Situation

A large molecular diagnostics laboratory company was seeking to increase its business and attract larger accounts.  In order to accommodate the higher workload and throughput in the laboratory, they elected to implement the STARLIMS system. However, the LIMS project was falling behind due to a lack of resources and a lack of internal system expertise.  

CSols Inc. was selected to assist the customer with their LIMS project based upon our STARLIMS expertise and our molecular diagnostics laboratory workflow and laboratory process knowledge, as well as our regulatory and IT expertise. CSols was engaged to perform continuing project support of the STARLIMS LIMS and to increase project throughput and decrease support calls by resolving common help desk tickets through root cause analysis.  Projects were deployed to production with minimal interruption through the development and execution of detailed unit and integration test execution plans in order to validate backwards compatibility and functionality of new processes.

Objectives

The goal of this LIMS project was to enable the client to maintain its competitive business position and to facilitate its plans for growth. CSols’ role was to provide key knowledge and resources to help complete the implementation of their highly customized STARLIMS environment while also increasing LIMS project throughput. Our involvement allowed the client’s lean IT team to continue providing optimal support while still completing projects on schedule.

Challenges

1. Customization: The client required a highly customized LIMS, so extra effort was needed to become fully familiar with the system's architecture and functionality
2. Knowledge gaps: A previous knowledge transfer was incomplete, making it difficult for the current team to bring CSols up to speed
3. Aggressive timeline: The STARLIMS implementation project was behind and required a very aggressive timeline to meet milestones

CSols' Role in the Solution

CSols' role was to provide key knowledge and resources to help complete the implementation of the highly customized STARLIMS environment while also increasing LIMS project throughput. Our involvement allowed the client's lean IT team to continue providing optimal support while still completing projects on schedule. CSols' effort included the following key tasks and deliverables:

• Stabilized STARLIMS environment by correcting customized code causing numerous helpdesk tickets
• Implemented HL7 discrete data interface for one of the client's major customers
• Rebranded custom reports for all major orderable tests
• Implemented additional orderable tests and plate workflows
• Streamlined and updated clinical questions and calculations performed on specific questions for all orderable tests
• Implemented many improvements to align STARLIMS LIMS with new and updated business rules and processes
• Developed and executed various test plans to validate backwards compatibility and new functionality for QA signoff to deploy to production

Benefits

• Increased project throughput while keeping the same internal head count
• Resolution of many recurring help desk tickets, which in turn also improved end-user satisfaction and productivity in the lab
• Helped increase revenues by up to 50% by delivering the HL7 discrete data project on time with the integration team from both companies
• Increased customer base by implementing additional orderable tests

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