LIMS software is the laboratory software that keeps the sample record; the other lab software a laboratory runs, the instrument's own controller, the electronic notebook, the accounting package, feeds it or reads from it. For a small lab the question is not which category but whether the sample, the test, the result and the lot are one record with a status, and whether the figures the lab is judged on come out of that record. This page is about what LIMS software must carry and what it should compute, and the free cost per test sheet on this site works one of those figures, the full cost and margin of a test, from the lab's own numbers with no account.
What LIMS software must carry
Samples from receipt to disposal, tests with their method, analyst, instrument and lot, results with their review and release, reagent inventory with expiry, instruments with calibration, and an audit trail across all of it. Lab software that carries a subset is a tool; the LIMS is the record the tools hang off.
What it should compute
The turnaround at the lab's intake and bench hours, the analyst utilization, the QC samples as a share of reportable tests and their spend, the cost per test and the margin at the price charged, the calibration cost per instrument, the freezer occupancy and months to full, the boxes retention needs. Each is a free sheet on this site, and laboratory software that reports them from its live record has done the job.
Buying it as a small lab
Bring the sheets' figures to the demo and ask the vendor to show the same from its demo data; ask what the year costs for the whole lab rather than per sample; ask how the record exports when the contract ends. Limslane Pro keeps the record at one flat price; the sheets stay free either way.
Questions people ask about laboratory software
What is LIMS software?
The laboratory software that keeps the sample record: samples, tests, results, lots, instruments and the audit trail, and the figures worked from it. The free sheets on this site work the figures.
How is LIMS software different from other lab software?
It is the record the other tools feed or read: the instrument controller, the notebook and the accounting package each carry one part. The LIMS carries the sample through all of them.
What does the cost per test sheet work?
Reagent, consumables, analyst minutes and overhead into a full cost per test, and the margin at the price charged: $29 and $16 on the worked example, from seven of the lab's own figures with no account.