Situation
A multinational leader in biomarker development and medical device manufacture returned to CSols Inc. to perform a gap analysis between their existing LabVantage LIMS used in the clinical lab and a newly released version. The client wanted to eliminate customizations and uncommon configurations in their original version. CSols’s performance on previous LIMS and ELN projects had impressed management and the end-users, such that leveraging CSols’s LIMS upgrade experience and LabVantage expertise for this project was an easy decision.
Objectives and Challenges
The overarching goal of this project was to identify the most efficient means of going from the client’s current state to a lower maintenance future state in their LabVantage LIMS.
To achieve the desired future state, the client first needed to compare the costs and benefits of maintaining the status quo with the potential costs and benefits of upgrading.
The main project challenge was undocumented configurations in the existing version. Without proper documentation, the purposes of the configurations could not be well understood, and the existing functionalities could not be adequately mapped to out-of-the-box (OOTB) functionalities in the new LabVantage version.
CSols’s Role in the Solution
The CSols BA leveraged many years of laboratory and LabVantage LIMS experience to parse the existing configurations. System analysis best practices were used to gather information needed to fill gaps in their LIMS documentation, for both the current state and the desired future state.
The CSols BA recommended the most efficient, low-cost way to use new, out-of-the-box (OOTB) functionality included in the new LabVantage LIMS version. The OOTB functionality would be able to recreate much of the extensively configured functionality in the existing installation.
Throughout the project, the CSols consultant performed the following services:
- Understand the LabVantage LIMS current state
- Review and document existing suboptimal configurations and troublesome customizations
- Compare configurations and customizations to OOTB features in the newest release
- Recommend means of achieving equivalent functionality without customization or complex, unconventional configurations in the new LabVantage version
- Recommend additional ways to maximize value and reduce upgrade-related costs
Benefits
The thorough reconstructive efforts provided by the CSols BA revealed that the uncommon and poorly coded existing configurations were slowing clinical processes, leading to poor end-user experiences.
The second half of the gap analysis required a deep understanding of LabVantage to recommend the best way to use new, OOTB capabilities to achieve the existing functionality. Years of LabVantage experience that the CSols BA had acquired were key to knowing which OOTB functionality could map to the existing configurations. The CSols BA again leveraged LIMS experience and LabVantage knowledge to suggest changes that could reduce—if not eliminate—future customizations, should the client decide to upgrade again.
The client came to understand that an upgrade could eliminate or reduce their pain points, based on the report supplied by the CSols BA. The new LabVantage features would improve data collection and the end-user experience. The client felt confident in their pursuit of better clinical laboratory processes and informatics tools because their upgrade path was more clearly defined. Stakeholders understood their roles in that process and the benefits they would see from these and any future upgrades.
The client followed CSols’s recommendations and upgraded to the new version of LabVantage. In that process, the client eliminated a sub-optimal LIMS installation, improved the LIMS end-user experience, and reduced the overall cost and effort to use and maintain laboratory informatics tools in their clinical laboratory. CSols’s support allowed the client to move away from a low-value, high-cost system. CSols’s input freed up funds and resources for other projects and further expansion within the clinical sector.
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