The Best Laboratory Management Systems: A Beginner’s Guide

The Best Laboratory Management Systems: A Beginner’s Guide
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A laboratory information management system (LIMS) is a software that manages and supports a lab’s daily operations. Lab managers and employees are able to register samples, manage workflows, configure tests, generate reports, and much more using LIMS software. In this post, we’ll discuss the best laboratory management systems available today. We’ll also cover the key features of LIMS and how they can benefit your organization.

There are many LIMS providers out there, such as Sapio Science, and it can be tricky to know which is right for your organisation. So, if you’re wondering how to choose a LIMS for your lab, then read on!

What are the Key Features of LIMS?

Laboratory information management systems usually consist of the following identifiable characteristics:

  • Registration and monitoring of samples.
  • Management of workflows.
  • Quality control assessments.
  • Tracking of inventory and supplies.
  • Generation of detailed analytics and reports.
  • Data storage and management.
  • Ensuring strict adherence to Sop (standard operating procedures) guidelines to maintain repeatability.

Types of LIMS

The differences between LIMS vary according to industry needs and vendor offerings. For instance, the focus of an industrial lab varies significantly from a food and beverage lab. Interestingly, even the LIMS for a research and development (R&D) lab differs greatly from that of a clinical lab. The best way of differentiating LIMS is by the type of deployment and not by the type of application. It can be deployed in the cloud, remotely, or on the premises.

  • Cloud SaaS. Cloud SaaS (also known as cloud software as a service) LIMS enables users to subscribe to the system without the need of owning the system or the server permanently to run the LIMS. It only needs a secure connection to make the license of the system work.
  • Remotely-hosted. LIMS that are remotely hosted live between cloud-based systems and on-premises. This means that although the lab can own the LIMS it purchased permanently, the software is installed, hosted, and maintained at a remote data center which eliminates the need for the organization to have any IT management or infrastructure needs.
  • On-premises. This type of LIMS is bought, installed, and operated in servers that are located on the site of the lab institution. The drawback with on-premises LIMS is that they are expensive and time-consuming to manage and implement.

The Best Laboratory Management Systems

  • LabVantage. The developer of this LIMS is based in New Jersey and offers a LIMS that enhances flexibility, and supports quality control, biopharmaceutical, research & development labs, and other labs. The main reason why many businesses prefer this LabVantage is its reliability, in that it makes everything happen correctly and on time.
  • LabWare LIMS. This LIMS is developed by Delaware and is an enterprise-class LIMS with an all-encompassing functionality. Its major advantage is that it tracks your sample throughout its whole testing process, from signing in to reporting results. It is a great solution for generating reports regarding sample results and offers an effective way of electronically preserving test results for future purposes.
  • Thermo Fisher SampleManager LIMS. This solution accommodates laboratory research not only with equipment and supplies but also software. It is a popular LIMS that is used widely for resource and data management. It is useful in eliminating errors by highlighting the fields that were reported incorrectly or did not result at all. Also, it is ideal for developing an audit trail and it does so by reporting the precise time and user who reported the data. It allows records to be retrieved in seconds.

Benefits of LIMS to Your Organization

The main benefit of a LIMS is that it offers one platform for every laboratory activity, allowing every relevant information to be stored in one place; thus, promoting a paperless laboratory approach. The electronic interfaces enable analyzers, mass spectrometry, chromatographs, and other instruments to be linked and transfer test results directly to the LIMS.

The resulting information is kept in one secure database instead of numerous notebooks and spreadsheets. This leads to another major benefit of LIMS – it is easier and more convenient to search for a single source of information when you need it. Whether it is analyzing trends of particular data over a long timeframe or reprinting a 3-year-old certificate for analysis purposes, the data can be retrieved and visualized with a few clicks.

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Stephanie Williams
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