LIMS On-track - The Autoscribe Matrix LIMS Implementation Process

A LIMS is a complex but powerful software system that will impact on many areas of your organization. Introducing a new LIMS is usually high profile, subject to stringent budget limitations, critical implementation deadlines and attracts significant management scrutiny.

Many people within your organization will have opinions on what the LIMS should do. Some will have realistic expectations, some will not. Our job as LIMS vendor is to work with you, to ensure the delivery of the LIMS on time, on budget, with the functionality required within the scope of a clearly defined project.

We believe that you have chosen, or are about to choose, the best LIMS available as the basis ofyour laboratory automation project. Your laboratory undoubtedly encompasses a large number of procedures, processes, calculation techniques, report formats, and sample and test identification approaches. These probably have been developed over the years to cope effectively with the variety of sample types, customers, and day to day problems for which you are responsible. Depending upon the degree of automation we are to implement, many of these procedures and much of this information must be placed in computer readable and executable forms. We call the process of selecting and implementing this set of formats and procedures "LIMS configuration".

Since your laboratory procedures are undoubtedly complex, many choices are necessary to realise the full potential of automation. In order to ease the implementation process, we have committed as many aspects as possible to paper and collected an overview of the process for your reference. In short, this is our general approach. We have tried to ‘say it like it is’ and share it with you for our mutual benefit and to minimise surprises. As you review it, it will become obvious that many areas must be expanded, adjusted or completed for your specific situation and we will do this as the configuration process unfolds. This web page is intended to give you an overview of our system implementation process. Fuller details are available on request. 

Some of the issues such as choosing your System Manager, may already have been determined. We are convinced that you will find the implementation of your LIMS to be both exciting and educational. We know you will find the productivity of Matrix LIMS and its associated modules to be a significant factor in the evolution of your work.

Configurabilty – for a rapidly changing world

As you are no doubt already aware, Matrix LIMS is extremely configurable. This allows the product to be flexibly tailored to meet your specific needs without the need to modify core program code, or compromise future support and upgrade services. Our customers will testify how the power of configurability, implemented using a formalized implementation methodology, significantly improves your chances of achieving end-user satisfaction in the fastest possible time However, we consider the power of configurability is even more important when considering how your laboratory and business practices may be required to change in future years.

We live in a fast-paced business climate. Companies must be agile and rapidly modify their process to meet market needs eg new projects etc.. New projects, customers, products, staff and tests, etc. We at Autoscribe have witnessed that successful LIMS are the ones that grow and develop. They evolve allowing screens, menus and reports etc to be easily adapted as new demands are placed on the laboratory.

The LIMS On-track implementation methodology

Any computer system will fail if poorly implemented. At Autoscribe, we have over 15 years experience of LIMS implementation. Our LIMS on-track implementation program, backed by our ISO9001 certified procedures, follows a formal methodology that has been carefully designed to harness this experience and provides a proven process to deliver the LIMS to your organization, on-time and on-budget.

Overview

The LIMS on-track process is summarized below:

• Detailed review of project requirements
• Definition of project scope, deliverables and responsibilities
• Installation of core system
• Preparation of a Functional Specification (where required)
• Configuration, following a prototyping approach.
• Delivery of configured system
• Familiarization training
• Delivery of instrument interfaces
• Alpha review meeting
• Beta review meeting
• Final acceptance testing
• Formal training
• Roll out tasks (various – project specific)

Please contact us for further information and your free guide to implementing LIMS On-time and On-budget with Autoscribe.