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Instrument integration with LIMS is one of the keys to transforming your laboratory operations, improving product quality, and turning your data into knowledge. Some of the most common instruments that are integrated with LIMS include GC, GCMS, HPLC, LCMS, ICP, Particle Counters, DNA Sequencers, Balances, AA Analyzers, Titrators.

STARLIMS provides a comprehensive LIMS solution that improves quality and safety throughout the entire product lifecycle. STARLIMS allows for multiple methods of interfacing directly with the lab instrumentation. In this blog, we’ll discuss two common approaches for integrating instruments with STARLIMS, along with their advantages and disadvantages.

General Instrument Integration Best Practices

It is important to follow a best practice methodology when integrating instruments with a LIMS. Instrument integration can be a complex and time-consuming process that can easily contribute to project time and cost overruns if careful planning and an effective process is not practiced.

One of the most important aspects of an effective integration methodology is determining which instruments provide enough of a return on investment (ROI) to make the instrument integration worth pursuing. Some of the questions that should be asked in this analysis include:

• How frequently is the instrument used and what is the quantity of the results it exports?
• How critical are the instrument’s results for laboratory processes?
• How much time and/or effort would integrating the instrument save for scientists?
• Would integrating the instrument contribute significantly towards data integrity in the lab?
• Can the instrument’s PC be easily connected to the network, so the instrument can be integrated with the LIMS?

STARLIMS Instrument Integration Methods

Once you have determined which instruments you want to integrate, STARLIMS has several methods to choose from to accomplish the integration.

Method 1:  Scientific Data Management System (SDMS)

In addition to a LIMS, the STARLIMS solution contains an SDMS module that is an integration powerhouse. The SDMS comes with a utility called the ‘Grabber’ which watches a targeted networked folder for any new exported instrument files. The location of the exported instrument file need only be on a computer with network access. When a new file appears, the Grabber is triggered to upload the file to the SDMS repository. After doing some initial configuration in the SDMS and providing a “training document”, AI (artificial intelligence) algorithms take PDF reports exported from the instruments, parse and format the data, then import them to the LIMS database. Another feature included in SDMS is the ability to format the data using ActionScript. ActionScript allows for programmatic formatting, filtering, sorting, and much more.

Advantages:

• Full featured development environment
• Document versioning and retention capabilities
• Works on any networked computer
• Allows for parsing of PDF documents which is typically more problematic than other file types (xls, csv, txt, ect)

Method 2: Custom Integration Interface

A custom instrument integration interface is common for integrating simple instruments (pH meters, balances, etc.) due to the built-in development library. These instruments will send their output using the TCP/IP and/or COM protocols. The built-in development library contains functions that are capable of importing documents and parsing directly from a COM or TCP/IP stream.

The interface is relatively easy to create using the XFD and pre-defined functions (development library) and once in place can handle most instrument types. It’s worth noting that this approach cannot handle complex parsing of PDFs and maintaining instrument connection scripts can be tricky. It is also important to note that this approach is geared towards result entry and doesn’t often directly save data to the database.

While it is ideal to use TCP/IP for all networked instruments, not all lab instruments come with an ethernet port to facilitate that type of transfer. However, most instruments are equipped with a COM port. By using a protocol converter, it is possible to transform the COM data to TCP/IP data which is then sent to STARLIMS over the network.

Advantages:

• Works well with most instruments and export file types
• Can accept direct streaming data in real time
• Scripting can be very simple leading to a low learning curve once the interface is established
• Interface can be customized as much or as little as required by the business
• Using IP-addresses, it is easy to connect to and maintain instrument integration details

Conclusion

Effective instrument integration is an important factor in enhancing productivity, efficiency, data integrity and innovation in your laboratory environment. In this blog, we discussed two ways to integrate instruments with STARLIMS. Other possible methods include web services, system-to-system, and direct database transfers. It is important to evaluate each one of these methods in order to determine which one makes the most sense for your laboratory environment in a given situation.

Astrix Technology Group is a full-service global laboratory informatics consulting, regulatory advisory and professional staffing firm focused on serving the scientific community since 1995. As a premier STARLIMS consulting partner, Astrix specializes in a full range of services for STARLIMS consulting solutions. Our STARLIMS experts are proficient in all methods of integrating instruments with the STARLIMS system. If you would like to discuss your STARLIMS instrument integration plan, or if you need help in getting your plan justified and/or implemented, feel free to contact us for a free, no obligations consultation.

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With comprehensive reporting, monitoring, managing and analysis capabilities, STARLIMS has a wide range of configurable features that support laboratory operations. In order to maximize business value and drive innovation with your STARLIMS solution over its full lifecycle, developer capabilities must be in place to enable system reconfiguration and/or customization to adapt to changing business requirements. In this blog, we will provide tips that will help software designers extend the functionality of your STARLIMS system.

Tips for Configuring and Customizing STARLIMS

In order to effectively reconfigure and/or customize your STARLIMS system, anyone working on the system should:

Tip 1:  Become an XDF Designer Expert

STARLIMS has an excellent development UI called the XFD Designer that allows for some drag and drop development/customization. The interface comes packed with tools that help with code-versioning, code-completion, code comparison, links to referenced code, shortcuts to navigate large code files, and much more. Learning where these tools are and how they operate can take a lot of the guess work out of customization and shorten development time.

Tip 2:  Become a Polyglot

Unlike many other systems STARLIMS utilizes three different development languages –Jscript.NET, SSL, and SQL. Knowing the benefits and drawbacks of each language will reduce the risk of performance issues when implementing a new feature. SQL should be used for simple select statements to populate data grids that will not have custom features or to pull list data in for other controls. SSL is great for adding a logic wrapper around an SQL statement. Additionally, there are many built-in functions that SSL can take advantage of. Jscript is primarily used as UI Control logic. Be aware that the version of Jscript used within the XFD is not the latest version and the in-system documentation is limited.

Tip 3: Be Aware of Blue Scripts

Blue scripts are a class of scripts which STARLIMS relies on to remain intact and unmodified. Modification of these scripts can lead to system failures when performing an upgrade. Rarely, but sometimes these scripts will need to be modified to meet a business need. Any changes to these scripts should be documented in a Design Spec.

TIP 4:  Practice Good Code Management

Good code management is the key to scalable and maintainable system. Because STARLIMS has multiple languages and a readily accessible database and dictionary, code can quickly become ‘spaghettified’. Spaghettification is a term used to describe code which calls-itself indirectly and unnecessarily. The term is also used to describe code created to fix a specific issue that doesn’t consider the architecture of the system or look for existing encapsulated code to solve the problem. This “plugging the leaky hole” approach leads to code duplication and a maintenance nightmare.

The best way to avoid spaghettified code is to identify common functionality between similar code documents, extract that functionality out, remove duplicate code, and finally create a function call to the common functionality. Additionally, as tables are added to the database, care must be taken to avoid creating a column that already exists in another table. A database should strive to be as ‘Normalized’ as possible. Achieving a 3NF (where no tables contain duplicated data) is extremely rare in many LIMS environments, but the closer the database is to 3NF, the higher your performance and maintainability will be.

TIP 5:  Learn How to Customize the Interface and Menu Items

STARLIMS provides an unprecedented ability to customize the interface presented to users.  You can hide or show buttons, tables, and even change the entire look of the screen based on user roles. Much of this configuration can be done using the built-in configurator using dropdowns and without code.

The main menu items have an additional level of customization capabilities. Menu items can contain custom scripts to show counters specific to individuals, groups, roles, access level, etc. The counters are logic-based so any SQL query can produce a number. You can also customize the counters on available samples, tests, etc. This is useful for displaying counts of objects that are specific to roles, departments, and functional positions. When working with these menu counter scripts, however, it is important to understand the underlying logic and the architecture of the database. If customized improperly, the counters associated with the menu item can display incorrect data at best. At worst, system errors will result.

Conclusion

STARLIMS provides a comprehensive LIMS solution that helps to improve quality, safety and compliance throughout the entire product lifecycle. In order to maximize ROI on this system, however, it is important to have capabilities in place to reconfigure and/or customize the system when necessary to support evolving business needs.

As a premier STARLIMS consulting partner, Astrix Technology Group specializes in a full range of services for STARLIMS systems. Our professionals have the industry knowledge and extensive experience with STARLIMS to help you successfully implement, optimize, maintain, upgrade or validate a STARLIMS system. If you would like to discuss your STARLIMS system with one of our experts, feel free to contact us for a free, no obligations consultation.

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