The cool boxes arrive and the typing starts
The courier drops off a stack of cool boxes. Inside are bottles, bags or tubes, each with a sample label in a client's handwriting, and a request form listing sample IDs, sampling dates and times, the analysis suite wanted and the client's reference. Some clients email a spreadsheet the night before. Others write on the form in the van.
Reception staff sit with the forms and type each line into the LIMS. When the handwriting is unclear or the form lists a suite code you retired last year, they phone the client. Testing cannot begin until registration is complete, and for samples with short holding times, every minute at reception matters.
Why registration is still manual
- Clients send requests in their own formats, on paper, PDF or spreadsheet.
- The LIMS expects clean, complete data, so staff do the cleaning by hand.
- Suite and test names on forms rarely match the codes in the LIMS.
- Sample IDs on labels and forms do not always agree.
- Online ordering, where it exists, is not used by most clients because it is awkward.
The root problem is that the lab accepts requests in any shape and puts the translation work on its own reception team, at the busiest point of the day.
What manual registration costs
Reception becomes the bottleneck, particularly in the morning peak. Transcription errors in sample IDs, dates or tests lead to wrong analysis, amended reports and unhappy clients. Samples with limited holding times are put at risk. Skilled staff spend their time on typing.
| Registration task | Manual today | With an intake layer |
|---|---|---|
| Client orders | Paper forms and ad hoc spreadsheets | Online order or structured email, validated on entry |
| Scanned forms | Typed line by line | Read and proposed for checking |
| Test codes | Translated by staff from client wording | Mapped to LIMS codes, unknowns flagged |
| ID mismatches | Found later, if at all | Flagged at reception |
| Labels | Handwritten or printed after typing | Printed from the confirmed record |
How we build the intake layer
- We give clients a simple online order form, built around your test menu and their usual suites, which they can fill in before sampling and complete on site from a phone.
- For clients who email spreadsheets, an inbox parser reads the file and maps its columns to the fields your LIMS needs.
- Scanned paper forms are read by an extraction step that proposes each sample line. Low-confidence fields are highlighted, not guessed.
- A mapping table translates client wording and old suite names into your current LIMS test codes, maintained by your team.
- At reception, staff see the order beside the samples, scan or tick each one as received, note condition and correct anything wrong.
- Confirmed registrations are pushed into the LIMS through its API, import routine or database interface, and barcode labels print from the confirmed record.
Nothing reaches the LIMS without a person confirming it. The layer removes the typing and the translation, not the check.
What reception looks like afterwards
For clients who order online, the sample list is already waiting when the boxes arrive, and registration is a matter of confirming receipt and condition. Scanned forms need correcting rather than retyping. Queries to clients about unclear forms fall, because the order form does not accept incomplete requests.
Testing starts sooner, particularly in the morning peak, and the samples most sensitive to time are registered first.
Is sample reception your bottleneck?
- Every request form is typed into the LIMS by hand.
- Reception staff phone clients to decode handwriting.
- Transcription errors lead to amended reports.
- Client ordering portals exist but few clients use them.
- The morning sample peak delays the start of testing.