FAQ's about LABbase

One of the greatest strengths of LABbase® is its flexibility and modular design. It can handle all workflows - no matter how complex or unique they are. With the help of the two tools blomesystem® Designer and blomesystem® Report Generator, LABbase® can be adapted in such a way that it precisely maps all laboratory routines, no matter how individual they may be. This flexibility is also of great advantage when processes change quickly - as is often the case in laboratories. This means that LABbase® pays off more in the medium term than a product that is perhaps less expensive but less flexible. Many LABbase® customers have been using the solution for more than 10 years and have repeatedly adapted LABbase® to new requirements during this time.

"Modular design" describes the high flexibility of LABbase®. The modules represent the building blocks that make up the solution. They contain different functions or function packages that map the laboratory processes in companies. In this way, every laboratory can literally build its own LABbase® version - depending on its own workflow and daily needs. Each customer decides individually which modules LABbase® should include in operation.

Yes, in addition to the fixed installation on the laboratory computer, LABbase® can also be started and operated via all common internet browsers. This eliminates the need to distribute and install the blomesystem® and database clients. The modern web interface of LABbase® allows working from anywhere - be it at a company location, on the road, at the customer's site or on a mobile device at the sampling point.

Absolutely. The LABbase® web interface follows today's standards of internet use. This means that the solution can be used via internet browser without special training if the respective user already knows LABbase® in principle. Many functions of LABbase® Web are also based on the usual Windows environments.

LABbase® customers receive updates as download via the Blomesystem support page. Registered customers have access to the download area there.

LABbase® is basically suitable for all industries whose operations include laboratory-relevant work. Currently, LABbase® is used in the following economic sectors: contract laboratories, production laboratories in the chemical as well as food and beverage industry, control authorities, environmental monitoring and water management. There is no obstacle to its use in other industries, as LABbase® can be flexibly adapted to individual customer requirements due to its modular design.

Yes. With appropriate effort estimation, e.g. scales or other devices can be connected to LABbase®.

Yes, this is possible. Report creation and storage takes place directly in LABbase® , so the data does not have to be exported to other applications. This eliminates administrative work, such as the additional management and protection of office documents. In addition, the document module of LABbase® (document workflow) automatically assigns barcoded documents to an order, a sample or other data records - without any user intervention. The assignment is based on the reference principle: A document no longer has to be "physically" attached to several data records. It simply enters the document management system once and can then be assigned to one or more data records. The documents referenced in this way are stored in the database and therefore do not have to be managed or saved in any other file system. The fields in masks and reports also allow texts of any length to be edited and stored. Another word processing system is therefore no longer required.

The employee management integrated in LABbase® enables central control of access authorizations and release levels. Access authorizations can be defined for different work areas as well as for specific test methods. As additional release factors, for example, the education, knowledge, responsibilities or further training of the respective employees can be recorded. Authorizations in the system can be defined using a role-based concept.

Currently Blomesystem offers the installation of LABbase® exclusively on the database types ORACLE and MS SQL.

A LIMS is already useful from the time when a laboratory has the task of carrying out tests on test objects. If a laboratory is seeking accreditation for this purpose, it is all the more important to be able to provide evidence of reliable data acquisition that is traceable at all times. If results are doubted after a sampling, a continuous proof of the working steps as well as the results is of immense importance. There are still many laboratories that make do with Excel and various databases, some of which are different, whereby a secure audit trail cannot be realized. The LIMS also concentrates all data on a sample in one place in the company. The reasonableness of introducing LIMS in a laboratory is therefore not only dependent on the employees, equipment and samples, but also on the demands on the laboratory's own work organization. In today's world, an automated laboratory workflow is the be-all and end-all of economical and fast analytical work at a high level of quality, which is also required by legislation.

Each laboratory has its own workflow with the focus on the determined data, with a nevertheless high flexibility in the administration. Up to now, processes have been organized, structured and managed with various tools (Word, Excel, Access...) distributed over several PCs. Specifications (SOPs, procedural instructions, orders) in the workflows are usually distributed across different document folders on multiple devices and often not on the same visible, current status for all. Access authorizations cannot be mapped cleanly. Tables are often created and maintained by one person, resulting in a very high dependency on this person! If this person leaves the laboratory, there is often a great deal of uncertainty for the future work of the laboratory.

Due to the fact that each laboratory has its own workflow, a solution must be developed together with the customer. Here it is important to record the requirements and wishes in a joint dialog, to present the solutions and also to be able to offer the customer possible improvements in the workflow, based on the experience of the projects already implemented.

Our LIMS is based on 40 years of laboratory experience across all industries. The flexibility of our LIMS is its strength. The blomesystem employees are chemists, physicists, biologists and programmers, united in one team. The customer can, if necessary, further adapt the LIMS to his needs with the blomesystem® tools after the installation. The special feature here is that all adjustments made by the customer to the user interface can also be adopted during updates and upgrades, instead of having to be integrated with great effort. Our standard LIMS allows a smooth workflow for a standard laboratory (from sample acquisition, processing, evaluation to test report). Additional modules allow the lab to its LIMS to its own design. These can also usually be adapted to the respective laboratory workflow. Thus, it is possible for each department and/or individual laboratory employee to define his or her masks and views according to the respective authorizations and release levels. Always with the requirement of secure data management, test equipment and devices can be connected uni- or bidirectionally via interfaces. Freely definable automations enable an automated laboratory process. Storable resubmissions that can be assigned to the respective employees ensure that defined deadlines are adhered to. Dashboards allow a quick overview of the tasks to be completed by the respective employee or for the entire overview of the information concerning the daily laboratory routine (offers, orders, complaints, vacation, training, audits, test equipment control dates...).

The storage of data within our LIMS is centrally organized in a database. In addition to the sample data, any form of documents, reports, images, etc. can also be assigned. Defined access authorizations assigned in advance to the respective employees ensure data protection within the LIMS. Changes can only be made to samples or documents if the laboratory employee has the appropriate authorization. An audit trail, which can be flexibly configured by a system administrator, runs continuously in the background and serves to control and record changes (with time stamp) that are made to the data. Forced fields that can be defined in advance in the LIMS must be filled with a short description of the change when the entries are changed and are saved in the system with a time stamp. Documents stored in the LIMS are versioned, can be borrowed, edited as well as saved again and reassigned with a new version number within the database to the corresponding data records. The previous document thereby loses its validity and is marked accordingly.

Switching to or introducing a LIMS is always somewhat dependent on the laboratory structure. Our LIMS requires a database located on a data server and PCs with a corresponding current operating system. Our LIMS can also be accessed on mobile devices in the browser, whereby the focus here is not on mapping the entire LIMS, but only important views defined for the respective employee. Example: Sample data acquisition and
processing on a piece of test equipment without a direct interface to the LIMS.

"Old" data from Excel lists can usually be transferred completely to the new LIMS. However, this usually requires a lot of time. Therefore, the "old" data is often saved and only partially transferred to the new LIMS.

Handwritten information can be scanned and searched using a full text search optionally integrated in the LIMS. All results in which the searched string was found are listed.

The most important thing for us before and during a change to a LIMS is communication.

We offer our customers various training courses. This starts with an administrator training, goes over a power user training up to the user training which can be realized generally or also specialized on the customer's request. In addition, there are trainings for the blomesystem® tools in order to be able to make changes to the views, tables, reports or certificates. The trainings are carried out either at the customer's site or at one of the GUS LAB GmbH locations.

The costs are always dependent on the number of users, add-ons, services, training and services. An exact offer can only be given by GUS LAB GmbH after a prior estimation of expenses.