This is the second lesson of four in the LIMSpec Certified Consultant course at LIMS University (http://limsuniversity.com). The LCC course is a free certification course from the Laboratory Informatics Institute. The topic for this lesson is Stage 2: LIMS Selection.
Welcome to the LIMSpec Certified Consultant course from the Laboratory Informatics Institute,
Lesson 2 – Selection, is about the second stage of the LIMSpec process, which includes creating an RFP or Request For Proposal, and using the Vendor/System Scoring Workbook.
Once the information gathering stage is complete, the laboratory is ready to invite selected vendors to submit a proposal that explains exactly how they intend to provide their LIMS.
The Request For Proposal, or RFP, is a formal step, and you should keep in mind it isn’t necessary in many cases, especially where labs are not government related or part of a large corporation or other agency.
Small commercial labs can move straight to a demo of the product and if they like what they see, and coupled with the information and interaction they have had with the vendor, they are equipped to decide on their LIMS at that point. The RFP is really basically a recap of the LQ, SQ and VQ, formatted along with any necessary administrative items required by organizations or government.
Small commercial labs can move straight to a demo of the product and if they like what they see, and coupled with the information and interaction they have had with the vendor, they are equipped to decide on their LIMS at that point. The RFP is really basically a recap of the LQ, SQ and VQ, formatted along with any necessary administrative items required by organizations or government.
Small commercial labs can move straight to a demo of the product and if they like what they see, and coupled with the information and interaction they have had with the vendor, they are equipped to decide on their LIMS at that point. The RFP is really basically a recap of the LQ, SQ and VQ, formatted along with any necessary administrative items required by organizations or government.
Small commercial labs can move straight to a demo of the product and if they like what they see, and coupled with the information and interaction they have had with the vendor, they are equipped to decide on their LIMS at that point. The RFP is really basically a recap of the LQ, SQ and VQ, formatted along with any necessary administrative items required by organizations or government.
Small commercial labs can move straight to a demo of the product and if they like what they see, and coupled with the information and interaction they have had with the vendor, they are equipped to decide on their LIMS at that point. The RFP is really basically a recap of the LQ, SQ and VQ, formatted along with any necessary administrative items required by organizations or government.
Small commercial labs can move straight to a demo of the product and if they like what they see, and coupled with the information and interaction they have had with the vendor, they are equipped to decide on their LIMS at that point. The RFP is really basically a recap of the LQ, SQ and VQ, formatted along with any necessary administrative items required by organizations or government.
Small commercial labs can move straight to a demo of the product and if they like what they see, and coupled with the information and interaction they have had with the vendor, they are equipped to decide on their LIMS at that point. The RFP is really basically a recap of the LQ, SQ and VQ, formatted along with any necessary administrative items required by organizations or government.
Once a vendor receives an RFP, if they have previously had the LQ and responded to the VQ and SQ, they will be able to turn it around very quickly, since only the administrative materials will be new.
This helps shorten the sales cycle, saving time and expense on both sides, and allowing the lab to have their LIMS in place more quickly.
Initial shopping around will always be done in any case, but the use of the LIMSpec process means steps are not repeated and the information gathered initially is used efficiently.
A question and answer period is typically included in the response timeline as well, but use of the LIMSpec should minimize or eliminate that portion of the process.
The second component of the Selection stage is a vendor and system scoring workbook.
To effectively rate the responses received from the SQ and VQ, and also the demo of the LIMS, the laboratory or consultant should create an Excel workbook, with a sheet for each, or one for the VQ and one that contains an SQ and Demo section on the same sheet, to provide an overall system rating.
To effectively rate the responses received from the SQ and VQ, and also the demo of the LIMS, the laboratory or consultant should create an Excel workbook, with a sheet for each, or one for the VQ and one that contains an SQ and Demo section on the same sheet, to provide an overall system rating.
To effectively rate the responses received from the SQ and VQ, and also the demo of the LIMS, the laboratory or consultant should create an Excel workbook, with a sheet for each, or one for the VQ and one that contains an SQ and Demo section on the same sheet, to provide an overall system rating.
Note that it is useful to weight each area of assessment according to its importance to the lab, so the overall rating is more meaningful.
You will want to make your own VSS Workbook, but you can download a template to get you started using this link.
If an RFP was used, you can use the same methodology to rate the proposals you receive from the vendors. Remember to include the weighting and other assessment criteria in the RFP so that the vendors know how they and their system will be judged.
So having used the information gathering process and scored the LIMS and vendor and possibly a proposal, the decision-making process is complete. The information becomes a statement of work and forms the basis of the sales or subscription contract for the LIMS and related services. The implementation project can now begin. It is performed according to the terms of the contract, by the project managers and designated team. The next stage of the process for the LIMSpec consultant is system validation.
So having used the information gathering process and scored the LIMS and vendor and possibly a proposal, the decision-making process is complete. The information becomes a statement of work and forms the basis of the sales or subscription contract for the LIMS and related services. The implementation project can now begin. It is performed according to the terms of the contract, by the project managers and designated team. The next stage of the process for the LIMSpec consultant is system validation.
So having used the information gathering process and scored the LIMS and vendor and possibly a proposal, the decision-making process is complete.
The information becomes a statement of work and forms the basis of the sales or subscription contract for the LIMS and related services. The implementation project can now begin. It is performed according to the terms of the contract, by the project managers and designated team. The next stage of the process for the LIMSpec consultant is system validation.
The information becomes a statement of work and forms the basis of the sales or subscription contract for the LIMS and related services. The implementation project can now begin. It is performed according to the terms of the contract, by the project managers and designated team. The next stage of the process for the LIMSpec consultant is system validation.
The information becomes a statement of work and forms the basis of the sales or subscription contract for the LIMS and related services. The implementation project can now begin. It is performed according to the terms of the contract, by the project managers and designated team. The next stage of the process for the LIMSpec consultant is system validation.
The information becomes a statement of work and forms the basis of the sales or subscription contract for the LIMS and related services. The implementation project can now begin. It is performed according to the terms of the contract, by the project managers and designated team. The next stage of the process for the LIMSpec consultant is system validation.
The information becomes a statement of work and forms the basis of the sales or subscription contract for the LIMS and related services. The implementation project can now begin. It is performed according to the terms of the contract, by the project managers and designated team. The next stage of the process for the LIMSpec consultant is system validation.
The information becomes a statement of work and forms the basis of the sales or subscription contract for the LIMS and related services. The implementation project can now begin. It is performed according to the terms of the contract, by the project managers and designated team. The next stage of the process for the LIMSpec consultant is system validation.