Difference between distribution and shipment

Often, users are confused between the Shipment and Distribution features and are not clear on when to use which feature.

Shipment: When specimens are sent to another lab or offsite storage location, and that lab also uses the same instance of OpenSpecimen to receive and manage the samples.

For more details: Shipment

Distribution: When specimens are sent to a researcher or lab for utilizing the sample. The receiving lab does not use OpenSpecimen to track the samples.

For more details: Distribution

Here’s a summary of the differences:

Property	Distribution	Shipment
Use case	Sent to researchers for utilization who may or may not be using OpenSpecimen	Sent to another site which uses the same instance of OpenSpecimen
Actions on Specimen	Distributed event added	Shipment shipped and shipment received events are added.
Specimen Disposal	An option is available to dispose of the specimens available. If checked, a disposal event added to the specimen	No option to dispose of the specimens while shipping
Container with specimens	Containers cannot be distributed	Containers can be shipped
Tracking	Not after the specimen has been distributed	Possible after the specimen has been shipped/received
Partial Quantity	Partial distribution is possible	Partial shipment is not possible
Return	An option to return the specimens, fully or partially. A separate return event is added in such a case.	No option to return the shipment. Another shipment has to be created from destination to source.