Too Big for Spreadsheets, Too Small for a LIMS Project
A realistic sequence for leaving spreadsheets, Access and paper behind without pausing testing, including what happens to old data and who does the work.
Category
LIMS & Lab Management Fundamentals
Building or optimizing a laboratory information management system starts with understanding the fundamentals. LIMS & Lab Management Fundamentals covers essential topics for anyone evaluating, implementing, or optimizing LIMS and ELN solutions. Content includes: how LIMS works, key features & capabilities, build vs. buy decisions, customization vs. configuration, data migration, integration with instruments & ELN, scalability, ROI/business case justification, user access controls, and aligning LIMS with lab organizational structure. These foundational articles are ideal for new lab managers, IT teams, and decision-makers creating RFPs or preparing for system selection—providing clear, unbiased guidance to make informed choices.
Items in this category
Showing 10 of 24 items
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How a LIMS Is Priced, and What Per-Seat Does to a Lab
Breaks a quote into licensing, implementation, hosting and support, explains what drives the number up or down, and gives realistic ranges by lab size.
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Cloud or On-Premises LIMS: The Decision Is Not About Security
Compares cloud and on-premises hosting on cost, deployment speed, accessibility, scalability and data control, with a checklist for deciding between them.
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LIMS vs ELN: Converged on Features, Not on the Unit of Work
A side-by-side breakdown of what each system does, the financial case for each, the scenarios that call for both, and what delaying the decision tends to cost.
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Laboratory Informatics: Five Kinds of Data, Three Decisions
What laboratory informatics actually covers, how the field evolved, and the way sample management, digital notebooks and automation connect people, instruments and data.
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LIS vs LIMS: Two Words, Four Desks, One Expensive Mistake
One serves patient care and clinical reporting, the other manages samples and workflows across industries. Where each fits, and when labs run both.
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How Does a LIMS Work, and What Makes an Implementation Fail?
A LIMS is not hard to buy and it is hard to implement. The difference is a short list of decisions that get made badly, early, and quietly, long before anyone signs a contract.
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LabLynx Launches ELabELN: Bringing More Than 25 Years of Lab Management Expertise to Every Laboratory
A free community edition notebook aimed at small labs not yet ready for full LIMS, with the reasoning behind the release and the upgrade path once a lab grows.
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How to Build a Business Case for LIMS
A framework for pitching lab software to executives: quantify the problem, map it to stakeholder priorities, model the return and answer the risks.
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The Importance of LIMS Scalability
What a system that cannot grow actually costs a lab, and the architecture, modularity and deployment choices that let capacity expand without a rebuild.
