Lab data management is the discipline of keeping every result with what produced it: the method, the reagent lot, the instrument, the analyst, the reviewer, and every change since with who and when. Lab data management software or a lab data management system is the record that keeps those links, and laboratory data management as an accreditor reads it is the audit trail: the proof that the number on the certificate is the number the instrument produced, reviewed by a named person. For a small lab the data problem shows up first as the review queue, and the free results review sheet on this site works the review load from the lab's own numbers with no account.
What lab data management software keeps: the result and what produced it
A result without its method, lot, instrument and analyst is a number; with them it is evidence. Lab data management software keeps the four as links, so the recall question, which results used this lot, and the calibration question, which results ran on this instrument since its last calibration, are lookups.
The audit trail
Every change to a result, a lot or a sample with who, when and what it was before: that is the trail Part 11 describes for regulated electronic records and ISO 17025 asks a testing lab to keep in its own terms. A lab data management system that overwrites has no trail; the lab's own quality manager reads the rules, and this site restates neither.
The review load on top
Data is reviewed before it is released, and the review load is the figure a small lab feels: 400 results a week at three minutes each is 20 hours against 24 available on the worked example, from the results review sheet on this site. Limslane Pro keeps the result with its links, its trail and its review at one flat price.
Questions people ask about lab data management
What is lab data management?
Keeping every result with its method, lot, instrument, analyst and reviewer, and every change with who and when, as one record.
What must a lab data management system keep?
The links from result to what produced it and the audit trail of every change; the free results review sheet works the review load on top.
Is laboratory data management the same as the audit trail?
To an accreditor, largely: the trail is the proof that the reported number is the produced number, reviewed by a named person.