The Biggest Threat to LIMS Implementation Projects

^{Lemoene Smit, Cape Town, 26 August 2026}

Unclear and changing requirements are the first risk we close down, with a functional specification to establish a common understanding in layman language of how the LIMS must meet the lab’s requirements

Signed off by both lab and Bika, the specification is detailed enough to unambiguously serve as a spec for programmers and as a quality management tool for acceptance testing by the lab thereafter

Analysis, configuration and project management can start to slip if super-users are not involved from day one. Early involvement reduces unrealistic timelines, weak budgets, and integration surprises

Super-users should plan for about four to five hours a week: first to review and comment on specification iterations, then to collect setup data, and finally to run acceptance tests that cover real-world work and edge cases. All new code is delivered with automated tests and, once those pass, is put through manual testing by the LIMS analysts who wrote the spec

The relationship between the super-users and Bika implementers is important for the full knowledge transfer and independence that comes with open source projects. It is best that more than one super-user be involved - losing key people mid-project can set projects back by months

Bika is web-based and its interface is built on the enterprise CMS Plone. The screens are familiar; the workflows still demand lab experience

Now imagine all of this going on in a lab at a processing plant, where samples continuously come in, thick and fast, shift after shift, 24/7 - users don’t find the time for learning a LIMS. It is frustrating because one can see how the automation brought about by LIMS can actually free analysts and push productivity up

^{This is what AI imagines these labs look like. See the unused LIMS terminals in the background}

Training alone is not enough. Bika also provides start-up support on a Test LIMS so users can practise without production pressure. Tutorials walk them through procedures step by step, and progress can be followed online

At Bika, labs pay only for real services used - sharp hardworking labs that make use on online resources and manual, score

What more can LIMS implementers do? Write a two-person super-user commitment for five hours a week into contracts? Site visits are expensive, but can be a solution to assist the lab in getting over the configuration and functionality threshold, and can be the difference between being stuck and actually starting to use the system

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