Situation
A specialty foods company did not have the proper LabVantage business analyst (BA) resources for their implementation project and the project could not meet the required go-live date. Previous business analysis support from other, more general consultancies could not provide the laboratory-centered support the client required, so CSols Inc., a LabVantage Services, Inc. partner, was asked to provide business analysis services to support the client’s QC operations for their LabVantage LIMS implementation.
Objectives and Challenges
The client’s main objective was to get the project back on track and go live on time with full functionality. They also needed to better understand the LabVantage master data model and desired to take full advantage of LabVantage’s out-of-the-box (OOTB) workflows. The labs especially needed assistance getting full value from existing workflows for common laboratory operations like sample and batch management and laboratory standards and controls.
The initial challenge was a lack of trust in any business analysis resources, based on the client’s previous experiences. Through open and detailed communication with all stakeholders, the CSols BA overcame this potential barrier by demonstrating expertise and providing complete transparency with respect to plans.
In addition, there were some misconceptions about master data collection and set up. The CSols BA worked closely with the client stakeholders to optimize, organize, and collect all of their master data.
CSols’s Role in the Solution
The CSols BA held various meetings with the client in order to introduce them to the data model, answer questions regarding the LabVantage OOTB workflows, and suggest what the client needed to collect in order to create their master data in the system.
Benefits
When deploying a LIMS at any organization, having the right roles and people on your project team is key to a successful implementation. For this specific project, the CSols BA filled a void in leadership and the client benefited as a result.
Bringing on a CSols Business Analyst with specialized, laboratory-specific experience in LabVantage LIMS provided the client with a dedicated resource, which gave them peace of mind that their LIMS implementation was the only priority. It also helped facilitate a positive working relationship and improve their opinion of the role that business analysts play, which was essential to achieve the project goals.
The CSols BA invested significant time in learning the client’s As-Is business processes and thoroughly understanding how they would use the system, so they could make the most use of the OOTB workflows for the To-Be state. This up-front investment meant that enhancements and updates that might be needed down the road would be easier to implement. Designing the system for growth from the beginning will save time and money in the future for the client.
The LabVantage LIMS data model for static, master, and dynamic data was well known to the CSols BA, and this allowed the BA to collect and properly organize the creation of all the client’s needed master data. This made the implementation go smoothly and ensured that the client would derive value from the LIMS throughout its lifecycle.
The specific experience in labs and with many LabVantage LIMS clients that the CSols BA brought to the project enabled this client’s project to get back on schedule and meet their go-live date.
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