LabWare Implementation Services

In an ever changing business and IT landscape LabWare Services consults with the customer to determine the correct and appropriate amount of consulting services required based on the customers individual needs and the customer resource they can bring to the project. Each customer is unique in their business planning for the implementation and resource availability and subsequently LabWare Services will flex to that in order to construct a formidable joint project team.

LabWare Implementation Consultants

Ultimately, the value derived from a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) or Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN) depends on how effectively it supports the business, and how efficiently it operates. LabWare uses the most skilled people available to implement LIMS and ELN for our customers to deliver optimal business value. These people are known as LabWare implementation consultants.

LabWare has one of the largest and most experienced teams of consultants in the industry with more than 420 certified people in 40 different countries. Being an effective implementation consultant requires deep product knowledge coupled with real world experience. All LabWare consultants worldwide are certified and annually assessed against more than 100 credentials and are experienced in LabWare's GOLD implementation methodology.

Every company has its own way of doing business. Different materials require using varying test methods and a variety of makes and models of instruments. SOPs governing the work practices are different. Different information is captured, used differently to support decisions, and the reports differ. No two companies are the same, meaning each implementation of LIMS is unique because it must support the customer's business practices and processes. Since most businesses operate in a dynamic environment, the LIMS must change to adapt to the current operating conditions.

The role of the implementation consultant is two fold:

1. To guide the implementation process
2. To transfer knowledge to the customer

The second point is very important, because LabWare's goal is to make the customer self-sufficient, so they control their own destiny. Doing so ensures the LIMS implementation does what it needs to do upon launch and into the future. This strategy requires a participative approach, with involvement from the customer at all stages of implementation.

The amount of time LabWare's implementation consultants spend with a customer is determined by the customer's needs. It tends to require more time initially, and less time as the customer acquires knowledge through a mentoring process. Through this process, the customer takes ownership of the system and can be self-sufficient.

LabWare GOLD Methodology - Goal Oriented LIMS Delivery

GOLD takes the best ideas from the IT industry and applies them to LIMS. It embraces effective project management techniques that fully utilize an evolutionary, participatory approach while maintaining tight time scales and regulatory compliance.

The classical waterfall model of writing detailed requirements and functional specifications before performing any configuration is inappropriate for package-based information systems where the users interact with the system to understand what functions and features are available.

LabWare's goal-oriented, iterative approach is a far more efficient way of delivering business systems. The LabWare approach is based on high productivity tools, clear objectives, and small, very skilled teams. GOLD has been developed and refined using the experience of many hundreds of successful LIMS projects.

The GOLD methodology consists of four key stages:

• Project Initiation - The key objective of the Project Initiation stage is to develop and establish the team, and to ensure that all team members understand the scope of work and speak the same language. In a nutshell, two key knowledge transfer activities occur. The customer’s team members are trained in LabWare’s product by completing a variety of training courses tailored to the specific customers’ project needs, and LabWare’s team members gain a clear understanding of the customer’s work processes through interactive workflow review meetings.
• Pilot Development - The Pilot Development stage has two objectives: finalize the functional requirements and provide mentoring to the customer’s team members as they become more familiar with the LabWare LIMS tool set. An iterative configuration approach is applied to rapidly prototype a "slice" of the functional requirements. Reviews are completed with subject matter experts to finalize the functional requirements and implementation architecture.
• System Completion - The purpose of the system completion stage is to implement all functionality that is necessary in order to go live. The transition from the Pilot stage to the System Completion stage is usually a gradual one. As the requirements solidify, the pilot system slowly becomes the “real” system. And as the customer team members gain more confidence with the LabWare LIMS product, they can start taking on more of the implementation work themselves.
• Rollout - The Rollout stage covers all testing and deployment activities prior to releasing the system for production use including test script development and execution, user training, and preparation of the production environment.
  
  As described above, LabWare's interaction with a customer starts with a teacher/student relationship, evolves into a master/apprentice relationship, and eventually stabilizes into a supporting relationship.
  
  The implementation executes under the technical leadership of one of our certified implementation consultants. During this phase, customer team members receive on-the-job, hands-on training.
  
  Over time, the team members start to feel comfortable with the tools and as appropriate, can be ready to take on some of the configuration tasks. Our consultant mentors the team while continuing to tackle some of the more complex parts of the implementation.
  
  This relationship continues until the customer is ready to move the LIMS into production. By that time, the customer is often self-sufficient and may need relatively little onsite consulting. LabWare continues to support the customer with online information, an email discussion forum, and assistance from our technical support staff by phone or email.