Laboratory Information Management Systems

What is a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS)?

A Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) is a software-based system that enables companies to effectively manage laboratory and associated data in order to improve lab efficiency. An effective LIMS supports and drives a modern laboratory’s operations and enables you to automate workflows, integrate instruments, and manage laboratory data and related information easily, quickly and reliably. LIMS also aim to make data and information easier to store, track and assess over time and across experiments, so that labs can continuously evaluate and improve their operational efficiency.

Features of Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS)

The key functions of a LIMS are laboratory sample management, laboratory instrument and application integration, and electronic data exchange with different departments including planning, product design, R&D and manufacturing. In addition, there are numerous additional operations that can be managed in a LIMS. This includes:

• Audit management - track and maintain a complete audit trail
• Barcode handling - assign one or more data points to a barcode format, read and extract information from a barcode
• Chain of custody - assign roles/groups that dictate access to specific data records as well as who is managing them
• Compliance - follow regulatory standards that affect the laboratory
• Document management - process and convert data to certain format, manage how documents are distributed and accessed
• Instrument calibration and maintenance - schedule important maintenance and calibration of lab instruments, and keep detailed records of such activities
• Manual and electronic data entry - provide fast and reliable interfaces for data to be entered by a human or electronic component
• Quality assurance and control - gauge and control sample quality, enforce data entry standards and workflows
• Reports - create reports in a specific format, schedule and distribute reports to designated parties
• Time tracking - calculate and maintain processing and handling times for chemical reactions, workflows, etc.
• Traceability - show audit trail and/or chain of custody of a sample
• Workflows - track a sample, a batch of samples, or a "lot" of batches through its lifecycle

Benefits of Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS)

• Increase laboratory efficiency
• Achieve the paperless lab
• Provide a complete audit trail and traceability
• Reduce manual entry of data and risk of human error
• Ensure and facilitate secure data accessibility and exchange
• Streamline workflows and processes
• Improve regulatory compliance
• Leverage data analytics to evaluate and improve lab processes

Engineering's Expertise

Implementing a LIMS improves the overall operational efficiency of a laboratory. A LIMS saves time otherwise spent on manual data logging and maintenance, thus offering an efficient data management solution. Modern LIMS software typically offer extensive configurability capabilities as well, as each laboratory's needs for tracking additional data points can vary widely. Engineering's team of experts configures, deploys and integrates top-of-the-line LIMS software offerings to help customers implement digital laboratory solutions that are effective for their specific environments and needs. Many LIMS users also have regulatory concerns to comply with, such as CLIA, HIPAA, GLP, and FDA specifications, affecting certain aspects of sample management in a LIMS solution. One key to compliance with many of these standards is audit logging of all changes to LIMS data, and in some cases a full electronic signature system is required for rigorous tracking of field-level changes to LIMS data. With extensive experience delivering LIMS to manufacturers in the Food & Beverage, Chemical and Pharmaceutical sectors, Engineering is the right partner to help process manufacturers automate their labs, ensure regulatory compliance and make their day-to-day laboratory processes more efficient and standardized.

Interested in speaking to one of our experts? Contact us at info@indx.com.