June 29, 2016 - Information Competencies for Research Staff

Information Competencies for Research Staff

limsbookThe LIMSwiki has posted a new book from the wikibooks collection that we think many research labs will find useful. The book identifies the skills and knowledge that research staff should develop to successfully navigate the scientific and chemical literature as a research chemist. 

http://www.limsbook.com/information-competencies-for-research-staff/1920/

The book is published as a free, open access book that can be downloaded as an ebook, read on-line or purchased in printed book form from PediaPress. Please share this book with all research staff that make use of peer reviewed literature and are responsible for publishing peer reviewed papers.

June 27, 2016 - The Benefits of Expert LIMS Solution Design

Think back to a time when you first learned to do anything new. Chances are it took longer than expected and the resulting product was less than prize worthy. However, once experience and expertise had been attained, the time it took to accomplish those same tasks had diminished while the quality had markedly improved.

June 10, 2016 - LIMS Training – A Critical Ingredient for Success

We all know that training is needed on a new LIMS, but are you getting the proper and sufficient amount of training that you truly need or even know the specific type of training available to you?

June 1, 2016 - LIMS Directory Spring 2016 Released. Directory of LIMS vendor products, features, pricing and demos.

LIMS Directory Spring 2016 Released. Directory of LIMS vendor products, features, pricing and demos.

limsbookThe LIMSwiki has released a free download directory of the key LIMS vendors with product features, pricing and demonstration video links. 

http://www.limsbook.com/lims-directory-spring-2016-product-features-pricing-demos/1916/

This directory is unique in that the LIMSwiki team has gone through hundreds of LIMS vendors and researched their features and found pricing information and demonstration videos and compiled it into one single guide. If you are researching LIMS options, this directory will save you many hours of work.

Please download it and post back your thoughts. The LIMSwiki team works hard to keep the information up to date and accurate with cited sources of the information. If you are a vendor and you are not in the directory, 
please post back here to this discussion to get added to the directory. We plan to keep it up to date each quarter. In order to be on the list you must provide public available pricing information. Provide as much information on your product features and demonstration videos as possible. There is no charge for listings or to download. Everything is provided as Open Access.

This directory is available to all LIMSforum members for easy access with your existing Linkedin Login account. Download or read it on-line.

May 26, 2016 - LIMS Upgrade: Love It or Leave It

Many organizations decide to upgrade their LIMS to the latest version without fully exploring their options. While sometimes this upgrade can be easier, less time consuming, and less expensive than implementing a completely new LIMS, it is not always a clear-cut decision.

May 25, 2016 - One instance, a second server or a second lab ID?

Many laboratories have at least two or more individual laboratories in their company’s organization. These laboratories may be close together or across the country; They may fall under similar or much different regulatory environments; They may act as parts of a whole or as an individual laboratory, quite literally subbing out samples to sister laboratories much like they would to any sub-contract laboratory. Upon occasion, even simple communication via the internet may be sporadic. Each laboratory is unique in its organization and thus there are different answers as to what will fit a particular laboratory best when implementing a LIMS.

May 18, 2016 - Introduction to Nuclear Medicine & Radiation Oncology

Introduction to Nuclear Medicine & Radiation Oncology

limsbookThe LiMSbook.com has published the Introduction to Nuclear Medicine & Radiation Oncology. This book was provided courtesy of the wikibook project where the authors are a collection of community members who willingly and openly share their knowledge for the benefit of us all.

All publications within LIMSbook.com are of course free and open access with great educational articles, books and journals covering informatics topics for the Laboratory, Science & Healthcare. Please download all the publications you wish or you can login with your Linkedin account and read this book on-line:
http://www.limsbook.com/introduction-to-nuclear-medicine-radiation-oncology/1913/


May 13, 2016 - The Best ELN – Revealed!

A quick, informal count of the ELN vendors shows grated than 50 commercial vendors with an additional half dozen of so Open Source solutions being ofered. With such a broad choice in ELNs the question of which is the best ELN is continually being raised.

May 4, 2016 - White Paper – Data Integrity

Data integrity, an area of increasing priority in today’s laboratory world and "The focus area" when it comes to regulatory compliance such as 21 CFR Part 11 and Eudralex Annex 11. Considering the number of warning letters from USFDA and other such regulatory bodies issued to pharmaceutical and medical devices manufacturers across the globe, Data integrity is the "Buzz word" intoday’s audit.

April 28, 2016 - Integrating the Lab and SAP QM: Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

So you've decided to integrate your lab data and information management system with SAP QM to support both the lab and manufacturing, but how do you go about doing that?

April 27, 2016 - LiMSjournal – 2016 Winter Edition, Peer Reviewed LIMS papers and articles ready for download

LiMSjournal - 2016 Winter Edition, Peer Reviewed LIMS papers and articles ready for download

limsbookThe LiMSbook has posted the Winter 2016 Edition of the peer reviewed LIMS Journal articles. There were 11 comprehensive articles published in this issue of the journal.

The Journal is of course free and open access and is published quarterly with great educational articles covering informatics topics for the Laboratory, Science & Healthcare. Please download your own copy or you can login with your Linkedin account and read the journal on-line:
http://www.limsbook.com/limsjournal-winter-2016-volume-2-issue-1/

April 21, 2016 - Considerations in Purchasing a LIMS

Many scientific enterprises find themselves in need of a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) to replace an incumbent system, whether an existing commercial application, an amalgam of systems, or an in-house solution. Once the decision has been made, the selection and deployment of a new LIMS should move quickly and decisively. In the whitepaper recently released, Randy C. Hice, Global Strategy Manager at Abbott Informatics, provides insights on how to select a commercial LIMS.

April 18, 2016 - Preventing/Minimizing Scope Creep

Have you been in this situation?: You just began a new LIMS project and everything appears to be going smoothly. However, as the project continues to move forwar, you start to lose control and it feels like the project has taken on a life of its own.

April 6, 2016 - Sample Receipt Checklist

When logging in samples, laboratories must verify the conditions under which the samples were received. The most efficient way to do this is a checklist within the LIMS. This not only helps automate the process, it also records the checklist automatically, adding to the necessary paper trail for audits.

March 28, 2016 - Top 4 Reasons LIMS Implementations Fail

Implementing a new LIMS can be a huge challenge. There are so many aspects to consider and moving parts to manage that LIMS implementations can and sometimes do fail.

March 16, 2016 - QuaLIS Inventory a validated Inventory Management System

QuaLIS Inventory is a web based Inventory management system designed based on guidelines for GLP and FDA. Designed to meet the regulated laboratory handling a wide range of Inventory materials used in regulated labs. Items including but not limited to standards like reference material, primary standards, working standards, reagents (solid/Liquid) consumable etc.

March 16, 2016 - LIMS – Buy or Build?

Many laboratory directors from different disciplines have asked this one question regarding LIMS: “Should we buy a LIMS or build our own?” In the early 90s and into the mid-2000s, it was not uncommon for a laboratory to create their own LIMS from scratch rather than using the commercially available options. Upon occasion, those laboratories would purchase an open source code LIMS and then hire programmers to make that LIMS their own.

March 10, 2016 - How to Create Solid User Requirements for a System Application

"A house is only as strong as its foundation" - for a Laboratory Informatics solution (e.g. LIMS, ELN, CDS), the foundation for an implementation is the User Requirements document. Make sure that you have a strong and solid foundation before you implement.

March 9, 2016 - An Introduction to Next Generation Sequencing

An Introduction to Next Generation Sequencing

limsbookThe high demand for low-cost sequencing has driven the development of high-throughput sequencing, which is also termed as Next generation sequencing (NGS). Thousands or millions of sequences are concurrently produced in the next-generation sequencing process. Next generation sequencing has become a commodity. With the commercialization of various affordable desktop sequencers, NGS will be of reach to more traditional wet-lab biologists .

Drawing from the obvious goodwill and community spirit displayed on discussion forums, and exploiting the collaborative tools made available by the Wikimedia foundation, this free ebook: http://www.limsbook.com/an-introduction-to-next-generation-sequencing/1844/ is designed to initiate the editing of a collaborative WikiBook on NGS.  Ultimately, our goal is to create a collective lab book that explains the key concepts and describes best practices in NGS.

Please download the free ebook or login with your Linkedin account and read it on-line.  Please post back comments for improvements.

March 2, 2016 - The Legacy LIMS Folly

Many laboratories face this same issue. A dated, legacy LIMS exist. It lacks needed capabilities. It cannot be remotely accessed. No client portal exists. It does not integrate with all of the newer instruments. It cannot produce new, needed reports. It cannot effectively update QC reports. Its query functions are extremely limited. It is failing under the higher workload. It cannot operate on the “new” computers. Yet, it, that old LIMS, is vital to the day to day operation of the laboratory. “If we could just get by this one more year… We’ll replace it next year!” And that has been said for five years straight.