Laboratory Information Management Systems--part II. Implementation.

In this, the second of two articles on Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS), the stages of the acquisition of a system are discussed. First, the laboratory automation strategy is developed leading to the writing of the requirements specification sent to prospective suppliers. The next step, in conjunction with the chosen supplier, is to write the functional and systems specifications from which the LIMS will be tailored. Once installed the LIMS must be validated and in the event of hardware or software changes, should undergo partial or full re-validation. The education and training of users, and operational considerations are presented before concluding with possible developments of LIMS in the future.