[MLUG] LIMS, ELNs and such

[Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

I spoke recently to a professor who recommends that we use a LIMS 
(Laboratory Information Management System) instead of developing our own 
LAMP-based system.  Apparently there are LIMS out there that would be 
nearly ready to manage the kind of data we will be collecting.  We want to 
use a web-based data entry system based on PHP, have MySQL manage the data 
and of course run this all on Linux with Apache and mod-ssl.  It all seems 
pretty straightforward to me.

I get the impression that LIMS are expensive.  I also get the impression 
that they aren't going to do more for me than the system we can develop. 
Of course, there is cost in development, but I've seen one of my guys 
develop a nice data-entry form in only a few hours, so I don't think the 
development costs are all that tremendous.  I also think that there are 
tremendous advantages in developing our own system.  For one, it will do 
just what we want it to do.  It will also be very flexible.

The other thing my colleague mentioned was the ELN (Electronic Lab [or 
Laboratory] Notebook).  I don't see why we need this, but I do see some 
value in the concept.  On the other hand, the ELN seems to be many 
different things to many different people and I saw a lot of confusing 
verbiage that led me to wonder if it is not possible to simply say what 
the ELN can do.  What, for example, is a "generic authoring tool?"  My 
guess is that I don't want one.

I'm left wondering how much of LIMS and ELNs is corporate hype and how 
much is real value for the consumer.  Much of what I read sounded like 
unnecessarily complex jargon of the kind companies love to produce.  The 
idea is to make the customer afraid to appear stupid by asking a question.

Any opinions?

Mike

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