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Cannot afford LIMS? Join forces

In a blog post* considering options for a group of small pharma laboratories finding LIMS unaffordable, the author concludes that they should collaborate on requirements gathering and system evaluation, and then try for a group deal from their selected vendor. Too much of a proposal, my FOSS recommendation was not published. Paraphrased

Open Source software suits the scenario very well, with the freedom of unlimited users and installations, no license fees, and further savings by sharing the cost of common customisations.
The FOSS model also rewards sharp self-starter labs - only consumed service hours will be billed for, and labs may do as much possible themselves, turning to freely available information and user and developer forums online. Timelines and budgets dictate.

Super-users working with implementors during analysis, testing and configuration phases, will augment knowledge transfer. The group should also consider employing their own shared technical resources, and use savings for technical training and follow-up customisations tracking industry advances.

Grid by Karl Schneider

* Small Pharma/Bio QC System Selection Suggestion, 15 November 2016.

Current Open Source LIMS probably provides only a 70% match with pharma requirements. Stability management and system validation will be sizeable costs. Add instrument interfaces and another for ERP.

Assuming similar functionality and configurations, and shared training for a 5 lab group, sticking my neck out:

Customisations. Depending on gap analysis, guestimated $75k. Shared, once off. $15k per lab
System Validation, shared. Estimate?
Installation of Test/Training and Production Servers. $2.5k
Configuration. $2.5k
Training $5k
Start-up assistance $5k

Total $30k per lab, plus shared cost of validation. I might've overlooked some.

Post Implementation Support

On prepaid support buckets, hard working labs score again, only using support as the need arises. Initial demand will be high, and then taper off to very little as in-house skills grow.

Lemoene, 10 Feb 2017