LABORATORY INFORMATICS

LabAnswer solutions address root cause which include preventative measures and alert notification protocols.

 

Outsource Laboratory Support Team Digs in with Root Cause Analysis

Business and Technology Goals

Our client base has multiple LIMS instances which leverage background server processing to facilitate automated results input from external sources.

The LabAnswer support team had determined that in every LIMS instance there were intermittent processing backlog issues often accompanied by data errors.
  
After reviewing the configuration of each process for each of the LIMS instances, the support team with the guidance of the support solution architect, determined multiple changes were required to address the challenges comprehensively.

  • Create preventative measures
  • Improve detection capabilities
  • Enhance processing algorithms

Solution

The support team determined the existing server operating system middleware component provided no means of detection or automated recovery for errors and failures.  Additionally, the middleware component did not have a mechanism to provide meaningful status notification when errors and failures occurred. 

Our team recommended a low cost 3rd party product which in conjunction with a LIMS service component add-on, created a solution that improved throughput, included error handling, automatic and scheduled restarts and detailed process status notifications.  After successfully piloting the solution in the business area most impacted, the support team deployed the solution to remaining areas.

Benefits

  • Incident management calls related to the original issue decrease by 90%.
  • Productivity improved dramatically as results processed as scheduled
  • Improved client satisfaction scores
  • Creation of repeatable solution with broad range of applications.  

 

The benefits of teaming with LabAnswer have been significant.

  • Dedicated support team with support solution architect oversight ensured solutions maximize application toolset potential by thinking “outside the box”.
  • Support team leveraged LabAnswer’s service level trend data to provide early indicator of systemic issue.
  • Support team applied a structured approach to solution development, testing and deployment minimizing costs and impact to business operations.
  • Service level data trends readily demonstrated value of solution post implementation.
  • The combination of production issue resolutions have contributed to a 37% reduction support costs at our client.