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So you've looked at what adding a laboratory informatics solution to your cannabis testing laboratory can do for you and your workflow, and you're now considering a laboratory information management system (LIMS) for your lab. This can be an intimidating step, particularly if you have little in the way of in-house expertise in integrating informatics into the lab. How expensive will it be? What are the differences between adding an on-premises solution vs. a cloud solution? How difficult will it be to learn the system? What if the implementation goes wrong, costing even more? Will we really see any added benefit to adding a LIMS to the lab? These and other questions may fearfully get asked as you and your team venture forth into unfamiliar territory. However, know that you won't be the first lab to take this step, and you won't be the last. Stable LIMS vendors with personnel representing decades of experience have assisted labs of all types with these and other questions time and time again, and the best vendors will have the added industry-specific experience to understand and tailor LIMS selection and implementation to the nuances of your lab.

That said, you won't be relying solely on a vendor to walk you through every step of the process. The cannabis testing industry inevitably places demands on the laboratory manager and its staff to know and follow the standards, regulations, and accreditation procedures associated with the industry. Your lab should have already met or is on the way to meeting those demands, nearly set to take on new challenges, including integrating a LIMS into your lab's workflow. While the vendor and related consultants can provide vital help in the overall process, a chunk of the onus will fall on you and your team. That means understanding your business' mission, goals, budget, in-house knowledge, and procedures, as well as basic information about software acquisition, implementation, and maintenance, both short- and long-term. And, of course, you'll want to know more about the significant vendors providing clear information about how their LIMS meets the needs of a cannabis testing lab. This is often achieved by either contacting vendors directly and asking for details, or by submitting a request for information (RFI; more on that later) that attempts to draw in vendors to respond with more information about their LIMS and how it solves your lab's problems. This chapter will help guide you on that journey.