Modern laboratories with diverse instrumentation and data systems, have always faced major hurdles in data storage, reduction, review and reporting. Scientists reviewing analytical data typically require either the hardcopy data report, complete with the raw instrument output, or access to a workstation on which the instrument data system software resides. HORIZON Data Management solves this problem by providing for storage and retrieval of printed output of all types. It allows virtually any kind of human-readable output to be stored in its embedded Oracle database. The data can be searched and accessed by any LIMS user to retrieve instrument output, benchsheets, or scanned requisition forms, for example, from any associated LIMS record (sample, patient, workorder, location, etc.).
The paper problem is exacerbated by the fact that the assembly of final reports is often a labor-intensive, manual process. Records must be photocopied and the original documents stored in a secured facility for anywhere from 5 to 40 years. Scanning the documents only solves a small part of the problem, since the digital images are still difficult to index, retrieve and reuse. ChemWare was the first LIMS provider to offer a complete enterprise-wide content management solution that (1) automatically stores instrument reports or associated graphical output for retrieval from anywhere in the LIMS; (2) provides a single, unified instrument interface for parsing data into LIMS; and (3) collates and paginates the final report for e-signature and automated transmission to the end-user.