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The previous chapter examined informatics in the cannabis lab, as well as specific functionality considerations of a cannabis testing LIMS. And in this chapter we've looked at the acquisition and implementation process itself. At this point, you may be asking what LIMS options are actually out there. After all, there are hundreds of vendors out there vying for your dollars. But how many of them explicitly describe how their LIMS meets the needs of the cannabis testing industry?
Whether conducting the request for information (RFI) or request for proposal (RFP) process, a quality set of questions for potential [[laboratory information management system]] (LIMS) vendors to respond to provides a solid base for helping evaluate and narrow down potential vendors. The RFI in particular is good for this sort of "fact finding," acting as an ideal means for learning more about a potential [[cannabis]] testing LIMS solution and how it can solve your [[laboratory]]'s problems, or when you're not even sure how to solve those problem yet. However, the RFI should not be unduly long and tedious to complete for prospective vendors; it should be concise, direct, and honest. This means not only presenting a clear and humble vision of your own organization and its testing and informatics goals, but also asking just the right amount of questions to allow potential vendors to demonstrate their expertise and provide a clearer picture of who they are. Some take a technical approach to an RFI, using dense language and complicated spreadsheets for fact finding. However, vendors appreciate a slightly more inviting approach, with practical questions or requests that are carefully chosen because they matter to you and your laboratory.<ref name="HolmesItsAMatch">{{cite web |url=https://allcloud.io/blog/its-a-match-how-to-run-a-good-rfi-rfp-or-rfq-and-find-the-right-partner/ |title=It's a Match: How to Run a Good RFI, RFP, or RFQ and Find the Right Partner |author=Holmes, T. |work=AllCloud Blog |date=n.d. |accessdate=02 July 2021}}</ref>


Table 1 lists 19 solutions that have been found to be publicly marketed—via a vendor website—as specifically offering features that support the cannabis testing laboratory. This means the vendor isn't simply saying their solution serves the cannabis testing industry and leaving it at that. Their websites have been found to explain in more detail how their solution meets those industry needs.
What follows are a carefully selected set of "questions" for cannabis testing LIMS vendors posed as, well, requests for information. This collection of questions is admittedly long. Keeping with advice about maintaining a concise RFI, you may not use all of these as part of your RFI process. Remember that an RFI is not meant to answer all of your questions, but rather is meant as a means to help narrow down your search to a few quality candidates while learning more about each other.<ref name="HolmesItsAMatch" /> Feel free to narrow this list down to those questions that are most important to your laboratory as part of this fact finding mission.


{|
The primary source used to compile this selection of RFI questions is the ''[[Book:LIMSpec for Cannabis Testing|LIMSpec for Cannabis Testing]]''. That specification document was designed specifically to take a regulatory-, standards-, and guidance-based approach to how laboratory informatics systems should address the needs of cannabis testing laboratories. As such, ''LIMSpec for Cannabis Testing'' turns to [[limswiki:ASTM E1578|ASTM E1578-18]] ''Standard Guide for Laboratory Informatics'' at its core, as well as more than 70 different regulations, standards, and guidance documents. Additionally, many elements from the "LIMS functionality requirements specific to cannabis testing" section of Chapter 1 are also tapped into. Other sources used to build this RFI include:
| STYLE="vertical-align:top;"|
{| class="wikitable" border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" width="80%"
|-
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;" colspan="2"|'''Table 1.''' Known LIMS solutions publically marketed as addressing the needs of cannabis testing labs
|-
  ! style="background-color:#e2e2e2; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|LIMS solution
  ! style="background-color:#e2e2e2; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|Developer
|-
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|[[ApolloLIMS]]
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|Common Cents Systems, Inc.
|-
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|[[Bika LIMS]]
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|Bika Lab Systems (Pty) Ltd and<br />the SENAITE Foundation
|-
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|[[CannabLIS]]
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|Cannabliss New England, LLC
|-
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|[[CannaLIS]]
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|Specialty Testing Solutions Ca, LLC
|-
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|[[CannaQA LIMS]]
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|LabLynx, Inc.
|-
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|[[CGM LABDAQ]]
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|CompuGroup Medical AG
|-
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|[[CloudLIMS|CloudLIMS and FreeLIMS]]
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|CloudLIMS.com, LLC
|-
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|[[Confident Cannabis LIMS]]
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|CC Software, LLC
|-
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|[[Element LIMS]]
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|Promium, LLC
|-
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|[[HORIZON LIMS]]
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|HORIZON Lab Systems, LLC
|-
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|[[LabWare GROW]]
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|LabWare, Inc.
|-
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|[[LabFlow]]
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|AINZ Corp.
|-
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|[[LIMS ABC]]
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|BGASoft, Inc.
|-
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|[[Lockbox LIMS]]
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|Third Wave Analytics, Inc.
|-
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|[[Matrix Gemini]]
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|Autoscribe Informatics, Inc.
|-
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|[[Omega LIMS]]
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|Khemia Software, Inc.
|-
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|[[QBench]]
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|Junction Concepts, Inc.
|-
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|[[QLIMS]]
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|OnQ Software Pty. Ltd.
|-
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|[[reLIMS]]
  | style="background-color:white; padding-left:10px; padding-right:10px;"|Carobar Business Solutions, LLC
|-
|}
|}


There may in fact be other vendors out there whose solution meets the needs of a cannabis testing laboratory, but it will ultimately be up to you to either discover them or draw such vendors in to explain how their solution meets your needs. This is where the value of the previously mentioned RFI comes in. Several approaches can be taken with an RFI, by publishing it in strategic locations on the internet to be found by vendors, or even sending it directly to vendors you've scouted ahead of time. In the end, the RFI isn't meant to be a means of grabbing every single detail about a vendor's cannabis testing LIMS but rather a means to further filter your vendor options down to a handful of companies who may be able to meet your lab's specific needs.  
* Most of the sources cited in the RFI questionnaires in Appendix 3 of the upcoming ''Choosing and Implementing a Cloud-based Service for your Laboratory''
* A solicitation document by the Oklahoma State Department of Health<ref name="OMESSolicArch19">{{cite web |url=https://oklahoma.gov/content/dam/ok/en/omes/documents/Solicitation3400001663.pdf |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210706222146/https://oklahoma.gov/content/dam/ok/en/omes/documents/Solicitation3400001663.pdf |format=PDF |title=OMES Solicitation #3400001663 |publisher=Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services |date=27 September 2019 |archivedate=06 July 2021 |accessdate=06 July 2021}}</ref>
* A ''Labcompare'' article about LIMS and cannabis testing<ref name="WongCanna19">{{cite web |url=https://www.labcompare.com/10-Featured-Articles/355198-Cannabis-Testing-LIMS-and-Regulations/ |title=Cannabis Testing, LIMS, and Regulations |author=Wong, S.; Wood, S. |work=Labcompare |date=11 January 2019 |accessdate=06 July 2021}}</ref>


The next chapter discusses the value of the RFI and lists a wide variety of possible questions you may want to pose in your RFI, with many of those questions being based off the ''[[Book:LIMSpec for Cannabis Testing|LIMSpec for Cannabis Testing]]''.
The ordering of the RFI questionnaire is as follows:


:RFI introduction
:Organization basics
:LIMS: Primary cannabis testing workflow
:LIMS: Workflow and operations maintenance and support
:LIMS: Interoperability and system performance
:LIMS: Software security, data integrity, and related policies
:Cloud infrastructure, security, and related policies
:Account management and support
:License agreements, service level agreements (SLAs), and contracts
:Service implementation
:Pricing


==Citation information for this chapter==
==References==
'''Chapter''': 4. LIMS acquisition, implementation, and support
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}
 
'''Edition''': Summer 2021
 
'''Title''': ''LIMS Buyer’s Guide for Cannabis Testing Laboratories''
 
'''Author for citation''': Shawn E. Douglas, Alan Vaughan
 
'''License for content''': [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International]
 
'''Publication date''': August 2021

Revision as of 21:30, 4 February 2022

Whether conducting the request for information (RFI) or request for proposal (RFP) process, a quality set of questions for potential laboratory information management system (LIMS) vendors to respond to provides a solid base for helping evaluate and narrow down potential vendors. The RFI in particular is good for this sort of "fact finding," acting as an ideal means for learning more about a potential cannabis testing LIMS solution and how it can solve your laboratory's problems, or when you're not even sure how to solve those problem yet. However, the RFI should not be unduly long and tedious to complete for prospective vendors; it should be concise, direct, and honest. This means not only presenting a clear and humble vision of your own organization and its testing and informatics goals, but also asking just the right amount of questions to allow potential vendors to demonstrate their expertise and provide a clearer picture of who they are. Some take a technical approach to an RFI, using dense language and complicated spreadsheets for fact finding. However, vendors appreciate a slightly more inviting approach, with practical questions or requests that are carefully chosen because they matter to you and your laboratory.[1]

What follows are a carefully selected set of "questions" for cannabis testing LIMS vendors posed as, well, requests for information. This collection of questions is admittedly long. Keeping with advice about maintaining a concise RFI, you may not use all of these as part of your RFI process. Remember that an RFI is not meant to answer all of your questions, but rather is meant as a means to help narrow down your search to a few quality candidates while learning more about each other.[1] Feel free to narrow this list down to those questions that are most important to your laboratory as part of this fact finding mission.

The primary source used to compile this selection of RFI questions is the LIMSpec for Cannabis Testing. That specification document was designed specifically to take a regulatory-, standards-, and guidance-based approach to how laboratory informatics systems should address the needs of cannabis testing laboratories. As such, LIMSpec for Cannabis Testing turns to ASTM E1578-18 Standard Guide for Laboratory Informatics at its core, as well as more than 70 different regulations, standards, and guidance documents. Additionally, many elements from the "LIMS functionality requirements specific to cannabis testing" section of Chapter 1 are also tapped into. Other sources used to build this RFI include:

  • Most of the sources cited in the RFI questionnaires in Appendix 3 of the upcoming Choosing and Implementing a Cloud-based Service for your Laboratory
  • A solicitation document by the Oklahoma State Department of Health[2]
  • A Labcompare article about LIMS and cannabis testing[3]

The ordering of the RFI questionnaire is as follows:

RFI introduction
Organization basics
LIMS: Primary cannabis testing workflow
LIMS: Workflow and operations maintenance and support
LIMS: Interoperability and system performance
LIMS: Software security, data integrity, and related policies
Cloud infrastructure, security, and related policies
Account management and support
License agreements, service level agreements (SLAs), and contracts
Service implementation
Pricing

References