Laboratory Information Management Systems- a survey

The management ofinstruments, especially if centralized into one analytical environment, can demand commercial expertise as well as scientific knowledge. Considerable quantities of analytical data have to be acquired, manipulated, compiled and reported, in addition to such separate administrative functions as operational budgets, cost control, staff functions, external communications, materials stores and inventory, literature updating, and so on. This leads to an obvious parallel with more commercially related environments, such as stockbrokers, solicitor’s offices and banks.