At its core, a laboratory information management system, or LIMS, is a software-based tool designed with the goal of improving efficiencies in a laboratory’s workflow and supporting efforts toward standardization and compliance in the lab. When designed well, a LIMS also provides flexibility and security to a lab’s operations.

A LIMS replaces the laboratory paper chase and shared spreadsheets with an easy-to-use controlled environment for finding out what work must be done, organizing results, and reporting those results. All the data/information is in one place, making it easy to manage and use.

Below are a few key features provided in the LabLynx ELab LIMS. However, the ELab LIMS can be customized and configured to meet your lab’s specific needs.

• Sample tracking and management
• Sample and result batching
• Task and event scheduling
• Data and trend analysis
• Query capabilities
• Instrument and third-party software integration
• Internal and external file or data linking
• ELN support through ELabNotes
• Data warehouse and management
• Document creation and management
• Inventory management
• QA/QC functionality
• Audit trail and chain of custody
• Custom reporting and barcode support
• User-level roles and security
• Instrument calibration and maintenance management

A laboratory information system (LIS) is primarily seen in the healthcare industry and is designed to report on the test results from individual patient samples. The workflows tend to be single-sample focused with an emphasis on efficiency. The LIS’s main goal is to optimize the timeline from test requisition to result report delivery for physician review. Since LIS software is very patient-focused, the system also manages patient records including name, ethnicity, past test results, contact information, and more, making information security and HIPAA compliance a must.

In contrast, a laboratory information management system (LIMS) system is designed to report on sample-focused workflows, both single sample and batch sample, in industry areas such as agriculture, food safety, manufacturing, and metals and mining. LIMS software focuses more heavily on quality and managing multiple sample groups and is often more robust in features and offerings than its LIS counterpart, like those used to maintain compliance with regulatory and industry standards including ISO 17025, FDA, GALP, EPA, and more.

Though LIS and LIMS are usually different in focus and applied use, they are still mentioned together frequently because most of their features overlap. The LabLynx ELab LIMS offers a unique blend of patient and sample-focused workflows. We didn’t want you to have to choose between the two, so our LIMS software solution combines the best features of both LIS and LIMS. ELab LIMS offers simplified test requisition, in-system patient contact management, single and batched sample workflows, premium data security, features for regulatory compliance, custom configuration, and more.

LabLynx offers both cloud-based and on-premises hosting options, and the decision of which to choose depends on each lab’s organizational structure and whether the lab wants a higher level of control over its information technology.

Using a cloud-based hosting system means no software installation is needed. LabLynx provides all support, maintenance, and security, so IT services (either in-house or third-party) are not required. Your lab’s instrument integrations are provided by API and supported by LabLynx. And since there is no hardware or software installation, the LabLynx ELab LIMS is immediately ready with your lab’s testing and operational requirements, finalized during implementation. Just enter the URL, log in, and go to work.

Your LabLynx ELab LIMS solution will run on secure AWS platforms that are certified to the highest SSAE SOC 2 standards, streamlining your lab’s compliance with the necessary data standards and regulations.

A LIMS simplifies the accreditation process and makes post-accreditation audits less painful. The LabLynx ELab LIMS does more than document your lab’s standard operating procedures. By configuring the methods and workflows for each testing process into your LIMS, you ensure that the standard process is the only one that your staff follows.

ISO/IEC 17025 requires that laboratories ensure their employees are qualified to perform the tests they conduct. The ELab LIMS maintains employee credentials and certifications and tracks their training progress. User-level access controls can prevent employees from being assigned to tests they are not qualified to conduct.

Accredited laboratories must monitor the condition of their instruments as well as the conditions under which they perform tests. The ELab LIMS collects maintenance schedules, instrument calibration records, temperature data, and other information into a central repository.

To maintain accreditation, labs must have independent auditors review their quality management processes. These audits are much less painful when you have the LabLynx ELab LIMS. All of the data that auditors require are stored in the LIMS, including standard operating procedures (SOPs), employee certifications, instrument calibrations, and more.

The short answer is yes! Two of the biggest time drains in the laboratory are workflow inefficiency and disorganization. If your lab team is constantly hunting for paper records or scrolling through spreadsheets or manually transcribing data, it takes away from time that could be spent performing more tests or taking on additional business with a new customer.

With LabLynx ELab LIMS, you can know within seconds which samples are in your possession, which order they’re tied to, and which lab team member had them last. ELab LIMS can support both unidirectional and bidirectional interfaces with almost any instrument, automating data entry from your lab equipment to the LIMS. Connecting your instruments also means no more paper logs for instrument maintenance and calibration. ELab LIMS can streamline the billing management process by sharing information directly between multiple systems, shortening your payment collection timeline. Save additional time and reduce the opportunity for costly transcription errors with LabLynx web portals. Create online test requisition forms, hosted on the portal, that immediately send the input information to your LIMS, simplifying client communication.

A software-based requirement typically begins with the phrase “my system or my user should …” and focuses on a provided service, reaction to input, or expected behavior in each use case of the software. Lab requirements for a LIMS are typically a combination of wish list items and regulation-mandated needs. For example, “the LIMS should have the ability to maintain the chain of custody for every sample,” or “the system shall allow for accurate inventory management of all standards, reagents, and consumables used for lab testing.”

Developing LIMS requirements necessitates initial planning but will help your lab determine if a LIMS vendor can provide what your lab needs, keep your demonstrations focused on what functionality matters most, and allow for more accurate pricing so your lab isn’t stuck paying extra for things you didn’t know you needed in your LIMS.

Below is a guideline to get you started on developing your lab’s requirements:

1. Detail the lab’s existing workflow-based processes (even if they are manual).
2. Define what information and data are critical.
3. Identify current and previous information management policies and tools, as well as their effectiveness.
4. Identify the regulations, standards, and best practices affecting your laboratory’s operations and its digital assets.
5. Identify the laboratory’s various practical workflows and detail how information management tools intersect.
6. Perform a gap analysis of the current processes (i.e., define what needs are currently not being met).
7. Define goals, based on the outcomes of the above assessments, highlighting how you envision identified gaps should be filled.
8. Identify a handful of requirements as critical, many as medium-priority, and the rest as “wish list” items.

The LabLynx ELab LIMS offers industry-specific reporting templates that will update the look of your reports, and our team will work with you to brand them for your business. LabLynx can also collaborate with you to custom-build the exact report that your clients are used to receiving. After all, your final report is one of your main marketing tools that attracts and retains your clients.

The ELab LIMS’ report review and approval process is set up to work with your lab workflow, whether you prefer bulk report review and approval, so you can quickly review multiple sample batches that each require a report to go out quickly, or wish to review reports one by one as the sample completes a complex testing process over several days. The one thing that is consistent regardless of the process: there is no need for manual data entry into spreadsheets to generate reports.

LabLynx ELab LIMS also offers user-configurable email templates that attach the report and email the customer after the report is approved. The ELab LIMS is unique in that it can be configured to deliver your emails per your lab’s rules. Do you want one email per report? Or would you rather have one email per day that attaches all approved reports for that client for that day? The possibilities are endless, and the LabLynx team will work with you during implementation to understand your business and what works best for you and your clients.

But what if your lab needs more than just automatic reporting and email templates? Perhaps your lab needs a client portal that allows your customers to search for and view all their reports in one place. The LabLynx myLabCare portal is branded with your logo, colors, and company information, and you can control who has access to it. The portal is a one-stop shop where your clients can submit orders, view order status, and download reports. It maintains each client’s order history and reports indefinitely. This means no more phone calls from clients asking you to resend the report they can’t find. Clients can receive an email with a link to the web-based portal when the report is ready.

The LabLynx ELab LIMS can be set up to interface with 98% of commercially produced instruments (simple, uni-directional, bi-directional), allowing for seamless data transfer. LabLynx works with each client to obtain the necessary documentation to set up the integration, whether it is through file exports, FTP, APIs, or serial or network connections. LabLynx is only limited by the instrument’s ability to integrate, not the ELab LIMS’s ability to integrate.

Regardless of whether your lab is full of all the latest innovations in instrumentation or still running with more dated devices, integrating those instruments with your ELab LIMS software can add significant improvements to any type of lab.

LabLynx can also link your ELab LIMS to your company’s enterprise resource planning (ERP), electronic health record (EHR), billing system, and many other third-party software systems.

Absolutely! Check out the list below:

1. Improved efficiency: A LIMS can help to modernize and automate many of the tasks involved in laboratory operations, such as sample tracking, data management, and reporting.
2. Enhanced accuracy and reliability: A LIMS can automate data entry and validation and provide tools for data analysis and quality control, reducing the risk of errors and improving the overall quality of laboratory results.
3. Increased compliance: A LIMS can help your lab comply with regulatory and quality standards by providing a centralized system for managing and tracking data and processes.
4. Improved collaboration and data sharing: A LIMS can facilitate the sharing and collaboration of data across different lab teams and departments and can enable remote access to data and processes.
5. Reduced risk of data loss: A cloud-based LIMS, like the LabLynx ELab LIMS, provides a centralized and secure location for storing and managing lab data, which can help to reduce the risk of data loss due to hardware or software failures.
6. Better data management and organization: A LIMS can help to organize and manage laboratory data in a way that is efficient and easy to access.
7. Improved data security: A LIMS can help to protect sensitive and confidential data by providing tools for data encryption, user-level access control, and data backup.
8. Customization and scalability: The LabLynx ELab LIMS is highly customizable and can be tailored to meet the specific needs and requirements of any laboratory. Additionally, the ELab LIMS is scalable, which means it can be easily expanded or adapted to accommodate changes in your lab’s needs - including not only new tests and workflows, but new departments and even additional complete laboratories.
9. Reduced costs: A LIMS can help to reduce the cost of laboratory operations by streamlining and automating processes, and by reducing the risk of errors and non-compliance.
10. Improved decision-making: A LIMS can provide valuable understandings and analytics that can help your business to make informed decisions about laboratory operations and development.

There are more reasons, but you only asked for 10!

Concurrent user licenses are global and shared by anyone who needs to use the LIMS software. For example, if your lab employs 75 team members, but no more than 20 of those team members need to be in the LIMS at the same time, you would only need to purchase licensing for 20 users. This contrasts with named user licensing, which requires the purchase of one license for every named user. Each LIMS vendor dictates their own licensing requirements.

LabLynx bases the licensing for the ELab LIMS on concurrent users, often saving your laboratory money compared to LIMS vendors who charge named user fees.