMaker database, and spends hours each week telling applicants where their file stands.

// What we would build

Workflow software for ethics applications: online forms built from your board's own templates, routing to reviewers, versions and comments kept together, and a status page applicants can check. An assistant on an open-source model, served for you in Canada, checks an application against your board's own checklist for missing sections. It never gives ethics advice; decisions stay with your board.

// What is in it

Online application forms built from your board's templates
Routing to reviewers, with versions and comments kept together
A status page for applicants and reminders for reviewers
A completeness check against your board's own checklist, on a private model
Records moved out of the old FileMaker database
Access by role, with every view and change logged

// Stack

Next.js
PostgreSQL
Open-source LLM
FileMaker import
DigitalOcean Toronto

// estimate

Build: ≈ US$174,000 to US$266,000, delivered within 28 weeksCAD 247,400 to 378,100
Hosting: ≈ US$4,530 a monthCAD 6,450 a month
Support: ≈ US$2,500 a monthCAD 3,565 a month

Prices in your currency are estimates from today's Bank of Canada rate. All invoicing is in CAD or USD.

AI route: Open-source model
Model running cost: ≈ US$4,190 a monthCAD 5,960 a month

Timeline by milestone

Discovery: 2.9 to 3.4 weeks
Specification and evaluation plan: 0.4 weeks
Design approved: 3.9 to 6.9 weeks
Core features: 1.4 to 2.4 weeks
Full build: 0.9 to 1.9 weeks
Working pilot: 4.9 to 8.9 weeks
Testing and fixes: 0.4 to 0.9 weeks
Moved records checked with your office: 1.4 to 1.9 weeks
Launch: 0.9 to 1.4 weeks
Production: 0.9 to 1.4 weeks

Outside our hands, and added to the calendar

Your IT department's security and sign-on review: 4 to 8 weeks

How it is paid

Deposit 20%: CAD 49,420 to 75,560
Discovery 1.7%: CAD 4,200.70 to 6,422.60
Specification and evaluation plan 9%: CAD 22,239 to 34,002
Design approved 1.7%: CAD 4,200.70 to 6,422.60
Core features 5.2%: CAD 12,849.20 to 19,645.60
Full build 3.5%: CAD 8,648.50 to 13,223.00
Working pilot 27.2%: CAD 67,211.20 to 102,761.60
Testing and fixes 1.7%: CAD 4,200.70 to 6,422.60
Moved records checked with your office 8.7%: CAD 21,497.70 to 32,868.60
Launch 1.7%: CAD 4,200.70 to 6,422.60
Production 9.6%: CAD 23,721.60 to 36,268.80
Holdback, 30 days after launch (10%): CAD 24,710 to 37,780
GPU time for training and testing, at cost: CAD 300. Billed up front, at cost, outside the milestones

Start from this example

Example projectWeb appBlockchain

Shared record of lab safety training

Hypothetical. Not a client, not a result.

// The problem

Researchers move between three universities' labs and shared facilities, and each institution keeps its own spreadsheet of safety training, so people repeat courses or work in labs their training does not cover.

// What we would build

A training records app for each institution, with expiry reminders and checks at booking, and each completed course written to a private permissioned ledger that every institution runs a node of, so a partner can confirm someone's training without asking for a spreadsheet. A shared database run by one institution often does this job; the ledger helps when no single institution should hold the record.

// What is in it

Training records, expiry dates and reminders for each person
Completions written to a private ledger with a node per institution
Partners confirm training without seeing anyone's full record
Checks at equipment booking, so only trained people book
A plain read-out any institution can download

// Stack

Next.js
Hyperledger Besu (private, permissioned)
PostgreSQL
DigitalOcean Toronto

// estimate

Build: ≈ US$116,000 to US$177,000, delivered within 23 weeksCAD 164,900 to 252,300
Hosting: ≈ US$176 a monthCAD 250 a month
Support: ≈ US$2,500 a monthCAD 3,565 a month

Prices in your currency are estimates from today's Bank of Canada rate. All invoicing is in CAD or USD.

Timeline by milestone

Discovery: 2.9 to 3.4 weeks
Architecture: 0.4 weeks
Design approved: 2.9 to 4.9 weeks
Core features: 1.4 to 2.4 weeks
Full build: 0.9 to 1.4 weeks
Devnet: 2.9 to 4.4 weeks
Testing and fixes: 0.4 weeks
Testnet: 2.9 to 3.4 weeks
Launch: 0.9 to 1.4 weeks
Mainnet: 0.9 to 1.4 weeks

Outside our hands, and added to the calendar

Your IT department's security and sign-on review: 4 to 8 weeks

How it is paid

Deposit 20%: CAD 32,980 to 50,460
Discovery 2.5%: CAD 4,122.50 to 6,307.50
Architecture 6.7%: CAD 11,048.30 to 16,904.10
Design approved 2.5%: CAD 4,122.50 to 6,307.50
Core features 7.5%: CAD 12,367.50 to 18,922.50
Full build 5%: CAD 8,245 to 12,615
Devnet 20.2%: CAD 33,309.80 to 50,964.60
Testing and fixes 2.5%: CAD 4,122.50 to 6,307.50
Testnet 13.4%: CAD 22,096.60 to 33,808.20
Launch 2.5%: CAD 4,122.50 to 6,307.50
Mainnet 7.2%: CAD 11,872.80 to 18,165.60
Holdback, 30 days after launch (10%): CAD 16,490 to 25,230

Start from this example

// questions

Questions we get about this.

Can researchers book shared instruments with their university login?

Yes. We connect to your single sign-on through SAML or OpenID Connect, after your IT department's review.

Can the ethics workflow follow our board's own forms?

Yes. The forms, routing and statuses are built from your board's templates and procedures. We give no ethics advice.

Can a booking check that someone has done the safety training?

Yes. Each instrument can require a training record, and the booking is refused until it is there.

Back to the industry: Universities and research labs About the service: Web and mobile apps

// next

Not quite your project?

Tell us what you have in mind. We will come back to you with a range and the questions that would narrow it. Or book a call and talk it through.

Start a project Book a call