eLN SUPPLEMENT


of paper from the labs. Moving to an electronic system allowed us to remove the overhead caused by administering the paper notebook program and associated archival activities. In the paper paradigm, it is often easier just


to reproduce an experiment rather than taking the time to search stacks of paper notebooks for where it had been done previously. Having users search the eLN prior to starting a new experiment not only reduces repeat activities, but makes new experiments more efficient both in content and time to complete when ‘cloning’ functionality is introduced. Cloning allows users to bring forward repeated information and only have to enter new content relevant to the write- up, saving the users’ time. This then makes collaboration a way of life


as scientists increase the frequency of data sharing across not only labs, but scientific lines and geographic sites. These new searching habits, and the structure to deliver satisfactory search results, eventually evolve into a more embedded data mining capability. An additional area where organisations


want to see behavioural changes adding value is related to quality. There needs to be a tangible increase in compliance to documentation procedures and standards. The automation and potential integrations that electronic systems provide allow for a reduction of manual entry and transcription. This automation combined with the use of electronic signatures, a consistent audit trail and an electronic archiving process all enhance regulatory compliance as well as the protection of intellectual property within the validated system. All of these behavioural adjustments must


be monitored to ensure the value of the eLN is actually being delivered. This is why metrics around system uptake, usage, throughput and compliance are all necessary from the start.


Get the end-users to explore new opportunities Implementing an electronic lab notebook just by copying an existing business process from paper onto glass (a screen) is very inefficient. To fully realise the potential of an application as powerful as eLN, the entire organisation must evaluate the existing processes and adjust or even redesign them to ensure electronic environments are adopted appropriately.


Beginning In the early days of an implementation, users


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European Pharmaceutical Review Volume 16 | Issue 4 | 2011


Figure 3 eLN in the overall environment


need to become familiar with the new environment and might e.g. just take advantage of ‘copy and paste’ functionality to bring information together within their write-ups.


the off-the-shelf version of the product than anything we use today.


Mid stage Once the users become more experienced they start to ask for links to their lab generated data, references to work their colleagues performed or pieces of contextual information held in other electronic systems.


So this iteration focused on adding features such as: vocabulary look-ups, linking content in the system, automated content generation, and some improvements on simple interfaces.


Figure 2Data systems supporting scientific workflow


forward repeated information and only have to enter new content


“Cloning allows users to bring


relevant to the write-up, saving the users’ time”


End Game Once the end-user is fully accustomed to the environment, it becomes more and more difficult to predict what the preferred working habits for the non-routine research work will be. Starting from the idea for a certain experiment all the way down to the analysis and interpretation of an experimental result, there are many possible paths a scientist could follow.


Therefore it was acceptable that the first iteration of our eLN implementation was not fully integrated and did not contain all of the bells and whistles. In many respects, it was much closer to


Point-to-point connections between all possible systems become unsustainable; therefore, an approach where all systems are aligned irrespective of their position in the workflow (Figure 2) is much preferred. eLN will connect to other Lab Informatics systems and the organisation’s enterprise content services in a way that presents itself as a seamless often bidirectional integration to the end-user.


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