What is LIMS is the question a lab manager asks the week the sample log, the results spreadsheet and the freezer map stop agreeing. A LIMS, a laboratory information management system, is the record of every sample from receipt to disposal, the tests run on it, the results issued, the reagent lots and instruments used, and the person who did each step, kept as one record with a status. What a LIMS system is used for in a small lab is answering three questions as a lookup: where is this sample, what was done to it, and who signed it off. The free sample intake and turnaround sheet on this site works the first figure a LIMS reports, the turnaround at the lab's own load, with no account.
A LIMS definition, by what it keeps
A LIMS keeps samples with their accession, receipt date, location and status; tests with their method, analyst, instrument and reagent lot; results with their review and release; and the chain of custody through all of it. The definition is the record, and a system that keeps only the results is a results database, not a LIMS.
What is LIMS used for, in figures
Intake against bench capacity is the turnaround; tests against analyst hours is the utilization; QC samples against reportable tests is the QC share; vials against freezer positions is the months to full. The sheets on this site work each of those from the lab's own numbers, and a LIMS worth paying for works them from the live record.
What a small lab needs from one
The record and the arithmetic, at a price that does not step up per sample. Enterprise LIMS products are configured over months for laboratories with hundreds of analysts; a small lab needs the sample, the test, the result and the lot on one screen this week. Limslane Pro is that record at one flat price, and the sheets say what it must compute.
Questions people ask about what is lims
What is a LIMS?
The laboratory's record of every sample, test, result, reagent lot and instrument with a status and a chain of custody, and the arithmetic worked from it. The free sheets on this site work the arithmetic; the paid plan keeps the record.
What is a LIMS system used for?
Answering where a sample is, what was done to it and who signed it off as a lookup, and reporting the turnaround, utilization, QC share and storage the lab runs on. The intake sheet works the turnaround from five figures with no account.
Is a LIMS the same as a results database?
No. A results database keeps what was reported; a LIMS keeps the sample from receipt through disposal with every test, lot and instrument against it. The paid plan on this site keeps that record.