LIMS Implementation: Ensuring Success Through Pre-Purchase Diligence and a Post-Go-Live Responsibility Matrix
Oral Presentation
Prepared by J. Shackelford
City of Portland, OR, WPCL, 6543 N. Burlington Ave., Portland, OR, 97203, United States
Contact Information: [email protected]; 503-823-5614
ABSTRACT
The City of Portland Water Pollution Control Laboratory (WPCL) is a mid-sized wastewater utility laboratory tasked with the analysis of water, wastewater, groundwater, soils, and biosolids for both general and National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) purposes. The purchase of a new LIMS was part of an overall improvement effort aimed at eventual NELAP accreditation. Pre-purchase success factors included: the hiring of an in-house IT project manager and software engineer; using highly scripted, two-day presentations by short listed vendors; extensive post-purchase testing using a snapshot data base; and parallel data entry before final go-live. Post-go-live implementation was managed by a workgroup composed of project dedicated IT and lab staff with an assigned LIMS administrator from the lab senior staff. For WPCL, smooth implementation resulted from the construction of a detailed responsibility matrix and an accompanying set of standard operating procedures that encompassed all LIMS and related business enterprise functions. Main focus areas of the matrix included: upstream of LIMS, administration, operations, maintenance, downstream of LIMS, IT infrastructure maintenance, and workgroup administration of the matrix. Major laboratory internal process changes included: use of bar coding, replacement of paper bench sheets with electronic spreadsheets directly uploaded into LIMS, electronic entry of complex instrument data directly into LIMS, and inclusion of scanned paper documents such as chain-of-custody into LIMS.
Oral Presentation
Prepared by J. Shackelford
City of Portland, OR, WPCL, 6543 N. Burlington Ave., Portland, OR, 97203, United States
Contact Information: [email protected]; 503-823-5614
ABSTRACT
The City of Portland Water Pollution Control Laboratory (WPCL) is a mid-sized wastewater utility laboratory tasked with the analysis of water, wastewater, groundwater, soils, and biosolids for both general and National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) purposes. The purchase of a new LIMS was part of an overall improvement effort aimed at eventual NELAP accreditation. Pre-purchase success factors included: the hiring of an in-house IT project manager and software engineer; using highly scripted, two-day presentations by short listed vendors; extensive post-purchase testing using a snapshot data base; and parallel data entry before final go-live. Post-go-live implementation was managed by a workgroup composed of project dedicated IT and lab staff with an assigned LIMS administrator from the lab senior staff. For WPCL, smooth implementation resulted from the construction of a detailed responsibility matrix and an accompanying set of standard operating procedures that encompassed all LIMS and related business enterprise functions. Main focus areas of the matrix included: upstream of LIMS, administration, operations, maintenance, downstream of LIMS, IT infrastructure maintenance, and workgroup administration of the matrix. Major laboratory internal process changes included: use of bar coding, replacement of paper bench sheets with electronic spreadsheets directly uploaded into LIMS, electronic entry of complex instrument data directly into LIMS, and inclusion of scanned paper documents such as chain-of-custody into LIMS.
