The OnQ Software team would like to thank all our users who attended the Auckland user group meeting this week.

We hope you found it as beneficial as we did to gather your feedback and ensure future releases of QLIMS can continue to form an extension to your scientific skills.

We would also like to thank our guest speaker Mark Homenuke from Water Outlook for his great presentation about ‘The Data Ecosystem’ and how technology and especially partnerships between different vendors, are needed to provide a good outcome for the client.

Keep the feature requests and feedback coming.

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AUSTRALIAN MEDICINAL
CANNABIS CONFERENCE
Sofitel, Melbourne, 25-26 March 2019

We are delighted to announce that OnQ Software will be exhibiting at the 2019 Australian Medical Cannabis Conference held in Melbourne on the 25th and 26th of March.

Medical Cannabis is fast becoming the new frontier in modern medicine with TGO 93 marking the recent positive changes to the Australian Legislative environment, providing quality standards for Medicinal Cannabis and a pathway for researchers, doctors and pharmacists to begin the development, manufacturing, prescription and distribution of medicinal cannabis.

As a result, investment and research within the Medical Cannabis Industry in Australia has seen a tremendous improvement in the past few years, projecting it to be a $1 billion industry by 2025. 

Such scaling of research and evolution of regulatory requirements has resulted in a continuous growing quantity of data, managing this data becomes quite a task. This is where the implementation of a Laboratory Management and Information System (LIMS) can make all the difference.

Key Features of a LIMS for the Medicinal Cannabis Industry:

As the Medical Cannabis industry is new and rapidly growing, the most important feature of a suitable LIMS must be that it is flexible enough to readily adapt to changes in technology, testing and regulatory requirements. This is where QLIMS, OnQ Software’s in-house developed LIMS solution comes in. Besides for being flexible and adaptable, it provides the following features:

• Sample Submission: Samples can be submitted either in person or via a Customer Portal, with barcode enabled Chain of Custody (COC), storage location, possession and status tracking.

• Chain of Custody: Ability to track sample and aliquot information, from collection, transportation, testing, result entry through to disposal, along with ownership at every step of the lab workflow. Ensure the traceability of samples if sent to multiple locations for testing purposes.

• Quality Assurance through Sample Testing and Analysis: Create qualitative and quantitative tests for potency, terpene, microbial solvent, heavy metals and pesticides. Record, track and generate the test results as well as record SOP’s and ingredients to ensure compliance with TGO 93 Standards

• Formulations & Raw Material Tracking: Create Product and intermediate product formulations, including a listing of components and their quantities, as well as all the steps taken during manufacturing

• Instrument Integration and complete lab automation: Interface the LIMS with your spectrometers and chromatographs either through an API or file-based integration

• Reporting – Analytical (COA) and Regulatory: Create intuitive and meaningful reports. Generate Certificates of Analysis (COA’s) according to TGO93 requirements and authenticate test reports with e-signatures
• Data Security and Detailed Audit Trail: Role – based security and e-signatures restricts unauthorised access to sensitive data complying with ISO 17025 and FDA’s CFR 21 Part 11

Whether you are a startup or an established medical cannabis development facility, we have a solution for you. Starting at just 50$ per user, with QLIMS you can have your testing operations, quality control and regulatory compliance in order to effectively navigate this booming industry. 


For more information, enquire now! Click Here

Medical Cannabis is fast becoming the new frontier in modern medicine with TGO 93 marking the recent positive changes to the Australian Legislative environment, providing quality standards for Medicinal Cannabis and a pathway for researchers, doctors and pharmacists to begin the development, manufacturing, prescription and distribution of medicinal cannabis.

These new regulations have led to the emergence of a number of cannabis-testing laboratories as well as massive facilities for growing and manufacturing of medical-grade cannabis. Scaling of research and evolution of regulatory requirements has resulted in a continuous growing quantity of data, managing this data becomes quite a task. This is where the implementation of a Laboratory Management and Information System (LIMS) can make all the difference.

Key Features of a LIMS for the Medicinal Cannabis Industry:

As the Medical Cannabis industry is new and rapidly growing, the most important feature of a suitable LIMS must be that it is flexible enough to readily adapt to changes in technology, testing and regulatory requirements. Additionally, it must have the following features:

• Sample Submission: Samples can be submitted either in person or via a Customer Portal, with barcode enabled Chain of Custody (COC), storage location, possession and status tracking.

• Chain of Custody: Ability to track sample and aliquot information, from collection, transportation, testing, result entry through to disposal, along with ownership at every step of the lab workflow. Ensure the traceability of samples if sent to multiple locations for testing purposes.

• Quality Assurance through Sample Testing and Analysis: Create qualitative and quantitative tests for potency, terpene, microbial solvent, heavy metals and pesticides. Record, track and generate the test results as well as record SOP’s and ingredients to ensure compliance with TGO 93 Standards

• Formulations & Raw Material Tracking: Create Product and intermediate product formulations, including a listing of components and their quantities, as well as all the steps taken during manufacturing

• Instrument Integration and complete lab automation: Interface the LIMS with your spectrometers and chromatographs either through an API or file-based integration

• Analytical (COA) and Regulatory Reporting: Create intuitive and meaningful reports. Generate Certificates of Analysis (COA’s) according to TGO93 requirements and authenticate test reports with e-signatures

• Data Security and Detailed Audit Trail: Role – based security and e-signatures restricts unauthorised access to sensitive data complying with ISO 17025 and FDA’s CFR 21 Part 11

With the present-day challenges faced by cannabis testing laboratories, implementing a comprehensive LIMS becomes imperative. The goal of a LIMS is to ensure that your lab is able to focus more on scientific research through the reduction of manual workload, increased efficiency in resource management and ability to comply with the changing regulatory environment.

In today’s highly regulated research and manufacturing environment, identifying the cause of a quality failure or a nonconformity as well as having a comprehensive and structured investigation process to prevent recurrence has become a mainstay. This is where a Corrective and Preventive Actions (CAPA) manager comes into play.

Many see CAPA’s as an arduous task that only needs to be completed in order to remain compliant, rather, the CAPA manager should be viewed as an end-to-end system that provides the tools necessary for identifying, evaluating and investigating incidents as well as implementing and checking the effectiveness of a resolution, for quality control and regulation.

The QLIMS CAPA manager is designed to maintain Corrective and Preventative procedures for general incidents, sample parameters breaching specification and Instrument failure incidents, while also integrating with the extensive capabilities of the QLIMS platform. 

The Typical Workflow:

Key Features:

• Recording and managing incidents/conflicts (intentional and unintentional)
• Record the findings of an investigation of the incident
• Record the actions that must be undertaken to resolve a conflict
• Users can review which stage the incident/problem is in currently with the help of a progress meter
• Email alerts to those associated with the incident

For more information on the QLIMS CAPA Module, Enquire Now! – Click Here

Thank you to Science Industry Australia (SIA) for hosting us and all those who stopped by our booth to speak with us at the Laboratory Management Conference this year.

   

We would also like to thank those that attended Nick Gannoulis’ presentation on LIMS-driven Digital Transformation of the Laboratory.

We have had some very productive discussions and will hopefully have some exciting news to share in the near future!

For those attending the IoT Solution World Congress in Barcelona this week please speak with the team from Elbis to learn about innovative solutions for industry including QLIMS as a part of IoT.

With the adoption of new generation Business Intelligence (BI) tools, QLIMS brings business intelligence to the people that generate results, analyse data and make decisions. The QLIMS BI Suite is powered by leading BI Solutions provider QlikSense, a next-generation self-service data visualization application that empowers users to easily create a range of flexible, interactive visualizations that drive exploration and discovery through intuition.
Comprehensive BI Tools offer a range of benefits to business users:

• It empowers business users at all levels to create innovative Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) and conduct predictive analysis without requiring detailed technical knowledge.
• Find meaningful data points without having to go through a range of spreadsheets
• Users do not have to write complex SQL queries to create graphic metrics, meters and tables this can be done with a simple drag and drop to create reports providing valuable information on laboratory performance and ensuring efficient allocation of resources
• With a simple click-of-a-button get a view of your laboratory’s current business, division of operational costs, income structure and easily drill-down into more detailed information

By utilising the Qlik Sense platform, OnQ Software enables its customers to truly take a step towards being more data driven, through;

• Pre-configured intuitive and interactive visualisations highlighting key laboratory metrics such as, batch, sample and test turnaround time’s, customer work analysis, cost analysis, site sampling analysis, cost per sample, error rates and more.
• User-Driven Creations with the ability to build your own visualisations to tailor information to your lab.
• Ability to connect to other systems and aggregate data alongside QLIMS. For example; Financial/ERP Systems.
• Quickly displaying information for operational and management reporting
• Provides a centralised information hub for collaboration and communication, sharing of relevant analyses in an organised controlled manner
• Anytime, anywhere access to all capabilities on any device

Once your lab has made the decision to incorporate a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS), then comes the big question: To build a LIMS or to buy it?

There are a number of proponents for both sides but what would actually be better for a lab, particularly in this age of ongoing technological enhancements?

When making that decision, you must consider that ultimately what you need is a LIMS that reduces sample turnaround time and errors, efficiently manages lab resources, automates routine tasks, and helps you seamlessly integrate new technologies and scale up sample volume.

Should you be Building your own LIMS or buying it from a trusted vendor?

There are some major points to consider, the first being your ability to Customise. Many labs believe that building your own LIMS allows for full customisation as you can build the LIMS specifically according to the needs of your lab. But what happens when you bring in new technology? The LIMS you have created has a rigid framework that has been customised entirely according to your lab at that point, would you be able to seamlessly upscale your research?

This issue does not arise where buying a commercial LIMS is concerned, the LIMS can be customised to integrate any change in technology, new instrumentation or a larger throughput of samples. This would extend the useful life of the system, eventually providing you with good returns on your investment.

Secondly, Cost, how much are you willing to spend in the long run? Building your own LIMS is a costlier process in terms of cost of ownership, as it compounds the total development cost.

Once you have employed IT experts or a programmer to build your LIMS for you, it doesn’t just end there, once the LIMS is complete the needs of your lab could have changed or you may have purchased expensive equipment which now cannot be integrated with your LIMS. You would have to get that programmer back in to modify your LIMS or rebuild – this cost a great deal of money and time eventually causing you to lose out in terms of a return on investment.

On the other hand, if you were to buy a LIMS that can be customised by the vendor to consistently suit any operational changes, the initial cost may be higher, but it would be a safer bet as you would not have to keep raking up more costs in the future, you have the expertise of the vendor to make the changes you need.

As illustrated in the infographic below, the reasons to buy a LIMS far outweigh those for building one:

• Speedy Implementation
• Ongoing Support and Services
• Time saved can be utilised on what is more important – Research
• Scalability – allowing your lab to grown along with advancements in global technology

Ultimately, if you want your LIMS operational in a couple of months with the flexibility of allowing your lab to expand without having to take on the effort of modifying the LIMS according to the changes in your lab, it would be preferable to dole out that cost and buy it from a trusted vendor.        

Conversely, if LIMS is not an immediate requirement, you can go ahead and make the decision to build your LIMS to the exact requirements of your laboratory.

Thank you to the Victorian State Government for hosting us and all those who came to the stand to speak with us at CommunicAsia this year.

Had some very productive discussions and hopefully some exciting news to share in the near future!