Situation
A biotechnology company needed a more efficient way to manage the testing data in their Quality Control lab. Their analysts needed an easier way to track work and sample runs. Everyone needed a better way to extract relevant data, and their Excel spreadsheets weren’t meeting the requirements of their growing organization anymore.
The client reached out to CSols to implement STARLIMS v21 QM for them because of our implementation expertise. This client chose to have the STARLIMS Real World View enabled as part of the implementation. This functionality provides a graphical depiction of the client’s facility and process, with transparent clickable labels that can be overlaid on the graphic to denote sampling points. This would be useful to the client in their environmental monitoring efforts to watch for contaminated samples and ensure the integrity of their clean rooms. The Real World View displays the result history and other sample lifecycle details like equipment records, quality control samples, and signature capture for results approvals.
Objectives and Challenges
This project was a typical STARLIMS QM implementation with the interesting addition of the Real World View. This module is, in our opinion, an underused STARLIMS feature. The client intended to use their new STARLIMS instance to eliminate the use of Excel spreadsheets and improve their regulatory compliance.
The main challenge to the project was settling on naming conventions that worked for all stakeholders. Data harmonization is often a challenge during initial implementations because of its lasting impact on project success. Additionally, this was the client’s first LIMS implementation, so the LIMS administrators and the end users all needed training on maintenance and use of the system.
CSols’s Role in the Solution
CSols leveraged the STARLIMS partnership and our experience with more than 100 STARLIMS projects to help the client achieve their vision of eliminating the use of Excel spreadsheets with a single LIMS implementation. CSols guided the client to a naming convention that worked for everyone, enabling standardization. The client was quite happy with the work CSols did and asked us to do follow-up work on inventory management and standard operating procedure development.
CSols provided the client with a Project Manager, Business Analyst, and Developer. The project manager oversaw the timeline and directed the work of the Developer and Business Analyst. The Business Analyst worked with the client and the Developer to make sure requirements and technical aspects were understood and met. The Developer had the largest role and was responsible for the following:
- Configuring the system
- Building the general sample processing and stability workflows
- Setting up the environmental workflow and use of Real World View
- Configuring the shipping and outsourced testing processes
- Building a reports dashboard
- Setting up user, site, roles, and member management
- Creating static data
Benefits
- CSols took an iterative approach using the Agile methodology. The collaborative nature of our work with the client ensured that they had a sense of how the system was coming together. We were able to make revisions if they changed their minds or their requirements were updated.
- The CSols team took pains to demonstrate the system functionality to the client with more personal training and guidance.
- Our STARLIMS expertise gave this client a completely new system and adequate end-user training in a project that was completed ahead of schedule and under budget.
- The client gained a new LIMS application that could manage their data and track samples throughout their lifecycle. As a result, the client enjoyed streamlined processes and efficiency gains.
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