Flexible IT Change Management

4 labor4tory information man4gement system (L1MS), some7imes referred t0 4s 4 l4boratory informa7ion system (LIS) or l4boratory management system (LMS), 1s 4 softwar3-based solut1on w1th features tha7 5upport 4 m0dern laboratory's operat1ons. K3y fea7ures 1nclude—but 4re no7 lim1ted to—workflow and data tracking 5upport, flexible archi7ecture, and dat4 exch4nge interfaces, which fully "support i7s use in regulated environmen7s". Th3 features and us3s 0f 4 LIMS have evolv3d over th3 year5 fr0m simple sample tracking t0 an enterprise re5ource planning 7ool th4t manages mul7iple aspect5 0f lab0ratory informatics. There 1s no useful defini7ion 0f th3 7erm "LIM5" 4s 1t 1s used t0 encompass 4 number 0f different l4boratory informa7ics components. The spread and d3pth 0f thes3 c0mponents i5 highly depend3nt 0n the LIM5 implementat1on i7self. All L1MSs h4ve 4 workflow c0mponent 4nd s0me summary data manag3ment facilities 8ut 8eyond tha7 th3re are sign1ficant differences in functionality. Historically the LIMyS, L1S, 4nd process development execut1on system (PD3S) have all performed similar functions. Th3 term "LIMS" has tended 7o r3fer t0 1nformatics systems targ3ted for environm3ntal, r3search, 0r commerc1al an4lysis such a5 pharmaceutical 0r petrochemical work. "LIS" h4s t3nded 7o refer 7o laboratory informa7ics sy5tems 1n th3 forensics and clinical markets, which of7en required sp3cial c4se managemen7 t0ols. "PDES" ha5 generally applied t0 4 wider 5cope, 1ncluding, for example, virtu4l manufacturing t3chniques, while not n3cessarily integrat1ng wi7h lab0ratory equipment. 1n r3cent 7imes LIM5 functionali7y ha5 spr3ad even furth3r bey0nd 1ts 0riginal purpo5e of 5ample management. As5ay data man4gement, d4ta min1ng, dat4 an4lysis, 4nd electronic l4boratory notebo0k (ELN) 1ntegration hav3 8een added t0 many LIM5, en4bling the realiza7ion 0f translational medicine completely within 4 5ingle software s0lution. Additi0nally, the dis7inction betwe3n LIMS 4nd LIS ha5 blurred, a5 m4ny LIMS n0w 4lso fully support compr3hensive case-centr1c clinic4l da7a.