LIMS, laboratory information management system: two names for one thing, a record of the laboratory's samples that knows the tests, batches, results, reviewers, instruments, reagent lots and storage positions around them. Every product in the category keeps some version of that record; the products differ in what they compute from it and in what they cost to run. This page describes the record once, lists the seven figures a small lab needs computed from it every week, and shows where the free sheets on this site work those seven from the lab's own inputs with no account, so that a product can be judged on whether it does the same from the live record.
The one record
A sample arrives from a client with a chain of custody and tests; the tests run in batches with controls on an instrument with a reagent lot; results are reviewed and reported; the sample goes to a freezer position with a retention date; and the instrument, the lot and the freezer each keep their own history. ASTM's informatics guide describes the functions of such a system, and ISO/IEC 17025 describes what a testing laboratory must be able to show from it. A product that keeps the record as one linked structure can answer any question about any part of it; a product that keeps it as separate lists has a spreadsheet with more tabs.
The seven figures
From the record, every week: the analyst hours the intake needs and the turnaround that gives; the review hours the results need; the full cost of a test and its margin; the QC share and its cost per result; the months the freezers have left; the boxes retention needs and what leaves it; the year's calibration cost. Each is a free sheet on this site. A product that computes the seven from the live record has understood the job; one that offers a report builder to reconstruct them has not.
Judging a product on the record and the figures
Ask for one screen showing one sample with everything on it, then ask for the seven figures from the demo data. The guide this page supports walks how to choose between products on the record they keep, starting from storage because that is where a small lab feels the difference first. Limslane Pro keeps the one record for a small lab at one flat price and works the seven sheets on it; the sheets stay free without any product at all.
Questions people ask about lims laboratory information management system
Is LIMS the same as a laboratory information management system?
Yes. LIMS is the acronym; the phrase is what it stands for. Both name the linked record of samples, tests, batches, results, instruments, lots and storage, and the arithmetic that record allows.
What should a LIMS compute every week?
Turnaround from intake, review hours, cost per test and margin, QC share and cost per result, freezer months, retention boxes and disposals, and the year's calibration cost. The seven free sheets on this site work each one.
Does Limslane keep the whole record?
Limslane Pro keeps samples, tests, results, reagent lots, instruments and storage positions for a small laboratory and works the seven sheets on them. It has no instrument interface and no method library.