· Author: Third Wave Analytics

Top LIMS Features Your Lab Needs in 2024

Does your lab have the best laboratory information management system (LIMS)? 

Watch now: Essential LIMS Features

With newer features and capabilities, a comprehensive LIMS or laboratory management solution (also sometimes called a lab informatics platform or lab information system (LIS) ) can now help you update and streamline your workflow management, workflow automation, and overall lab operations. 

Whether you’re running a small research lab or testing lab that is overdue to switch from Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets to a bonafide laboratory information system – or a large medical lab, biobank, or clinical laboratory that already has a sophisticated tech stack, chances are you want the best LIMS software available today to address your specific needs.

Determine what your lab needs to succeed

You want to know if your current LIMS has the latest ‘nice to have’ (powerful workflow) and ‘must have’ (regulatory compliance) features that can take your lab forward as it evolves.

Either way, there’s a selection of systems available. However, it’s often difficult to figure out exactly what to look for in a LIMS that will work well in the future for your team. 

On a broad level, the LIMS vendor you choose will need to offer continuous technology updates, with new features and functions introduced frequently. Ultimately, new features should continue to help your team automate workflows, reduce errors, and speed up tasks and turnaround times – leading to overall greater efficiency and more reliable test results. Aim for a long-term solution rather than a temporary, homegrown, or cobbled-together system with different software applications. 

Those new features also must work seamlessly (usually through an API) with other technologies, tools, and instruments in your lab. Ideally, your vendor will work with you closely before implementation, during implementation, and launch, with the capacity to adjust features according to feedback from your team. Even better, your vendor should provide training so your team can eventually manage and customize the LIMS.

That’s not the whole picture, though. We recommend working with a LIMS vendor that can configure and customize your system today and adapt it to your future lab requirements. (Opt for a LIMS platform rather than a stand-alone app that only has a limited number of features). A future-proof LIMS platform allows you to modify and augment your system as your workflow changes.

Below, we’ve included a description of key features and an at-a-glance comparison of leading LIMS vendors. We’ve combed through the top ten vendors, so you can quickly assess what you’d like your modern LIMS to do before you dive deeper into the evaluation process.

LIMS Vendors Feature Comparison

lims software comparison - top 13 features of a lims system

The top 13 software solution features for the modern lab:

  • Essential: Sample Tracking and Batch Management. While sample tracking is the heart of a LIMS, user-friendly batch management should accompany it. Not every vendor (fewer than half) offers batch management, which makes it difficult to handle high throughput instruments and high volumes of samples. Since most labs don’t process one sample at a time, you’ll likely want to track sample batches through their lifecycle, from accessioning to data reporting.
  • Advanced: Barcode Label Printing. Every lab sample, tube, and library should be labeled. Barcode labeling makes scanning and finding a sample in a LIMS easy. However, not all vendors have built-in barcode label printing capabilities with seamless connectivity to the most popular lab printers. Third Wave Analytics is one of the few vendors that offers this feature in Lockbox LIMS.  
  • Essential: Storage Management. Lab samples aren’t usually easy to find, especially in large labs with multiple refrigerators, freezers, and liquid nitrogen dewars in different rooms and floors. To quickly pinpoint sample locations (from the building down to the exact box location), Lockbox LIMS has storage management capabilities that can be configured to your exact requirements.
  • Essential: Stepwise Protocol Execution. Suppose your LIMS doesn’t have protocol and workflow tracking, from high-level protocols down to detailed stepwise protocols. In that case, you’re missing the chance to walk your lab technicians through essential procedures and performance metrics. If you are only now transitioning from Excel to LIMS, you might not use this functionality immediately in your lab. However, we recommend using this feature as soon as possible. Lockbox LIMS has a hierarchical workflow module that allows parent/child relationships between workflows, protocols, procedures, and steps.
  • Essential: Data Import and Export. Keeping your data with your sample tracking information makes sense. However, many LIMS don’t offer data import and export in CSV format, which isn’t ideal if you need to move information to Microsoft Excel (or an instrument) and then back into the LIMS. Importing CSV files is quick and easy with Lockbox LIMS, and you won’t need to leave your protocol.
  • Advanced: Item and Material Inventory Management. Your lab needs materials to operate, and it saves time to track on-premise inventory in real-time where you track samples. Many systems offer inventory tracking, but Lockbox LIMS allows you to manage material inventory and samples in one place. 
  • Essential: Equipment Management. Some LIMS vendors have equipment management modules that only work with specific equipment and instruments (usually also sold by the vendor). However, since Third Wave’s Lockbox LIMS is equipment agnostic, it can also be configured for any equipment or instrument integration, with attention to calibration and equipment diagnostics. To learn how the Lockbox LIMS equipment management module works, read Harnessing LIMS for Effective Lab Equipment Management.
  • Advanced: External User Portal. External, web-based user portals benefit core labs and clinical laboratories that process samples provided by clients and customers. The portal should allow external users to log in and submit samples independently, customized to your requirements, templates, and the information you request. Only a few vendors offer a web-based external user portal, including Third Wave Analytics.
  • Essential: Regulatory Compliance. Regulatory compliance is a ‘must have’ for clinical and CRO laboratories in the healthcare industry. Lockbox LIMS is configured and customized to work for your specific environment, with data integrity, audit trails, and data security specifically in mind. Third Wave Analytics performs thorough quality assurance and quality control procedures to ensure LIMS meets regulatory compliance specifications and standards, such as CLIA. Read LIMS Software Validation and Regulatory Compliance to learn more about compliance requirements. 
  • Advanced: Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) Support. NGS workflow support for molecular labs is an advanced service not offered by most LIMS vendors. Third Wave Analytics has deep understanding of NGS and the support needed to run sequencing. The Lockbox LIMS application includes features to manage the entire NGS process from library prep to pooling, sample sheet creation, and QC results capture.
  • Advanced: Integrates with your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. Lockbox LIMS is the only software solution that works out of the box with your CRM because Lockbox LIMS is built on the Salesforce platform. This gives Lockbox LIMS the scalable, flexible, and readily configured options that Salesforce has – AND allows you to seamlessly integrate your LIMS with your CRM without requiring complicated integration or interfaces. (Go from lead to result delivery with Lockbox LIMS!)
  • Advanced: Molecular Biology Design Visualizer. A few vendors offer molecular biology design software, but these solutions lack some of the core LIMS features required to run a lab efficiently. Lockbox LIMS does not have visualization functions. However, your lab team can still track and store constructs and attach images or graphs to a record. 
  • Essential: Tablet Use. Tablet and mobile options are important when you want to work using your LIMS anywhere you go and if you use tablets in the lab to read protocol steps, scan sample barcodes, locate samples, perform data entry, and view laboratory data.

What makes Lockbox LIMS stand out? 

  • Enterprise ready with MFA, SSO, encryption, and advanced sharing and permission functionality.
  • Designed to work for your specific lab environment, standard operating procedures (SOPS) and lab management requirements
  • Meets ISO requirements for the laboratory environment
  • Works with any lab that requires a SaaS cloud-based, configurable, and modular LIMS for sample management, inventory management, data management, and quality management
  • Well suited for life sciences, healthcare, microbiology, toxicology, and biobank environments
  • Built for regulatory compliance, including HIPAA, CLIA, and FDA requirements
  • Continual LIMS updates deliver the latest tech advances to your team
  • Offers scalability for your laboratory operations as your organization evolves and grows
  • Dedicated on-shore implementation and customer support 
  • Offers Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) support for molecular testing or core labs
  • Has advanced features not available through other vendors, including batch and sample storage management, and an external user portal and dashboards tailored for your organization

Don’t hesitate to contact our experts today for pricing and a more detailed analysis chart showing how Lockbox LIMS outperforms other LIMS solutions. You’ll also receive a free trial of the Lockbox LIMS System.