ABSTRACT
All Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS) must provide certain basic functionality: sample login, sample tracking, data entry, quality control/quality assurance, and reporting. Sample login involves entering information about the sample: who, what, where, when, and how. This means: Who submitted the sample, what analysis needs to be performed, where (in what department) is the analysis taking place, when should the sample be completed by, and how is the analysis going to be performed. After this information is entered, the LIMS must allow results to be entered for the sample together with appropriate quality control (QC)/quality assurance (QA) data. Finally, a report combining the sample information with the results is generated. Although most LIMS provide these basic functions, they typically perform them in different ways, some more efficiently and intuitively than others.
