The Limitations of Excel in Clinical Data Management
Creating a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) for your lab can be complex, especially if you want to coordinate and track all lab activities, including samples, reagents, and equipment.
It’s daunting to know where to start, so some labs opt to begin with Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets, often as an interim solution.
But that’s not the best option for a modern lab, most notably because spreadsheets don’t incorporate the specific features needed to manage complex lab processes and workflows.
Worse yet, the longer a lab uses spreadsheets as an information management system, the more difficult it becomes to input, find, analyze and process critical data.
On the other hand, a LIMS can evolve and grow with a laboratory, with features and functions specifically designed for the rigors of the lab environment.
Here are seven key areas where spreadsheets and other interim solutions fall short in comparison to a comprehensive LIMS.
1. With spreadsheets, PHI and IP aren’t secure.
The security of Protected Health Information (PHI) and Intellectual Property (IP) are always important for your lab. It is nearly impossible to secure individual Excel files in a sufficient manner to meet PHI and IP requirements.
Your lab or company must secure PHI in a HIPAA-compliant manner. This generally requires sophisticated security mechanisms (e.g. two-factor authentication) that are usually impossible to implement within Excel.
Lab data is also intellectual property that requires protection. With spreadsheets like Excel or Sheets, anyone can easily copy, cut, or paste data from individual files, and that data can then be accidentally or maliciously distributed. Also, it’s extremely difficult to detect a breach in PHI or IP when a lab system is composed of disparate Excel files.
A LIMS database that has strong security measures is essential for labs and organizations that must safeguard PHI and IP. To protect your lab, look for a LIMS with strict access policies, to ensure only designated staff can access data. A full-featured LIMS will record which data was accessed and who accessed it, with a time stamp marking when access occurred.
2. Staff can delete or move Excel or Sheets files too easily.
If you’re using Excel as your LIMS, it’s far too easy for lab staff to accidentally delete or move (and then lose) Excel files and spreadsheet data. If lab staff are able to edit files, it is challenging to prevent (and detect) erroneous changes in data, or loss of information.
Losing even a single file can result in catastrophe for your lab. It would be difficult at best to recreate the data within that file. Even if you can retrieve a file, it may be outdated (and probably took a long time to find).
In contrast, a LIMS has a single database of tables of records that do not live in a folder. Lab users cannot accidentally move or delete any files or information.
3. Excel yields too many files.
Individual Excel files that track data have a tendency to multiply quickly, making it difficult to organize lab work. If you plan to use individual files to track everything in your lab, you may have dozens or even hundreds of files.
Once Excel files multiply beyond a manageable number, finding the data you need becomes a scavenger hunt. You’ll need to ask colleagues to help you locate information, or go on an exhaustive computer search that wastes hours for you and your team.
This frustrating situation can be avoided with a modern LIMS. The beauty of a purpose-built lab system is the single database, with discrete records that are stored and organized in a secure, logical format, to be accessed only by authorized staff.
4. Remote file access is difficult or impossible with Excel.
Accessing Excel spreadsheets can be a problem, especially when files are stored on servers that can only be accessed on-site. You can access some servers more easily from remote locations (such as Box)—but many servers are within firewalls that make remote access impossible.
A cloud-based LIMS resolves this issue. A LIMS is specifically designed for authorized users to have access from anywhere at any time, while providing advanced security for sensitive PHI and IP.
5. Multiple users cannot always view and/or edit a spreadsheet file simultaneously.
Excel can also cause confusion and frustration when multiple lab users attempt to access and edit files at the same time. When this happens, files may become locked for the second user, or duplicated by the second user if they edit the file.
For information that constantly needs to be accessed by multiple people at the same time, this can quickly become a nightmare for your lab.
This issue becomes irrelevant if you choose a LIMS that allows multiple users to access and edit records simultaneously.
6. Tracking file changes in Excel is difficult.
It’s important to track lab data over time, to understand how your lab has evolved. If you perform any type of clinical sample testing, tracking testing data is critical.
Tracking changes in Excel spreadsheets is exceptionally clunky—if you can do it at all. If your lab has edited a file many times, you’ll find it almost impossible to clearly understand where changes were made, who made the changes, and when the changes were made. This puts the integrity of lab data at risk.
On the other hand, a LIMS is designed to track changes, so users can easily see and document any alterations to records.
7. There’s no way to set varying levels of access for different users in Excel.
Do you need control over the level of access individual users have regarding data in your lab?
You might be able to designate individual Excel files as ‘Read Only’ for certain users, but it’s difficult to limit access to only a few data fields in that file. With Excel, read/write access is frequently an all-or-nothing scenario. Updating user access can also be a burden if your lab data includes a variety of individual files, because you’ll need to manually update each file.
LIMS databases that contain user profiles offer an incredibly efficient way to control what users can view and edit. More specifically, a LIMS that allows you to manage who can view and edit each individual data entry field is ideal. When you can control access via a user’s profile, it takes only moments to update their access and user permissions.
Use a LIMS for an organized and efficient lab
Excel was not designed to act as a LIMS and is not a good long-term solution to manage your lab. A LIMS needs to be created from a database that is designed to function as a LIMS. Individual Excel files will ultimately fail to provide the function you need in a variety of ways. To learn more about Laboratory Information Management Systems, what a LIMS does, and how Lockbox LIMS can benefit your lab, contact us today.