Affordable, Secure Online LIMS Reporting for Laboratories
However efficient a laboratory may be, only when the results reach the client is the job done. Electronic reporting via intranet or the WWW has to be an attractive solution, but this has to be secure to protect client confidentiality while giving easy, efficient access to well-presented data. Due to consistently high volume sales of their WinLIMS products, QSI have been able to reach agreement with market leader Business Objects to license their Crystal XI and Business Objects Enterprise technology for the WinLIMS reporting module.
BO Enterprise provides a secure, central control and publishing facility and repository for documents and reports and also includes a wide range of management tools. Reports can be filed and controlled by category – for example according to the roles of those needing to access them such as lab manager, technician or customer. In the same way information within a report can be segregated in such a way that different elements of a report can be sent to different recipients depending on their specific needs or security profile. For audit purposes, it helps to know when reports are run outside the controlled WinLIMS environment, e.g. via the web. The reporting module can maintain a history of each report, recording each time it is run and the data within it at the time.
The latest version of Crystal Reports now offers dynamic prompts and cascading prompt lists to simplify report design. When designing client reports that allow the entry of data selection criteria, the user is prompted when such an entry is required. With dynamic prompts, the available choice of criteria is presented automatically as well. For example, if one of the criteria were a raw material type, the prompt would return in a list all raw materials within the database, enabling the user to select from the list rather than having to enter the data manually. As the prompts can cascade, if the next criterion were a method, the list would only contain methods appropriate to the selected raw material type, and so on. There is no restriction to the number of cascades. These tools help to speed up report design and clearly reduce the potential for error.
According to QSI, this new agreement means that for the first time even small laboratories can now achieve the industry standard when it comes to reporting, and at an affordable price.
Visit www.lims-software.co.uk for more information or call +44 1844 208598.
