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Consolidating aspects of your lab’s operations within a laboratory information management system (LIMS) improves your lab’s information security, in part, by controlling access to client information and testing data. Access control is a two-stage process comprised of: Authentication: The verification of a user’s identity, and Authorization: The granting of limited access privileges within the system. This blog post will discuss…

Although it may seem counterintuitive, transplanting your lab’s data and workflows from your on-premises servers to a third-party’s cloud-based laboratory information management system (LIMS) makes your lab more secure. However, moving your lab’s operations into the cloud also splits responsibility for security between you and your cloud LIMS vendor. Security in the cloud is one factor laboratories must consider when…

Download PDF Laboratory work depends upon highly skilled people and sophisticated equipment to produce knowledge, information, and data. The cost, value, and ROI for those products are affected by the methods used to record and manage them. Paper-based systems are high-cost (once you account for the labor in their use) and have a lower return on your investment, while electronic…

In the simplest terms, scalability means that something can be changed in size or scale. When referring to a laboratory information management system (LIMS), scalability means the system doesn’t need to be redesigned to handle the increased workload. It can evolve with a laboratory as it has an uptick in concurrent users, the need for more storage capacity, increased sample…

Collecting personally identifiable information (PII) increases your lab’s cybersecurity risk. Even if you don’t deal directly with the public, your business clients may send PII with their orders. You also keep data about your lab’s employees and contract staff. Storing this sensitive information in databases and spreadsheets with limited access control opens your lab to financial, legal, and regulatory repercussions.…

Download PDF Cybercrime is so pervasive that new data breaches seem to scatter personal information across the internet every day. An attack can hit any organization at any time. Laboratories face a particular challenge as they balance security with collaboration. Should hackers breach a laboratory’s systems, the resulting data loss can have severe financial, legal, and reputational consequences. This guide…

Your laboratory’s total testing process begins and ends far beyond your laboratory’s walls. Sources of human error can creep into your test results at many points along the process chain. Yet, as our guide “Improve Laboratory Accuracy and Reporting Quality with a LIMS” notes, people often forget the importance of the final step: your customers’ interpretation of the results. Mistakes…

From a customer’s order to the final report, laboratory errors can appear at any time in the total testing process. As our in-depth guide “Improve Laboratory Accuracy and Reporting Quality with a LIMS” explains, you can prevent these types of laboratory errors by digitizing laboratory processes. Many sources of error are human, and it’s only a matter of when, and…

Download PDF There is a progression in technology utilization that many labs go through on their way to choosing LIMS software. A lot depends on the size of the organization, the resources it has available to it, and its experience in lab operations. Smaller groups in particular may begin with paper-based workflows and documentation (e.g., for test methods, etc.). As…

What are LIMS system requirements, and how do you begin gathering them? Learn what you should consider when writing your requirements in this article by LIMS expert Shawn Douglas, author of LiMSwiki.org.…