The lack of this link becomes evident [ECM and LIMS] are in competition with
when a multinational company decides each other, which is not the case,’ says
on large-scale implementation of LIMS Labtronics’ Bolton. ‘The systems complement
and analysts have to re-establish the one another, but the market is only now
procedures for all the individual tasks they beginning to realise this and therefore the
are performing on a day-to-day basis. ‘When technology to link the two has been relatively
the new LIMS simply cannot cover all the slow to develop.’
functionalities of its specialised predecessor ‘What we’re likely to see in the future is
the documentation process will have to a greater amount of integration between
LiMS in ACtiOn ABOVE: LabWare LIMS is fully XML enabled and compensate this,’ states Schröder. the various informatics systems operating
an XML Viewer allows structure and content Waters’ Intelligent Procedure Manager both in the laboratory and within the
of XML fi les to be easily viewed by a LIMS (IPM) allows a customised approach to greater organisation,’ concludes Tom Curtis,
administrator. the documentation in the laboratory. The vice president of product innovation at
analyst works at procedures, methods and Labtronics.
SAP’s ERP) to pull the right data together, worksheets with familiar applications such as Vega of Celanese adds a fi nal word of
now we are able to visually design web Word and Excel, as embedded applications. warning: ‘System integration, if not done
services which make that data available to IPM, based on the SDMS Vision Publisher right, can become an IT maintenance
SampleManager and other systems,’ says Vega. platform, includes them as templates in a nightmare.’ He stresses that system design
Vega sees the benefi ts to Celanese’s protected environment adding a degree of needs to include planning on how systems
integrated system as numerous. ‘Key drivers intelligence to them. This means process will be affected during downtimes, who will
for pushing integration are automation, rules like validation and workfl ows can be manage each component, etc. ‘Treating
ease-of-use for end users, and pulling the right implemented as well as data transfer. these systems as entire systems rather than
data together so that we are able to make the Steve Bolton, marketing specialist at individual components is key.’
right decisions,’ he says. ‘Through integration laboratory informatics suppliers, Labtronics,
we have been able to eliminate some types of comments: ‘One challenge with integrating
[data] entry. We now have systems that bring LIMS and ECM software is the variability NEW BEGINNINGS
all the data together for our operations and of data, which can range from relatively
Migrating data from a legacy sample
lab personnel. Our fl oor operators don’t have simple information, such as pH readings, to
management system to an up-to-date
to log into SAP to make production entries, something like chromatography data, which LIMS is a complex operation. Xyntek,
or log into LIMS to see their results. Our lab is extremely complex. The tool that handles
an IT and automation specialist with
technicians enter results in one location and this data must be able to manage all these
headquarters in Pennsylvania, US, was
instrumental in upgrading a legacy
that data is available to other systems. Our variances and changing complexities, and
system for a major bio-pharmaceutical
engineers can open up their Plant Historian sort the information into that required by
company and setting up a new system
[PIMS] trend tools and view their operating LIMS and that required by the ECM.’
linking Watson LIMS, from Thermo Fisher
parameters alongside in-process sample results Labtronics’ LimsLink allows LIMS to be Scientifi c, to a number of other systems
and fi nished product data.’ integrated with ECM and SDMS software,
operating in the laboratory.
synchronising the information going into
Xyntek developed a custom application
Document management systems
using Winbatch and VB.net technologies
each system and confi rming the correct
to enable data from Scientifi c Software’s
Document management systems, such information has successfully reached both
CyberLAB to be integrated with LIMS.
as ECM and SDMS, are also commonly software programs. It has a sophisticated data Elliot Abreu, director of operations at
integrated with LIMS. ‘Within QC parser allowing complex data extraction
Xyntek notes that the main advantage of
laboratories there are usually two process processes to be set up and modifi ed without
this LIMS design, from both compliance
and ease-of-use perspectives, was that it
streams running in parallel: the analytical having to write custom coding.
provides a streamlined datafl ow beginning
results, which are fed as numbers into LIMS, Schröder of Waters notes that a further
at the source and culminating in Watson
and the mostly paper-driven documentation, challenge with implementing an integrated
and that the user was only required to
recorded according to SOPs (standard system is to fi nd someone within the have a limited interaction with the data.
operating procedures),’ says Dr Ralf Schröder, company who has a good insight into their
Incorporating audit trail functionality was
business development manager at Waters. own processes. ‘If there is a project manager
another benefi t, he says.
Abreu comments: ‘More recent versions
Schröder expands that, while the LIMS who knows all the intricacies of the lab
of LIMS support a signifi cantly larger
process is in most cases streamlined and – all the different SOPs, workfl ows and
number of instrument interfaces and data
effective, documentation is less advanced. instrumentation – then it makes it easier formats, which increases the ability to
‘Moving it from paper to document to establish the requirements for laboratory
import fi les without requiring data mapping
management systems or Electronic informatics systems. It can be the difference
or use of a custom interface.’ He feels
that there will be a continuing need for
Laboratory Notebooks is a step forward, but between a successful and unsuccessful
data management and automation in this
there’s still a missing link between the two implementation,’ he says.
area as the number of automated systems
streams, which has yet to be established and ‘Historically, there has been a perception
increases.
10
maintained by the analyst in the lab.’ in the marketplace that the two systems
LIG09 pp08-13 LIMS Apps.indd 10 9/12/08 17:09:41
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