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5. An RFI for evaluating cannabis testing LIMS vendors

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.

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. 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:

RFI introduction

If you're conducting a full RFI, you're going to lead with the standard components of an RFI, including:

• a table of contents;
• an honest introduction and overview of your organization, its goals and problems, and the services sought to solve them;
• details on how the RFI evaluation process will be conducted;
• the calendar schedule (including times) for related events;
• how to submit the document and any related questions about it, including response format; and
• your organization's background, business requirements, and current technical environment.

Organization basics

Primary business objectives

Please describe the primary business objectives for your organization.

Organization history

Please give some background on your organization's history, including how long it has been offering a cannabis testing LIMS.

Financial stability

Please provide information concerning the financial stability of your organization. If your organization is public, please include relevant documents such as annual reports and supporting financial statements. If private, please include documentation that supports the representation of your organization as a stable, profitable, and sustainable one. If not profitable, please provide details about your organization's path towards profitability.

Software and services offered

Please describe the primary cannabis testing LIMS solution(s) offered by your organization, particularly those which may be relevant based upon our company's stated needs. If the software is offered as a service or the software functionality is unlocked based upon subscriber tiers, explain the different tiers of service or functionality provided and any significant exceptions and differences separating the tier levels.

Expected level of integration or interoperability

Please describe how you anticipate your cloud solutions being able to readily integrate or have base interoperability with a client's systems and business processes, while making it easier for the client to perform their tasks in the cloud.

Details about those cloud services

Please provide details about:

• number of clients specifically using your organization's cloud computing or cloud-related services;
• how long each of those services has been offered;
• the growth rate of those services over the prior fiscal year;
• the average historical downtime of a given cloud service;
• how those services or your organization overall are ranked by top research firms such as Gartner and Forrester; and
• any awards received for your organization's cloud computing or cloud-related services.

Vision and investment in those cloud services

Please provide details about the vision and future direction for choosing, developing, and implementing new in-house or third-party technologies as part of your organization's cloud computing initiative. Additionally, discuss the level of investment made by your organization towards researching, adopting, and integrating newer, more secure technologies and processes into your organization's operations.

Experience and references

Please provide details on:

• how many clients you provide (or have provided) cloud computing and cloud-related services to in our organization's industry;
• whether any of them are willing to act as references for your services;
• what experience your organization has in meeting the unique regulatory requirements of our industry;
• any examples of clients being a learning source for improving your service; and
• any whitepapers, reports, etc. authored by your organization that are relevant to our industry.

Infrastructure, security, and related policies

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Citation information for this chapter

Chapter: 5. An RFI for evaluating cannabis testing LIMS vendors

Edition: Winter 2020

Title: LIMS Buyer’s Guide for Cannabis Testing Laboratories

Author for citation: Shawn E. Douglas

License for content: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International

Publication date: TBD