What is LIMS and why do you need it?
A LIMS or Laboratory Information Management is a type of software designed to improve laboratory productivity and efficiency by keeping track of data associated with samples, experiments, laboratory workflows and equipment. A LIMS may feature specialized capabilities for(research and development laboratories, process development and manufacturing laboratories), or (bioanalytical laboratories). A proper LIMS acts as an additional member of your team, automating workflow and tracking all the important sample information, data, workflows and QA/QC results that your lab generates each day.
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Top 8 Workflow Benefits of a LIMS
LIMS are constantly evolving to meet the needs of the laboratory. If you haven’t investigated recently what LIMS can do, you may still think of LIMS as just a sample-based tracking system, but modern LIMS systems do all that and more. Let’s go over the most important components of a modern LIMS.
1. Sample Location and Tracking
In its most basic form, a good LIMS allows you to access (log) samples, record their exact location (site, lab, freezer, shelf, box, cell), while recording each step of their journey to a specific location. Also tracks and records through the lab. Workflow you are doing. Samples are often divided into aliquots and LIMS not only tracks the sample and results on each aliquot, but also provides a consolidated view at the sample, patient, project or batch level depending on your workflow. LIMS is a great aggregator of your data and therefore it is important that it tracks any changes throughout the sample lifecycle and generates a complete audit trail of each action taken on each sample.2
2. List of reagents and consumables
A LIMS will allow you to record all reagents and consumables that enter your laboratory. It will record expiration dates and restrict the use of expired goods, track recipes including these reagents, record who made them, volumes removed as reagents are used up, and when it is rearranged. Prompts users when it is time to do so. Because LIMS knows your inventory, it can also reduce over-ordering that leads to wastage and cost overruns and eliminates unexpected reagent shortages that lead to work delays and project overruns. Perhaps more importantly, it provides traceability. If there is a problem with a particular reagent, LIMS will enable you to quickly identify which samples have been affected and which need to be retested.
3. Configurability
The best LIMS solutions provide users with seamless ways to configure their unique workflows and business processes across the system. In the early days of LIMS, this required custom coding which made it difficult to adopt new tools and expand methods and workflows. Today, LIMS supports greater agility in the lab and workflows can be created or modified faster, without requiring the support of a LIMS provider.
4. Developing, optimizing and expanding workflows
Laboratories are heterogeneous environments and use a variety of equipment from multiple manufacturers. Laboratories want to select the equipment that is most robust for their application. This creates the challenge that each tool has unique protocols, methods, and workflows that need to be managed. Your LIMS should be able to support multiple workflows that you deploy as needed for specified samples or projects. Or maybe you are planning to expand your laboratory to adopt a new type of instrument, instrument or robotics? Your LIMS solution will allow you to quickly and easily add these workflows through configuration.
5. Instrument integration
Lab workflows often include a variety of tools, each of which produces different result files that are potentially in different file formats. Your LIMS solution should be able to integrate all of these tools and their results, eventually adding these results back to your sample records. Additionally, LIMS should allow some level of analysis of QC results to determine which samples meet the expected criteria, and then move the passed samples to their next step in the workflow, and Failed samples define your business rules in the previous workflow step. Additionally, you can record equipment calibration results, and receive prompts for scheduled preventive maintenance. While these instruments are undergoing calibration or maintenance, they can be removed as selectable options within LIMS, so technicians are not using equipment that is outside of specifications.
6. Modularity
Working with modular LIMS allows you to build new workflows using components you may already be familiar with from existing workflows and add new modules to reflect your lab’s expanded expertise. For example, you may already be accessing samples as part of your current workflow. As you incorporate a new scientific method, you should be able to take advantage of existing and well-understood accessing modules to accelerate the development of the new method.
7. Report and Dashboard Generation
While most labs are trying to be more paperless, it is important that you be able to view your lab data and metrics in a meaningful way. A LIMS collects a lot of information related to samples, reagents, equipment, workflows, and more. A LIMS should also give you the ability to view the status of all samples and projects and visualize the data in real time to generate valuable quality control information. Is one of your devices underperforming your other devices? Can maintenance improve your overall lab performance? LIMS can help you find it before it becomes a major problem. Do you have a process bottleneck that can’t be easily seen? Your LIMS report can show you how samples stalled at a specific stage, allowing you to assign additional resources to address the slowdown. Are you meeting your stipulated turnaround time (TAT)? Can generate a LIMS report and dashboard that shows what percentage of samples are through the entire workflow in the expected time, and where you missed the target TAT so you know where you need to improve your process.
8. Compliance
Many laboratories have to comply with a number of regulations, including everything from laboratory practices such as ISO 17025 and GXP to ensuring the proper handling of data such as 21 CFR Part 11 and data integrity guidance. For many laboratories, compliance only requires the use of LIMS.
