Discussions at the 12th edition of the PLA® Conference Europe 2025

The PLA® Conference is pleased to announce its 12th European edition, which will take place on 18 and 19 March 2025 in the city of Milan, Italy, at the Hotel NH Milano 2.

The conference is the place to be for anyone thinking of implementing, consolidating, integrating, simplifying digital processes in their labs, and improving data-driven decisions. Data, Processes, People, Technology, and Compliance are the backbone of the program of each edition.

A two-day event that includes:

– Plenary talks and panel discussions

from industry leaders who share their visions and use cases, explain their strategies for tackling a specific project and share their lessons learnt along the way.

– Product deep dive and Interactive  workshops

where our sponsors present their latest solutions and their subject matter experts share their experience and knowledge on specific topics.

– Networking at the Exhibition Hall

a true showcase with high-quality networking opportunities to gather in-depth information with colleagues, speakers, and vendors.

A unique opportunity only possible thanks to  the support of the PLA® partners. More than 60 solution and service providers sponsoring all editions around the globe since 2012.

The project was launched in Europe in 2012 with the aim of creating a platform for discussion that ensures a collaborative atmosphere between suppliers and visitors.

The PLA® conference program is intended for managers and executives from R&D, QC, OpEx, IT and QA departments in the bio/pharma, cosmetics, biotechnology, service labs, chemicals, consumer goods, food and beverage sectors.

In 2023, a long-standing project that had unfortunately been delayed by the pandemic was finally realised. The PLA® conferences are now present in Europe, India, and the United States. The 2023 editions proved to be strong and robust. The programs addressed the challenges of successfully implementing digital lab transformation initiatives. The discussions aimed to question some paradigms and encourage the shift from an application-centric mindset to a digital one,” comments Isabel Muñoz-Willery, Event Director at Paperless Lab Academy®

Free Registration now open

Join the discussions!

L'articolo Press Release: PLA® Conference 2025 EUROPE proviene da NL42 | Paperless Lab Academy®.

Discussions at the 11th edition of the Paperless Lab Academy® Conference Europe

The PLA® Conference is pleased to announce its 11th European edition, which will take place on 12 and 13 March 2024 in the city of Milan, Italy, at the Hotel Meliá Milano.

The conference is the place to be for anyone thinking of implementing, consolidating, integrating, simplifying digital processes in their labs, and improving data-driven decisions. Data, Processes, People, Technology, and Compliance are the backbone of the program of each edition.

A two-day event that includes:

– Plenary talks and panel discussions

from industry leaders who share their visions and use cases, explain their strategies for tackling a specific project and share their lessons learnt along the way.

– Product deep dive workshops

where our sponsors present their latest solutions and their subject matter experts share their experience and knowledge on specific topics.

– Networking in the Exhibition Hall

a true showcase with high-quality networking opportunities to gather in-depth information with colleagues, speakers, and vendors.

– Deep Dive Workshops

to deepen knowledge on specific topics.

A unique opportunity that is only possible with the support of the PLA® partners. More than 60 solution and service providers sponsoring all editions around the globe.

The project was launched in Europe in 2012 with the aim of creating a platform for discussion that ensures a collaborative atmosphere between suppliers and visitors. The PLA conference program is intended for managers and executives from R&D, QC, OpEx, IT and QA departments in the bio/pharma, cosmetics, biotechnology, service labs, chemicals, consumer goods, food and beverage sectors.

In 2023, a long-standing project that had unfortunately been delayed by the pandemic was finally realised. The PLA® conferences are now present in Europe, India, and the United States. The 2023 editions proved to be strong and robust. The programs addressed the challenges of successfully implementing digital lab transformation initiatives. The discussions aimed to question some paradigms and encourage the shift from an application-centric mindset to a digital one,” comments Isabel Muñoz-Willery, Event Director at Paperless Lab Academy®

In 2024, the PLA® Conferences return with their 11th European edition, their 5th in India and their second in the USA.

Join the discussions!

L'articolo Press Release: PLA® Conference 2024 EUROPE proviene da NL42 | Paperless Lab Academy®.

Zeta Farmaceutici Group is an Italian industrial business, comprising a group of companies, specialised in the development, production and distribution of medicines, medical devices, cosmetics, dietary supplements, and biocides. Zeta manufactures and sales its own-brand products. Additionally, Zeta offers contract manufacturing, industrial partnership with companies and groups in Italy and abroad.

Zeta  chooses NL42 to integrate expertise and domain knowledge into their digital project

In its digital transformation journey, Zeta has opted for integrating expertise and domain knowledge, trusting in external forces from NL42 Consulting. Along the journey Zeta has put together a dedicated and strong team which is quickly learning and becoming expert in quality and laboratory processes digitalisation.

The goals of the project were to bring the company quality processes to the next level, improve efficiency of organizational processes and visibility of cost associated to most QC related efforts.

From the initial phase of business process and IT infrastructure reviews, the project has been completely framed and priorities have been set for the different phases.

“It is remarkable how much has been accomplished in few years, considering the pandemic situation. We are confident to reach our timeline as expected thanks to the continuous professional support from Roberto Castelnovo and his team at NL42 Consulting” comments Mr. Andrea Nicolato, Qualified Person.

The team went through building up technical and user requirements and selection processes for each of the phases. Starting from Document Management System, following by Quality Management System, and now proceeding with the Laboratory data management systems

“ Personally, I have appreciated and learn from the pragmatic approach of NL42 when running a selection process. Today, I am also using it in other activities in my professional work” says Ms. Silvia Primon, Quality Control Manager.

For more information on NL42 services read more about ” let’s restart together”  

L'articolo Digital Transformation Journey in a growing pharmaceutical Italian company proviene da NL42 | Paperless Lab Academy®.

AGQ Labs is a chemical technological center, with 25 years of experience. It offers solutions and services for agri-food, environmental, industrial, and mining sectors.

All Laboratories are accredited under ISO17025 and equipped with the most advanced technology. They specialise in developing robust and competitive analytical methods for each of every market they serve, along with strong focus on the corresponding local and international compliances requirements.

AGQ labs chooses NL42 to reach next level of standardisation and efficiency 

AGQ Labs is launching several initiatives for implementing their digital transformation strategy and reach their Lab 4.0 vision of the future. The scope is to streamline the complete production line, from sample reception to final results to the customer, and  to incorporate latest technologies and methodologies. It should ease remote processes like sample collection in the field. Additionally it should add speed and control along the data workflow.

“We believe this project will take us to higher level of standardisation and efficiency. it will empower fall our laboratories over the globe  in delivering best quality services to our customers. We are confident in going through this journey with the support of NL42 consulting. The ultimate goal of the journey is to reach paperless processes and benefit from the advantages that this brings in terms of performance and productivity, quality and compliance” says Antonio Belmonte Corporate Director of Production and Quality at AGQ Labs.

AGQ Labs, agqlabs.es deliver sustainable and scientifically backed solutions tailored to their customer needs though and extensive international network of laboratories and commercial offices.

With an organic growth of 20% per year, the AGQ Labs group has also acquired several laboratories in order to accelerate entry into new markets or to incorporate new analytical capabilities and technologies

From NL42 Consulting “we appreciate the trust AGQ Labs has placed on us and we are eager to reach the key milestones of this innovative project, working closely with the AGQ Labs project team” comments Roberto Castelnovo, CEO at NL42 Consulting.

For more information on NL42 services read more about ” let’s restart together”  

L'articolo AGQ Labs moves its data driven laboratories strategy to the next level proviene da NL42 | Paperless Lab Academy®.

While the first Paperless Lab Academy^® in India is about to get launched by December 1-3, 2020, Rizwan Chaudhrey at RSK Solutions discusses about the future of paperless labs with  Isabel Muñoz Willery Ph.D,  founder  and Co-Owner at NL42 Consulting and Organiser of the Paperless Lab Academy^® 

The market today offers multiple solutions for the laboratories whether they dedicate to basic research, new molecules discovery or operate under GMP regulations as quality control in a manufacturing company.

The technology have evolved in such way that concepts like connectivity and integrity hold hands, archiving and search tools get aligned, cloud and security are assumed. Definitely all those concepts and topics are constantly covered during the PLA editions and within the webinars program offered along the year, constantly balancing back and forth from basic introduction to technical training and visionary presentation from through leaders.

At the #PLA2020India, companies like Boehringer Ingelheim, Genentech, SGS, Ipca Laboratories, Zydus Cadila are sharing their own digital journey and strategy, explaining where they’ve starting from. Yet additionally pragmatic presentation from experts in chromatography and data integrity are providing great learning oppportunities  and finally, from Bigfinite and Dow Chemicals, the conversation goes one more step, to artificial intelligence and how to use specific algorithms for better process control.

When asked about the future of the labs and the reality of paperless laboratories, Isabel Muñoz-Willery mentioned that technically, the solutions available today are more than capable to provide answers to the lab managers and to facilitate easy access to data insights for better business decision making. However the human factor remains one of the most important factor for a successful digital transformation project.

Effect of the pandemic situation 

Fact is that the pandemic situation has forced the companies to address the needs for their employees to work remotely when possible. The need to eliminate every single manual step has reinforced the message that systems integrations, review by default facilitated by properly configured systems, remote access to final results for secured remote manager approvals are critical to for those companies to remain operative and above all competitive. The pandemic situation effect, like a selection process, has highlighted the companies that were ready to react.

It is to expect that CEO and CFOs  that were not yet considering  a priority the proper management of their scientific data , will now budget for digitalisation projects.

The future of paperless laboratories might be brighter than ever. Everyone has understood the relevance of laboratories and their critical contribution to the actual situation. Everyone has understood that laboratories are of vital necessity  for testing people, for investigating and developing new drugs and vaccines, for controlling the correct manufacturing of the final products and their components.

The light is now focused to what some top managers were used to call the “black box”.

L'articolo Interview with our Paperless Lab Academy Organiser proviene da NL42 | Paperless Lab Academy®.

Unfortunately, it is frequent to discover that the Laboratory Information Management Solution implemented in a site is not providing all the resources and insights that the laboratory and its stakeholders would benefit from.

Too many factors influence the success of a system implementation, irrespective of the LIMS providers, the type of lab or the size. Too often the project gets delayed. Too often phase 2 never takes off. Final users end up using very limited parts of the system, missing the full capabilities.

6 Factors for a successful Implementation of a Laboratory Information Management System

1.     Use the right approach during the purchasing phase

The selection process of a software system is not just about the product but also about the company that you´re about to embrace in a long-term relationship. There are critical issues to examine prior to purchase and the vendor information should enable a quality assessment of their processes and their software’s design.

One essential starting point is the proposed Project Plan and its granularity, including the names, roles and CVs of the people involved in your project. The quality of this first deliverable will already tell you a lot.

Your company has also a critical responsibility in the initial phases: clear company, business and technical requirements will avoid misunderstanding to ensure that:

• All necessary items to complete the project are included in the offer. If something is missing while the requirements are perfectly clear should be provided at no extra cost
• Implementation phases are not meant to discover hidden costs throughout the project. Everything should be clarified upfront (i.e. additional required licences, additional services, maintenance costs)
• Instrument connection is always very much underestimated. How many instruments should be connected, when and the related costs of any type (software, services, third-party items, etc.)
• List of available documentation from the provider (i.e. IQ, OQ, release notes, technical documents, project management documents, quality manuals, etc.)
• Future updates and upgrades should be clear since the beginning: how often? is the vendor’s support required? is additional validation required?
• The preparation of a 5 years investment projection, including software, services, validation, maintenance at minimum

2. Getting the team in place

The human Factor is key for a successful digital transformation project. Ideally your project manager, enabled and supported by his/her project sponsor, should be entitled to gather knowledgeable and committed persons into the project. In the real world this is often not the case. Those people used to be completely overbooked and involved in other projects already.

Anyhow, do not overlook the change management aspect of the project and plan far in advance how you want to approach it. We warmly recommend involving the team members far in advance in the project in order to get their buy-in and hopefully convert them into evangelists

3. Breaking Down the Elephant

Pure project management statement here. Clear milestones and achievable goals in short periods of time will drive you to success.

Along with a good communication plan to your team and stakeholders, you´ll be able to show the achievement, raise concerns, drive changes when necessary, and celebrate.

4. Managing Change Requests

Any required changes will affect the project plan. There are no small changes outside the scope already agreed that won’t affect the time and cost of the project.

Changes affect also provider’s agenda that might not be able anymore to stick to the initial project plan because their resources are already assigned to other projects. You might end up queueing in their agenda and end up in an infinite loop of agenda clash between yours and theirs

5. Understanding your provider

You are the customer and as such the provider cares about you and the success of the implementation. A customer having a bad experience in implementing their system is worse than losing the deal from the reputation point of view. Your company’s name cannot be used as a reference. The risk is that the provider considers the time and cost required to recover your satisfaction is far too high to classify it as a sustainable project. The implementation project should always be a win-win collaboration.

6. Planning for the Validation far in advance

Correct documentation and execution of the Computer system validation is a key asset to demonstrate auditors the level and maturity of your quality management system. Remember that the concept of computer system validation is typically linked to only few markets. This is absolutely not the case. All customers need to check that the delivered system is fitting with the expectations. This takes place by testing the delivered functionalities, irrespective the market you operate

Most of the documentation required for the correct execution of the validation should be available when the implementation starts. Believe it or not, this will already influence your implementation success because all the information collected in these documents will form the backbone of your project, the key reference for all parties involved. Below you find a list (not complete) of documents that you should take into account during the project preparation and execution

• Project preparation
  • High-level project plan and project team information
  • Statement of Work
  • Software Licence Agreement or Subscription Agreement
  • Maintenance Services description
  • Information about the Quality System of the provider
  • Technical documents related to system integration and instrument connection
  • Business, technical, corporate, IT and regulatory requirements at minimum
• Project implementation
  • Detailed project plan
  • IQ, OQ and PQ
  • Validation Master Plan
  • Communication Plan
  • Change management Plan
  • Issue management

The upgrade or replacement of a legacy will become a critical aspect of the laboratory data management in the near future. A lot of systems that have been implemented even more than 10 years ago are still operating. They are causing huge difficulties from the technical and maintenance points of view or they are simply not offering anymore the responses to the business needs. The upgrade or replacement projects might be overwhelming.

We can help here!  For instance Process Review is a great opportunity to speak out and highlight the pains and the expectations during coordinated workshops. Requirements and priorities are then popping up easily for better decision making and driving of your project milestones.

Should you have any questions do not hesitate to contact me: roberto.castelnovo@Nl42.com 

L'articolo 6 Factors for a successful Implementation  of a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) proviene da NL42 | Paperless Lab Academy®.

This is not another data integrity article, yet this is about demonstrating to auditors that you do have it all right and under control. So we’d like to highlight the importance of assessing the complete life cycle of your data and managing it for complete compliance to data integrity requirements.

We’ve all attended the thousand trainings, webinars and presentation about Data Integrity recommendations and guidelines. We know by heart the ALCOA definition and read several scary 483 letters.

You probably have also been involved in a specific DI project in your company or simply been asked to attend a series of internal training courses to increase self-awareness about the impacts of your actions. Corporate policies and messaging reinforced with nice posters have also probably popped up and decorated nicely the corridors and the cafeteria.

Beside the human factor being approached by reinforcing corporate ethical rules, the integrity of your data is a matter of managing adequately the company data lifecycle and in its multiple data workflows.

We, at NL42 ,are known at the Paperless Lab Academy for reinforcing the concept that no digital transformation project goes without a clear understanding of your data life cycle which we organise in 4 main steps when speaking about electronic data: eData, we will focus on the initial raw data capturing at eConnect, correct and compliant handling at eManage, easy access to data insight for sound decision making at eDecide .

Two major concerns the auditors will focus on

When investigating possible Data Integrity breaches, auditors are in the end, just using common sense and applying an implacable logic on “HOW” your data are managed. They will tend more and more to prefer seeing digital solutions implemented, with CFR21/11 capabilities enabled, correct users´ right access definitions and more. Even if all possible human interactions prone to transcription errors are removed, there are still two major concerns the auditors will focus on.

1)    Accessing the original raw data and its metadata

The eConnect step is becoming of crucial importance as the attention of the auditors is moving to laboratory instrumentation and capabilities to provide electronic format of their data ouput. Raw data and corresponding metadata should be accessible in order to verify easily non only the final result outcome but to review the whole data processing itself too.

Additionally, to the capability to review the data processing, all related information about quality control records, exceptions and re-evaluation should be perfectly accessible anytime.

Curiously for the past 10 years, even though the laboratory information management systems have considerably improved their interfacing capabilities with the laboratory instruments, the instrument integration tend to fall always in a phase 2 implementation and most of the time not being implemented at all.

2)    Assessing the Vendor, Documenting and Validating the computerised systems

Assessing the vendor´s product development quality system, documenting from the very first moment of the project planning to ease the validation steps is again a strong recommendation from our side.

Unfortunately, this had to be reinforced again recently by the EMA. In April 2020, the EMA has released a “Notice to sponsors on validation and qualification of computerised systems used in clinical trials” that could easily be extended to any scientific data management workflow still not matured enough regarding data integrity management.

The integrity of your paperless processes is built on the foundation of thorough understanding of your data lifecycle and precise documentation for qualifying the functionalities and validate the reliability and robustness of your computerised system in managing your data. Failure to document and therefore demonstrate the validated state of a computerised system is likely to pose a risk.

Join our project “Let´s Restart Together” , we can help you!

We´d like to help you in making sure your investment in time and money are fully compliant and protecting you from any potential risk.

Contact us 

L'articolo How to be sure that your Data Integrity project has fully covered your eData LifeCycle? proviene da NL42 | Paperless Lab Academy®.

Data integrity is not a new trend

You know that data integrity is not a new concept. You know of multiple examples not even related to the pharma industries that had a strong impact in the society. Like the one that happened in the automotive industry, with a catastrophic environmental fraud in cheating with emissions tests. The top management lost the job; billions were wiped from the company’s shares; and the country economy faced a big threat. In the Food industry, species authentication is also misleading the consumers in some occasions with incorrect labelling.

Today, we take numerous professional and private decisions along the day based on captured data, and we get used to trust them and the company behind those data. Once the information is acknowledged as incorrect, inadequate, even fraudulent, the trust is then broken. Unfortunately, the list of examples is long, and the final consequence always the same. A lack of trust impacts directly the final product and the company producing it.

Data integrity in laboratories

At the laboratory, you also might have run several internal meetings about data integrity, deciding how, what, when and who should be taking care of it. Too often the data integrity concerns focus on quality processes and data produced within the quality control department. We all then end up concentrating intensively in the potential gaps and risks that data silos might generate. Also, because, the auditors are getting extremely well trained in flagging the potential breaks directly at the source of a chromatographic raw data collection system.  Anyhow, multiple laboratory solutions and methodologies are available. The Internet of Lab Things (IoLT), the Integration of instruments (Ioi), the audit trails, the electronic signature and more, are technical solutions that once implemented ease the data flow and limit the breaks to any ALCOA+ listed concepts.

Unfortunately, too often, the preparation to an audit accelerates the buying decision process of a software solution with the aim of quickly saving the situation by showing to auditors an informatic dedicated tool implemented. The typical situation that cumulates so many “should not do it that way” which outcome results in a poor implementation with hybrid processes that increased the risks to data integrity breaks.

The right approach for data integrity is to review processes, incorporate new methodologies and make sure that new standard operative procedures are followed correctly with a good understanding of the benefits for the employee and the company to do it right. We started by being concerned about data integrity when what should be addressed is change management and enhancement of the company cultural awareness. An educational program is to be planned at corporate level involving all functions and departments.  The commitment of the company management is then a must to convey the correct message of recommended habits and attitude changes. The management commitment is a requirement to assure that the company is delivering reliable information. Management should instil the right attitude within the company providing guidance and leadership speaking about delivery of reliable information to the market.

Data integrity is, in the end, about Company Integrity

The commitment from management is critical, all markets should take data integrity as a serious issue as the risks of mishandling information are dramatic.

In commercial companies, we get quickly trained about how critical it is to get our computers and mobile phones backed up, generally connected to cloud applications storing securely the internal confidential information. No one’s goes for a coffee without blocking access to the personal computers with controlled unique password. How it happens that in other departments of the same company, password is easily shared if not completely visible on a simple post-it?
All employees should be committed to produce, handle and deliver accurate information. This is a long process which is not related to systems, technological solutions and processes. It is mostly related to corporate culture.
Company’s management should invest a significant portion of time in introducing a culture of reliability, quality and confidence that will generate trust within customers, suppliers and shareholders.

L'articolo Data Integrity, Company Integrity: a Management Commitment proviene da NL42 | Paperless Lab Academy®.

[Monday, 8th April 2019 – 14:00-18:00 CET] Gran Hotel Dino, Baveno, Lake Maggiore, Italy 

The Paperless Lab Academy 2019 is now up and running and registrations are open. We’re glad to inform you that we are offering, on the pre-congress day, a special training composed of multiple practical sessions for setting the stage for your paperless laboratory transformation.

Roberto Castelnovo will speak about how to design the most adequate digital transformation strategy for your needs. He´ll take you through practical sessions thanks to its professional expertize and experience in driving successful projects.

Good preparation is key when it comes to digital transformation projects that aim for flawless paperless laboratory processes.

Such preparation requires considering several parameters such as change management, project scope, technical and users requirements, business priorities and corporate commitment.

The training is an excellent opportunity to learn more about the topic and benefit the practical session

REGISTER 

OVERALL OBJECTIVES

Introduce the main concepts related to the digital transformation of the laboratories processes, providing concrete examples on how to prepare the project and successfully implement it.

• Improve how project objectives are defined
• Improve the quality of the documentation for the preparation of the project
• Design the best system mapping according to your company’s needs
• Improve how the business case is presented to the company’s management
• Increase the effectiveness of the system selection
• Reduce the implementation risks

WORKSHOP DELIVERABLES AND SPECIFIC LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Participants will learn how to:

1. Set the stage for a digital transformation project
2. Define how the software systems should fit into the overall strategy
3. Select the systems that better suit to the company/laboratory needs
4. Design an implementation plan to reduce the related risks

The training offers the opportunity to learn the principles on how to design, prepare and implement a digital transformation project for the laboratories. The attendees will have the opportunity to discuss concrete scenarios and prepare the ground for the journey to digitization. The training is adapted to the audience and typically designed for laboratory managers and scientists, IT staff, operational managers and senior managers.

DESCRIPTION

The workshop starts with the presentation of the overall project of digital transformation, designing the critical steps to be performed.

After the initial presentation, concrete examples are discussed on how to design the project, define the objectives and ensure they are properly communicated within the company, the team members and the stakeholders. Concrete examples can be taken from the audience to explore the challenges related to the correct definition of the objectives, avoiding risks related to miscommunication, setting wrong expectations since the initiation phase.

The workshop then focuses on the preparation of project requirements, with hands-on activities to ensure that the audience is allowed to map the workshop outcome with the real-life situations.

The workshop continues with the preparation of examples of system mapping and the business case.

Specific hints and tips for the selection process are delivered in an interactive manner in order to allow the audience to improve this critical aspect of the project and avoid pitfalls.

The workshop is concluded with the discussion of a typical project plan that can be used during the implementation

[Monday, 8th April 2019 – 14:00-18:00 CET] Gran Hotel Dino, Baveno, Lake Maggiore, Italy 

REGISTER 

Should you any question, do not hesitate to contact us

L'articolo Practical session for your laboratory digital transformation project proviene da NL42 | Paperless Lab Academy®.

If the initial decisions were focused on implementing solutions to gain efficiency and shorten time to market, it is recommended to approach such digital transformation projects with clear understanding of the highlighted points below, avoiding frustrations and low return on investment.

Paperless laboratory – business process reengineering

A digital transformation project is the greatest opportunity ever to review processes and look for improvement. The process reengineering phase, far before selecting any informatics tool, is the most relevant moment that will make the difference.

The goal of the digital transformation is to convert laboratory processes and data management activities from paper to computerized systems. Processes should be then reviewed, modified and designed to clearly define how the entire data life cycle will be covered. In the laboratories, the data life cycle goes from the request of analysis to the emission of the certificate of analysis, yet storage and archiving is the very final step. The digitalisation process aims at generating a series of documents that put the laboratory in the position to manage requests and samples and to perform the required tasks.

A crucial step is to analyse the systems that are already part of the process, in order to understand if they are in line with the company requirements, the business needs, the corporate IT strategy or if they need to be upgraded or replaced. From there, processes and systems are mapped to visualize the flow of the data along its life cycle. This goes from the collection of raw data and metadata, management of the data, decision making and archiving.  The best solution could be composed of a unique informatic tool or a combination of systems, from a unique vendor or not whenever those systems can easily be integrated

Paperless laboratory – selection process

The selection of the systems that are required to cover the processes and which are fitting with the IT strategy is a key part of the implementation project. By selecting the informatics tool that suits their needs and the provider that commits for a trustable long-term relationship, the laboratory is creating the conditions for a successful implementation with a constant eye to the four major success factors: cost, time, quality and people.

The project team and scope should be clearly defined, the user requirements properly articulated, the project costs and time estimated and communicated to the company’s management.

In a whole digital transformation project, these 5 steps are the recommended ones when you have reached the moment to seek for the right solution.

If you opt for some consultancy support, these are the steps you should expect us to take you through for selecting your laboratory data management system. It is recommended to involve external resources which may help to design the selection in the most transparent way, adding on market knowledge which is critical to identify the potential vendors for each system.

These have been described in a previous article: “Five steps in the selection of a LIMS”

Paperless laboratory – benefits and costs

The proper implementation of a paperless lab would generate a significant number of benefits for the laboratory itself and for the company. However, it is also important to estimate the costs of the project.

Benefits:

• Time related benefits: the use of a paperless process reduces significantly the time required to complete the entire process. From 30 to 40% of man hours’ time is estimated be saved for each process
• Cost related benefits: the paperless processes are reducing the costs of maintaining paper-based process, such as archives.
• Quality related benefits: these benefits are related to the reduction of failures during the execution of the processes, such as manual transcriptions

Costs:

• Initial costs – related to the preparation phases of the project, including the selection process
• Implementation costs – the overall cost of products and services required to implement the system(s)
• Data migration costs – the costs related to the move of data from other systems already in use in the laboratory
• Validation costs – the costs to validate the systems
• Maintenance costs – typically an annual fee requested by the vendor
• Follow-up costs – the costs required to maintain the system updated according to the changes in business requirements, laboratory processes, etc

Paperless laboratory – system Implementation

Once the stage has been set, it is time for implementing the system. To guarantee a flawless process, formal project management initiatives should be considered during the execution of the activities. The level of project management skills required, may vary according to the complexity of the implementation. They would allow to drive the project to a successful completion according to the defined costs, time and quality. Moreover, proper communication should be established to ensure that the company management and all the stakeholders are informed about the project status.

Looking for some support on your selection process? Contact us and discover how we can help you.

L'articolo Setting the stage for a paperless laboratory proviene da NL42 | Paperless Lab Academy®.