What is a laboratory information management system? It is the software record of a laboratory's samples, and everything that touches them: the client and the chain of custody, the tests and the batches they ran in, the blanks and reference materials that proved the batch, the instrument and its calibration, the reagent lot and its expiry, the result and the person who reviewed it, the report, the freezer position and the retention date. Keep all of that in one linked structure and the laboratory can answer any question about any sample as a lookup, and can work figures from the record that a register cannot. This page answers the question in a small lab's terms: what the system holds, what it computes, and what it is not.
What it holds
Six linked things: samples with their client, tests and status; tests with their method and batch; results with their analyst, reviewer and QC batch; reagent lots with their expiry; instruments with their calibration history; storage to the position. A small lab's register, freezer map and calibration diary hold the same information unlinked. ASTM's laboratory informatics guide is the standard description of the functions; ISO/IEC 17025 is the standard description of what a testing laboratory must be able to show from them.
What it computes
From the record, the figures a manager otherwise estimates: whether the week's samples fit on the bench and what turnaround they get; how many review hours the results need; what a test costs with overhead in and what the price leaves; how much of the bench the controls take and what each result carries in QC cost; how many months the freezers have; what retention holds and what leaves it; what calibration costs for the year. Each of those is a free sheet on this site that works from the lab's own inputs with no account, which is the honest way to see what the system would compute before buying one.
What it is not
It is not an instrument, not a method, not an accreditation and not a quality manager; it records what those produce and decides nothing about them. It is not a guarantee of compliance, because the rules are met by the laboratory and shown by the record. And for a small lab it need not be an enterprise platform: the guide this page supports walks the four questions that decide which kind fits. Limslane Pro keeps the record for a small lab at one flat price; the sheets are free either way.
Questions people ask about what is laboratory information management system
What is a LIMS in simple terms?
A record of every sample in a laboratory that knows the tests, controls, instruments, reagent lots, results, reviewers and storage around it, and the arithmetic that record allows: capacity, turnaround, cost, QC, storage, retention and calibration.
What is the purpose of a laboratory information management system?
To answer any question about any sample as a lookup, to show the evidence behind every result, and to work the figures that run the bench. The free sheets on this site work the figures; the paid plan keeps the record.
Does a laboratory information management system make a lab compliant?
No. The laboratory meets the rules; the system shows the evidence. The primary sources for the rules are linked below, and this site publishes none of its own.