January 7, 2020 - Benefits you should bank on by using a LIMS
For our final blog post of 2019 we thought to give some information for those either investigating whether to buy a LIMS or perhaps who have one, but feel they aren't maximising their return on investment (ROI) some food for thought.
LIMS should generate solid ROI and below are key areas:
With constant advances in technology the needs of a laboratory are frequently changing, but what remains constant is the need for end-to-end traceability of samples, data processing capabilities and report generation. This is where a LIMS comes in, it assists laboratories in monitoring workflows, managing data and inventory, assigning tasks, storing data and automating the reporting process.
Whether clinical, analytical or research, all laboratories operate under a time constraint of having to provide information to a customer, client or management as business decisions are then made based on that information. To make such information available instantly is nearly impossible without a LIMS, traditional methods of record-keeping using excel or paper-based files makes it impossible to source the required data.
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January 7, 2020 - Laboratory Relocation Best Practices
The pace of change in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries means that most companies eventually must face the daunting task of relocating their laboratories. Whether due to mergers, acquisitions, funding changes or simply organic growth, a laboratory relocation is an extraordinarily complex undertaking that will impact your laboratory’s scientists, research and business goals. A laboratory relocation involves moving high-end analytical instrumentation, hazardous materials, products and samples, and sometimes even live animals. It will require shutting down laboratory equipment, along with safely packing and shipping instruments, samples, materials, devices, computer hardware and potentially data to the new location. Once all necessary items have been moved to the new location, they will need to be unpacked and equipment will need to be requalification and/or validated. Whether you are moving your lab across the hall, street or country, a laboratory relocation is never a routine exercise. The reality is that no two laboratories are alike – each will have a set of unique challenges that will need to be addressed with care. In this blog, we will discuss critical best practices that should be followed in all cases in order to make sure your laboratory relocation is a smooth, safe and efficient process that minimizes downtime and disruption for your business.[Read More]
January 7, 2020 - LIMS Master Data Best Practices Part 3: Maintenance and Scalability
Master data design has very important impacts over the lifecycle of a LIMS, as nearly every piece of functionality in the system revolves around the design of the master data. One of the most important aspects to any LIMS implementation is designing the master data so that it is easy to maintain and scale as the organization grows and business needs change. Some of the key benefits of configuring your master data to be maintainable and scalable include:- Easier to add and/or modify master data down the road
- Increased system efficiency and reliability
- Future system enhancements are less resource intensive
- Better management for large volumes of data
- Increased user acceptance
- Increased ROI
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January 7, 2020 - Disaster Recovery Plans for Your LIMS or ELN
Imagine…historic rainfalls flood your production facility and its lab, while knocking out power for miles around. Your analytical equipment is ruined. Your server is under water. Or, wildfires ignite suddenly after a lightning strike or car accident. The fires spread rapidly. Lab personnel have just enough time to escape with what they can carry. Your facility is burned to the ground. These are just two scenarios that have occurred in the last couple of years. And all of us have experienced a network failure or the dreaded blue screen of death at some point. System downtime is going to happen. You may even have a total loss on your hands in the future. How you plan for it is the key. Do you know how to protect your LIMS or ELN in case of a catastrophic failure? It’s important to have a detailed plan in place in case a disaster happens.[Read More]
December 16, 2019 - Benefits and Best Practices for Integrating Laboratory Instruments with LIMS
Due to technological advances in laboratory instruments and higher throughput processes, data volumes in modern analytical laboratories have increased dramatically over the last several decades. While this increased data volume presents the opportunity to improve innovation and enable timely and effective business decisions, it also presents significant data management and processing challenges. In order to meet the challenge of turning this data into knowledge, laboratories are looking to automate and integrate laboratory operations and processes as much as possible in order to provide digital continuity throughout the product lifecycle. Integrating laboratory instruments with Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS) is one of the best ways to automate laboratory processes. Instruments that are commonly integrated with LIMS in laboratories include:- GC
- GCMS
- HPLC
- LCMS
- ICP
- Particle Counters
- DNA Sequencers
- Balances
- Titrators
- AA Analyzers
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December 10, 2019 - LIMS Vs. QMS
Most laboratories generate massive volumes of data on a day-to-day basis and have to follow regulatory guidelines. Laboratories must determine if they need a LIMS or a QMS or both. Managing a plethora of laboratory data efficiently and assuring quality is crucial for all laboratories. To make a decision, it is important to understand the differences between a LIMS and a QMS.
To read the complete blog, please visit: https://cloudlims.com/blog/lims-versus-qms.html
December 9, 2019 - Evaluating Legacy LIMS Part 2: LIMS Migration
Whether due to increases in data volume, regulatory constraints, M&As, globalization, outsourcing, or a myriad of other reasons, legacy LIMS are becoming extremely costly to manage, and many companies are finding themselves in a situation where their legacy system is not able to adequately keep up with changing business requirements. Organizations looking to address deficiencies in their legacy LIMS have two options – re-architect/re-engineer their legacy system or purchase and migrate to a new LIMS. In part 1 of this blog series, we discussed the steps involved in re-architecting your legacy system, as well as the benefits of doing so. In this article, we’ll explore the other option – purchasing and migrating to a new LIMS.[Read More]
December 9, 2019 - Agile Development in Laboratory Informatics
Agile development is one of those buzzwords that you’ve heard a lot if you’ve spent any time at all in the business world. Like Lean Six Sigma, it’s one of those secret handshake-type terms that will have everyone nodding in recognition, even if they’re not really sure what it’s about. But in laboratory informatics—particularly in…[Read More]
December 4, 2019 - Evaluating Legacy LIMS Software Part 1: Re-engineering Your System
The first laboratory information management systems (LIMS) were designed as simple tracking tools that enabled systematic control of workflows in regulated laboratories. More recently, LIMS software has evolved into something more akin to an enterprise resource planning tool for the lab that has the ability to manage many different aspects of operations across the full data lifecycle – resource management/scheduling, assay data management, data mining, data analysis, case-centric clinical data, and electronic laboratory notebook (ELN) integration. Because of today’s rapidly changing business environment, many scientific and R&D-oriented companies find themselves in a situation where their legacy LIMS software struggles to meet business needs. Whether due to increases in data volume, regulatory constraints, M&As, globalization, outsourcing, or a myriad of other reasons, the reality is that many legacy systems are becoming extremely costly to manage and are not able to adequately address changing business requirements. The improved functionality and flexibility inherent in modern COTS systems creants a powerful incentive for these companies to explore the possibility of replacing a legacy system with a new commercial LIMS. Replacing an aging or legacy LIMS software is no small matter...[Read More]
December 4, 2019 - LIMS Master Data Best Practices Part 2: Extrapolation of Master Data from Your Current Records
As we mentioned in part 1 of our LIMS Master Data Best Practices series, master data is the core information that needs to be in place in the system in order for a LIMS to function as intended. It’s essential for all parts of the organization to agree on both the meaning and usage of master data. As such, effective master data configuration is critical to the success of any LIMS implementation and migration, not to mention your organization as a whole. Developers configuring master data in a new LIMS will need to determine what master data fields are needed and where to put them in the system. In order to do this, relevant business process workflows and data points must be identified and properly mapped in the system. In this part 2 blog of our Master Data Best Practices series, we will detail best practices for identifying and mapping your LIMS master data, along with an effective methodology to ensure your mapping exercise maximizes business value for your organization.[Read More]
December 4, 2019 - How can I tell if it’s worth investing in a LIMS?
Given that many organizations and their laboratories are looking to improve efficiency and reduce costs, it may seem self-evident that introducing a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) should help in achieving that aim. However, tangible evidence in the form of a projected Return on Investment (ROI) and business plan is frequently required. In addition, these can provide a basis against which success of the project can be measured. Autoscribe Informatics have just published an updated version of their popular white paper ‘Justifying the Purchase of a LIMS’. This is designed to help any organization develop a detailed, evidence based justification for investing in a LIMS. This updated version not only discusses the key factors to be considered in an ROI assessment, but also provides models and examples for how ROI may be calculated.[Read More]
December 4, 2019 - Why STEM Education is Important to the Future of Lab Informatics
The topic of this blog was occasioned by a recent calendar observation. November 8 is recognized in the United States as National STEM Day (or National STEAM Day). STEM is the acronym for science, technology, engineering, and math; STEAM is its extension when you include the arts. Educators around the country use the occasion to expose their students to STEM activities and to talk about potential career paths. The Society for Information Management provides information about a number of STEM-related activities specific to information technology.[Read More]
November 20, 2019 - LIS Vs LIMS
There is often some confusion in the use of the terms Laboratory Information System (LIS) and Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS), and a temptation to use the terms interchangeably. Generally, however the term LIS refers to systems used to manage clinical diagnostic testing within in a hospital or healthcare environment. LIMS on the other hand refers to systems used in other analytical testing environments, for example those associated with pharmaceutical, food or chemical manufacturing, environmental control and commercial non-clinical testing organizations.[Read More]
November 13, 2019 - Reducing the Cost of Computer Systems Validation Efforts Through Risk Assessment
Computerized systems have been widely adopted by the pharmaceutical industry and are frequently used for instrument control and data evaluation, documentation, transmission and archiving in laboratories. The FDA requires that all computer systems in regulated environments be validated in a documented process known as computer system validation (CSV). CSV serves to verify that a computerized system does exactly what it is designed to do in a consistent and reproducible manner. For regulatory compliance purposes, CSV confirms the accuracy and integrity of data created, modified, archived, retrieved and transmitted by a computer system in order to ensure product safety and effectiveness. Computer system validation is required when configuring a new system or making a change in a validated system (upgrades, patches, extensions, etc.). Depending on the complexity and functionality of computer systems, CSV can be a significant undertaking. Pharmaceutical companies have even been known to delay upgrading applications to avoid the validation effort required. In this blog, we will provide some tips on performing a risk-based CSV in order to dramatically lower the costs of validation efforts.[Read More]
November 13, 2019 - The Essential Capabilities of a 21st Century CHRO
Change is clearly a dominant theme in the 21st century. With modern trends like the digital revolution, globalization, talent shortages, greater workforce mobility, and a multigenerational workforce, long-established business models are facing disruption on many different fronts, and companies seeking to maintain competitive advantage must be more agile and flexible than ever before. One of the keys to business success in today’s volatile economic environment is attracting and retaining the best talent. As such, industry leading organizations are recognizing the importance of the role of HR leaders to their continued success. Once known for simply managing traditional personnel and administrative tasks, roles for Chief Human Resources Officers (CHROs) are evolving beyond siloed people initiatives.[Read More]
November 7, 2019 - Utilizing the BIOVIA ELN with Pipeline Pilot to Enhance R&D
The BIOVIA ELN is a crucial technology that works with Pipeline Pilot in a seamless fashion. Modern laboratory technologies such as Electronic Laboratory Notebooks (ELNs) and LIMS have made enormous amounts of data available to scientists in life science laboratories. Scientists that are recording, managing and archiving research data in paper notebooks and performing tasks manually simply cannot keep up with this deluge of data. These paper-based methods lead to scenarios where much collected data is siloed and never analyzed, while many experiments end up being needlessly repeated.[Read More]
October 30, 2019 - LIMS Master Data Best Practices Part 1: Defining the Terms
Globalization and outsourcing trends, along with technological advancements that have dramatically increased the volume, complexity and variety of data, have created significant data management challenges for modern scientific laboratories. Most laboratories have responded to these challenges by implementing a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) that automates business processes and data capture associated with laboratory workflows. With these systems comes vast amounts of data. Ensuring you are managing your LIMS Master Data properly begins with understanding the key terms LIMS implementations usually demand a substantial investment of time, money and resources, typically costing hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars and requiring hundreds of person days to accomplish. Failure of a LIMS project can be a huge waste of time and resources, and a financial disaster for the organization involved. As such, it is critical to get a LIMS implementation right the first time in order to preserve your return on investment. One important facet of any successful LIMS implementation and/or migration is the design and configuration of master data. In our experience, many companies involved in LIMS implementations tend to focus on software testing and configuration and put off dealing with master data until the end of the project. This is a huge mistake. Master data design and configuration is typically a much bigger job than anticipated and has multimillion-dollar impacts down the road on things like operational efficiency, time to market and LIMS return on investment (ROI).[Read More]
October 30, 2019 - Cultivating a Strong Corporate Culture to Attract and Retain Talent
The booming economy and record low unemployment in the United States has many companies struggling to attract needed talent amid tight labor pools. In addition to this talent shortage, the digital age has engendered greater workforce mobility. Using websites like Glassdoor, LinkedIn, Facebook, and others, employees can now easily become aware of other opportunities and find a job that better aligns with their values, goals and interests. A new survey from CareerBuilder revealed that, while 50% of workers feel like they have a long-term career at their current company, the other half feel like they just have jobs. A surprising 32% of survey respondents plan to change their jobs this year. A recent Labor Department report confirmed that these employees are in fact following through on their intentions – the number of employees voluntarily leaving their jobs is at the highest rate it’s been since 2001. To keep pace with technological advances and remain competitive, companies require an experienced workforce with institutional knowledge to maximize productivity and operational efficiency. Given these trends, employee engagement and retention have emerged as top issues for business leaders.[Read More]
October 30, 2019 - Live Webinar: Preparing for an ISO 17025 Audit: What to expect from a LIMS?
Introduction: CloudLIMS is pleased to announce a complimentary webinar titled “Preparing for an ISO 17025 Audit: What to expect from a LIMS?” on November 19, 2019, at 12 PM EST (5 PM GMT). The webinar will be presented by Mr. Arun Apte, CEO, CloudLIMS.com.
To read the complete blog, please visit: https://cloudlims.com/blog/preparing-for-an-iso-17025-audit-what-to-expect-from-lims.html
October 30, 2019 - Matrix Gemini LIMS Improves Water Testing Laboratory Efficiency
A new case study (https://www.autoscribeinformatics.com/case-studies/matrix-gemini-lims-speeds-up-throughput-in-water-testing) has been published by Autoscribe Informatics which shows how the Culligan Analytical Lab in Illinois, USA has made significant improvements in laboratory efficiency by using the Matrix Gemini LIMS (Laboratory Information Management System). Culligan Water provides innovative water treatment solutions to domestic, commercial and industrial markets. Laboratory testing to provide an accurate analysis of a customer’s water quality is a key component of the company’s success, especially as many customers are using well water.
