LIMS Software: Build or Buy

Overview

Paper-based workflows and documentation may have functioned fine when your laboratory began operations. Going paperless and manually keying your data into shared spreadsheets seemed like the natural progression and offered some efficiencies. But your lab staff is entering thousands of samples per week and finding it difficult to meet regulatory compliance. Your business needs a laboratory information management system (LIMS). You know of commercial LIMS software vendors in the marketplace, but couldn’t your IT group build an in-house solution?

This brief topical article will examine why a laboratory may consider building its own LIMS, factors to address before developing an in-house system, and the advantages of commercial LIMS software.