Custom Software for the Genomics Industry
Laboratories face frequent changes. Whether you’re implementing new workflows or updating an existing one, adding an instrument, iterating on a validated assay, or optimizing processes to keep up with market conditions or advances in technology, one thing is certain — change is inevitable. But that doesn’t make it easy. Humans naturally resist change. We prefer tasks that are comfortable and […]
Day-to-day lab operations rely on workflows to manage people, tasks, and systems so that work follows a consistent process every time. Defined workflows help ensure that all the steps are done in the correct order, are free from errors, and meet regulatory requirements. But, representing lab workflows can be difficult. Without careful definition, you might introduce inaccuracies — such as […]
Barcoding is extremely useful in a lab environment. It lets you quickly and automatically identify and track items like samples, plates, and reagents. But implementing a lab barcode system is not as simple as charging up a scanner and getting to work. To be effective, the scanning solution should be integrated with your laboratory information management system (LIMS). That means […]
Building custom laboratory software from the ground up requires robust planning and meticulous attention to detail. In the process of doing this for our clients and ourselves on our forthcoming product, we have developed our own software development best practices to ensure the implementation meets all the requirements. We’ve found this to be a magic mix — user and regulatory […]
Are you trying to decide if your lab should build its own custom software, buy off-the-shelf software (knowing you’ll inevitably have to customize it), or just keep stumbling along with Excel and paper-based tracking? The answer to this question will ultimately depend on your short- and long-term information system (informatics) strategy. How do you devise an informatics strategy? There are […]
In today’s evolving market, labs inevitably need to make changes within their informatics software stack. The greater your lab’s efficiency in making these changes, the easier you’ll be able to keep up with new demands and innovations. How your software environment is set up can make a huge difference in how quickly you can validate new processes and updates to […]
No discussion about software quality would be complete without examining the role of software testing. In the previous post in this series on quality, we mentioned that software testing is a vital part of software quality control (QC). That’s because it’s used to find and prevent defects, ensure performance, and confirm that requirements are met. “Testing is the procedure of […]
Clinical diagnostic laboratories must have high-quality software in order to run reliably and efficiently. But quality is about more than just the software code. Quality must also be the foundation of the software architecture. When labs prioritize the quality of their software and software architecture, ensuring it’s built thoughtfully from the ground up, the quality and maintainability of their processes […]
In the past twelve months, we’ve covered a lot of ground on the blog, and many of the posts have clearly resonated with clinical labs. So, we thought it would be interesting to share the topics that readers like you have been most interested in. Not surprisingly, these tie into what’s been happening in the clinical diagnostics sector this year. […]
As we mentioned in our previous post in this series, the quality of your software refers to its ability to meet requirements. There are a variety of metrics you can use to measure quality — with varying degrees of importance depending on who you ask and what aspects you want to measure. Fortunately, a number of standards can guide you, […]