December 7, 2016 - Making LIMS RFPs Effective
There are many places you can search to learn what should be included in a LIMS RFP, however, care must be taken to ensure that the requirements used in your LIMS RFP truly reflect your needs, processes, and priorities.December 1, 2016 - Comprehensive LIMS Glossary & Acronyms E-book
A comprehensive LIMS Glossary and Acronyms e-book with important definitions of Laboratory information management system (LIMS) & related terminologies.December 1, 2016 - Cloud Technology Maximizes ROI By Reducing TCO
LIMS whitepaper underlining the evolution of LIMS, different types of LIMS architecture, benefits and risks of cloud computing and how SaaS models leverage cloud technology to maximize ROI by minimizing TCO.November 30, 2016 - The impact of electronic health record (EHR) interoperability on immunization information system (IIS) data quality
Moving data between systems via an electronic exchange (interoperability) while keeping it clean is always a challenge. Data exchanged between electronic health records (EHR) and immunization information system (IIS) is no exception, as Woinarowicz and Howell demonstrate in this 2016 paper published in Online Journal of Public Health Informatics. Working for the North Dakota Department of Health, Division of Disease Control, the duo explain how setting up their IIS for interoperability with provider EHRs "has had an impact on NDIIS data quality." They conclude: "Timeliness of data entry has improved and overall doses administered have remained fairly consistent, as have the immunization rates ... [but more] will need to be done by NDIIS staff and its vendor to help reduce the negative impact of duplicate record creation, as well as data completeness."November 14, 2016 - What Does a LIMS Do?
A fundamental question that many people new to the informatics world ask is “What does a LIMS do?” The real answer is the answer given by Shrek who when asked about the nature of ogres replied “ogres are like onions, they have layers”. You read correctly, LIMS are like onions; they too have layers.November 9, 2016 - A benchmarking analysis of open-source business intelligence tools in healthcare environments
In recent years, a wide range of business intelligence (BI) technologies have been applied to different areas in order to support the decision-making process. BI enables the extraction of knowledge from the data stored. The healthcare industry is no exception, and so BI applications have been under investigation across multiple units of different institutions.November 9, 2016 - Historical Data and the New LIMS
I recently received a call from a very nice municipal laboratory director and the conversation regarding LIMS, LIMS implementation, good LIMS implementers turned towards historical data. I laughed and thanked her for the idea of this article. I really should have thought of it. With virtually every LIMS sale whether it be to a municipality, commercial laboratory or university, the issue of historical data comes up.Most laboratories purchasing a LIMS, if they are replacing an old LIMS or are buying their first, have been in operation for some time. As we are all aware, historical data generally must be kept on record for some period of time based on various regulations and is often wanted for general trending information. In many cases, that period of time is five years. So, now what?
November 2, 2016 - Biopharma QC LIMS: Extinction or Evolution
The future of Quality Control Labs and the Quality Control LIMS that automates and manages them has been a topic of debate in recent years. Why all this speculation?October 24, 2016 - LIMS – Going the Cloud Way
Leading IT technological innovations such as Software as a cloud storage and Service (SaaS) have revolutionized the operation of modern labs. Biobanks, CROs and research labs are fast-moving towards cloud technology, owing to excessive pressures of meeting deadlines and complexities associated with IT infrastructure and support. Why is cloud becoming the best choice for every lab, planning a LIMS implementation? This white paper is for those biobanks, clinical research and food & beverage testing labs which are incognizant of the benefits of cloud computing for managing laboratory operations.October 19, 2016 - Integrated systems for NGS data management and analysis: Open issues and available solutions
Integrated systems for NGS data management and analysis: Open issues and available solutions
This 2016 paper by Bianchi et al., published in Frontiers in Genetics, takes a closer look at the major issues concerning next-generations sequencing (NGS) technology. The group raises five main concerns than an NGS research group should be aware of before approaching NGS technologies and briefly states positives and negatives to the most current popular tools. The group concludes "[a]lthough larger groups with enough computational members may prefer to develop and maintain their own tailored frameworks, smaller laboratories would save resources and improve their results by adopting solutions developed by third parties," including open-source and cloud-based tools.
October 18, 2016 - Performing a Laboratory Informatics System Risk Assessment
Every software validation that is part of a Quality Risk Management program should start with a formal, documented risk assessment of the Laboratory Informatics systems that is being validated.October 12, 2016 - Expedited LIMS Data to GIS/AutoCAD Reporting
The successive and successful relationship between environmental based laboratories and engineering companies has long been vital for both entities. Fortunately, with the adoption of modern LIMS in laboratories, in conjunction with advanced software tools available to engineering companies, these important ties have become quicker, less labor intensive, and more reliable.October 5, 2016 - Quality Control and the University Application of a COTS LIMS
Proper quality control is critical for the production of any valid laboratory data, whether regulatory or research. However, how this quality control is applied may vary greatly depending upon the application. In the regulated environmental community, set rules are applied to the type, limits of and number of quality control samples. These rules are well established and published by various organizations.October 5, 2016 - Agile LIMS Implementation – A Challenge
The Agile methodology is a time boxed methodology that uses an iterative approach to rapidly develop, test, and deliver functionality. While this method has had a wide utilization in the IT field, there are several concerns and issues that can make it problematic for the implementation of LIMS, especially in a regulated environment.September 28, 2016 - Interfacing LIMS to Other Commercially Available Software Packages
A LIMS by its name is a laboratory information management system. LIMS over the years have increased in their breadth of coverage, however, at no point is a LIMS a full accounting package or geographic information system (GIS) nor does a true LIMS replace a customized enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. A LIMS though may be very effectively interfaced with other software platforms to provide a business entity the full breadth of information and ability it requires.September 28, 2016 - Smart electronic laboratory notebooks for the NIST research environment
Smart electronic laboratory notebooks for the NIST research environment
No doubt, the traditional paper laboratory notebook isn't quite enough in many of today's modern labs. The research and fabrication labs of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are no exception. This late 2015 paper published in the
Journal of Research of NIST expands upon the changing technological needs for a better and improved laboratory notebook, even beyond the largely software-focused electronic laboratory notebook (ELN). Gates et al. discuss how they added the hardware component with their push for a “smart” electronic laboratory notebook (SELN) that is portable, intuitive, collaborative, and usable on tablet-based hardware in a cleanroom. They conclude their SELN "provides a comfortable portability and connectivity crucial to its role, and could actually also serve as a desktop replacement for many who do not require extremely powerful computing resources."
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