LIMSette workspace requirements are straightforward and widely available:
- Microsoft® Office Excel® for Windows® with macros enabled
- Worksheet save/export option in Adobe® PDF format for administrative archive operation
- MS instant messaging for notifications
- 2 MB free space per user
- 1 MB free space in root folder + 2 kB per data record
You the customer are responsible for maintaining any applicable licenses for these system requirements. If your system becomes unable to meet these requirements, any LIMSette archive(s) you may have will still be readable in text and/or PDF format, and can be restored by an administrator of a fully functional LIMSette installation.
These straightforward system requirements reinforce your ownership of your database. Unlike a database in MS Access®, which is hosted by MS 365® subscription in most editions, your LIMSette database archive in text/PDF format can be read without subscription services. This feature becomes crucial considering today's risks of cloudware service interruptions.
The LIMSette software is an MS (Windows®) Excel® workbook containing macros for its LIMS operations. This software has been designed and tested to meet rigorous safety standards. Even before enabling its macros, its safety may be confirmed by scanning it with industry-standard antivirus software (for example, Microsoft/Windows Defender).
- Hashed passwords
- Multilayer encryption
- Independently secured hubs
- Attachment file integrity monitoring
These features among others make LIMSette the clear choice for unparalleled data security.
Virtually all LIMS allow new record creation within their fixed databases (static tables), but LIMSette goes well beyond that static limit, to allow database modification and custom database creation. Additionally, LIMSette offers several other points of customization:
- Workflows to check records for trigger condition(s)
- Queries to poll a hub folder for records that meet specified criteria
- Classes to provide consistent content and structure for similar kinds of records
- Metadata to format the structure of complex records like specifications and samples
- Database export/import to share customizations
By design LIMSette does not disclose an application programming interface (API), to secure all internal logic for our customers' data protection.
LIMSette was designed and initially used when inflation was only around 1% annually, but was also designed with the ability to update costs easily as times and inflation rates change, when it is not realistic to expect LIMSette to forecast price projections. There are two simple methods for updating costs: the first method, available to any user with at least Lead rank, is simply to open and unlock any registry record and manually update the Bdgt $ column entry. The second method, available to a hub Admin., is to open the Data value registry, open and unlock the 4E-2-CPI record, and enter the current consumer price index (CPI-U) into the Value column, then save the record. All Bdgt $ entries in the hub will immediately scale up or down accordingly. Any further individual record adjustments can then be made via the first method as needed.
When manually entering a Svc.Acct field, just enter the group Name or the suffix of the SKU (e.g., the G or Guest for guest record 7E-2-G).
Note: Svc.Acct drop-down lists will only populate with the insource and outsource service accounts listed in the user's Jobs and staff inventory record. This feature secures service account assignment privileges to staff who have proper credentials for those service accounts.
You can track a batched sample collection via the "Sampler name" line in the sample metadata. This will list the assigned sampler and dates for task submission, receipt, and ETA for collected samples. You can even enter LAN user login name(s) in the proper "Notify" column(s) to receive IM notifications about sampler updates.
Below the batch Subms.timestamp field, the Received Timestamp will be automatically shown after batch receipt actions.
If your handlers need to make a notation for a sample, they should put it in the sample batch's Comments/Hazards field(s), so that Quality Control can apply
the proper QC flags in the preparative and/or determinative batches.
LIMSette allows the analyst to choose among alert actions for the OOS results in their original batch, without excluding them, and still sign off on all valid batch results. Subsequently, a Lead can disposition any alerted line(s) in a signed batch without changing the analyst entries. However, if the analyst entries in an alerted line need to be amended, an Admin can clear the entries, allowing analyst re-entry. All such actions will be noted automatically in the audit trail. Batch results are not entered into sample test records until the results are in a final status (Use or Red) and the batch is reviewed and approved.
After a batch has been approved by the analyst and reviewer, valid results are automatically entered into the sample test record. These results cannot be overwritten, although the test can be voided and re-tested. These data security features ensure that an original test result is not erased.
In such a case, either the next eligible signer can reject the record, or an Admin can clear the proper field(s) for you to update, with all changes tracked in the audit trail. If you need to de-activate a registry record after the last signoff line has been fully approved, an Admin can void the 1st line, which disables cross-create and prepares the record to be purged in the next archive operation.
There is no fixed limit. A hub administrator can define up to 30 metadata lines in a Data value record for that Scope type, whose Description contains the word "metadata." If more metadata lines are needed, a clerk, peer/analyst, or lead can add more metadata lines in a record of that type and then create child records from it.
Just enter Value="Confidential" or "See sidenote," then enter the confidential data in the next cell beside it (labeled alert min.), which will not be printed by default.
For added security, at least peer/analyst rank is required to change the description in a billable inventory record.
For certain add-ins (such as for 21CFR11 compliance) after you have activated the add-in, it will be auto-loaded whenever LIMSette is started.
LIMSette's backup/restore functionality protects against ransomware attacks, by allowing any hub administrator to archive the hub contents in PDF and text/TSV format, which can be stored on backup media. If your operating system has been compromised by a ransomware attack, the backup can be restored on a clean operating system.
Certain versions of MS Excel will disable Excel4 macros, which may cause this effect. If such problems occur, Microsoft recommends that within Excel, the user or administrator select File>Options>Trust Center>Trust Center Settings>Macro Settings, and then check the "Enable Excel 4.0 macros when VBA macros are enabled" check box. This should solve the problem, but if not, please contact Scientactic customer service.
Just clearing the SELF password won't work. Instead, a hub administrator must create a referral record for SELF,
get it approved, then set the SELF password to # or False. This will disable password authentication
in that hub. Afterward, if the Admin wants to totally clear the SELF password entry, or re-instate password
authentication, he/she can create another SELF referral record, get it approved, and do so.
Yes! For questions that warrant a detailed illustrated answer, Scientactic maintains a technical note library here.
Scientactic is fully committed to customer satisfaction. We have designed LIMSette for intuitive customer operation, and made the trial version and manual freely available for customer familiarization. After purchasing the fully-operational version, in the infrequent case that further assistance is needed, please contact Scientactic customer service at solutions@scientactic.org .