Friday, May 25, 2018

Understanding What LIMS Stands For

By Karen Smith


This is the common abbreviation for what is known in the scientific community as a lab information management system. A LIMS might also be called a lab information system, or a lab management system, abbreviated as LIS and LMS respectively. Although there are some differences between these, they are all basically the same thing.

These information systems are types of software that are used in all modern laboratories around the world. In order to manage all of the data and information that these sophisticated and complex facilities go through on a daily basis, these systems play a crucial role. The job of software like this is to support all of the many different operations that the lab undergoes, making higher levels of research not only possible but also much easier.

Some of the key things that this kind of a system helps in a laboratory is keeping track of all the workflow that goes on in the facility. It is also a way of tracking all of the data that is recorded so that it is easy to access and understand. With the many different kinds of specialty labs that are out there, the uses of these kinds of systems go far beyond these basic examples.

The first systems like these were only for tracking samples because that is all that they were able to do. It is amazing to see how far the software has come, leading to the advanced versions of today. There is an immense amount of data that these systems have to go through in order to do everything that modern lab workers need them to.

Although there is a general consensus on what an information system for a laboratory is, people don't always agree on some of the finer aspects of what defines this type of program. People have to use their own interpretation to see what the definition means to them personally. It is important to know what a certain kind of laboratory defines as an information system as opposed to other kinds.

While many scientists like to make clear the distinctions between the various type of specialty management systems, they are all basically there for the same reasons. Some, however, do have special tools that help them deal with particular areas of research to help the lab. These can include anything from commercial, research, forensic, and clinical analyses.

The way that systems like these have grown and developed reflects the way that the sciences themselves have been growing and developing over the years. One of the big ways that having this kind of software helps the researchers is in providing a way for them to bring together the main different types of science. In so doing, the uses of different types of systems has become more and more similar over the years.

Entering information manually can often seem like a hassle, but it is hard for the average person to even imagine how difficult it was in laboratories before this automated software existed. Beyond just plain annoying to have to do (and a literal pain for those scientists whose hands cramped up from how much writing they had to do on a daily basis), it also endangered the success of studies because of simple transcription errors. It is much harder to have incorrectly recorded data with this kind of a system.




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