Lab asset management is the instruments as a record: serial, location, service contract, calibration schedule and the tests that ran on each. Lab asset management software keeps that; lab billing software keeps the tests the lab charges for and the price per test; lab ordering software keeps the reagent lots and reorders at par; lab automation software links the instrument to the test so the result lands without a retype. For a small lab the four are one record seen from four sides, and this page is about that record; the free instrument calibration sheet on this site works the asset side's first figure, the calibration cost per instrument, from the lab's own numbers with no account.
The instrument record in lab asset management software
Serial, location, supplier, service contract, calibration schedule, last calibration, next due, and every test that ran on it since. Lab asset management software that keeps the schedule as a spreadsheet reminder has kept a reminder; the record keeps the tests, so a calibration failure names the results in question. The calibration sheet on this site works the schedule's cost: $11,520 a year across 12 instruments on the worked example.
Billing and ordering from the same tests
Every test recorded is a test to bill at the lab's price and a set of reagents to decrement toward a par; lab billing software and lab ordering software that read the same test record invoice and reorder from it, and the cost per test sheet on this site works the margin the bill carries, $16 at a $45 price on the worked example.
Automation as the link
Lab automation software in a small lab is the instrument writing its result to the test rather than an analyst retyping it; the interface is the automation. Limslane Pro keeps the instruments, the tests, the lots and the price per test as one record at one flat price; the billing and ordering are the lab's own systems or the same record one step on.
Questions people ask about lab asset management
What is lab asset management?
The instruments as a record: serial, location, service, calibration schedule and the tests that ran on each, so a calibration failure names its results.
Do lab billing software and lab ordering software need to be separate?
They read the same test record: a test recorded is a test to bill and reagents to decrement. The free cost per test sheet works the margin the bill carries.
What does lab automation software mean for a small lab?
The instrument writing its result to the test without a retype; the interface is the automation.