Laboratory group introduces online test results

Tuesday 30 November 1999

A CUSTOM built computer system has been designed in-house by the UK's largest food testing laboratory group, Eclipse Scientific Group.

The system, called Eclipse Laboratory Management System (ELMS), will give the group a leading edge on service delivery by offering online laboratory results to clients in the food testing industry.

Customers will soon have Internet access to real time data, as it is released, instead of waiting for certificates or results to be faxed or posted.

A key feature of the system is its capability to highlight test result breaches against multiple specifications so that information can be passed to customers immediately. Additionally the system has the capability to produce trending on more criteria, so that clients can see the variation in their test results over time. For example, ELMS means that Eclipse can register samples against unique sample points to enable trend analysis by test for specific retailers, production lines or other unique sample points.

The Eclipse team worked with an external Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) vendor for more than a year before deciding to go solo. The in-house design team, led by Andrew James, Eclipse IT manager, developed the new LIMS system to meet Eclipse's specific requirements.

He said: "The packaged product we considered initially was not up to the job: it would not deliver what was needed. After reassessing our options we went back to the drawing board and in July we set about developing the system ourselves. At that point it was all hands on deck. Every member of the IT team was involved".

"The system encompasses the whole business, from booking samples to producing results and invoicing customers. Designing the system in-house gives us a strong foundation on which to build and support the projected growth of our business."

Liz Fleming, director of operations, said: "Designing our own LIMS system allowed us to review our business processes to develop an innovative system which for the first time will allow full integration of all areas of our business and the different requirements of our nine sites and our many thousands of customers."

Before ELMS there were four LIMS systems operating concurrently across the laboratories, which caused problems for support, reporting and reliability. One system was restricted to 40 users, which compelled staff to log out in order to enable others use the system. ELMS removed this constraint to the business, simplified the management and delivered new client features.

The system went live at the company's head office in Chatteris on Monday(Oct21) and will be rolled out across the group by April.

On Thursday(24 October) Keith Tozzi, swan group plc Chief Executive, attended a reception in Chatteris to celebrate the official launch of the system.