Technical strategy for laboratory information management systems

Abstract Technology ‘S’ curves provide a mental model that can be used in assessing technical strategies. Mission-critical laboratory information management systems need to be built on stable technology, which should be mature and which should therefore be based on standards of some kind. Consensus standards are preferred; open systems and SQL-89 are examples. Where consensus standards are not available, local standards based on local requirements are a second choice. As a business strategy, an organization may choose proprietary products as standards or may select a standard supplier, but these choices lead to fewer options for the future and become harder to change as time passes. While no single consensus standard specification is yet available for an entire LIMS, consensus standards are available for most of the needed component technologies: computer hardware, data communication, programming, data description, and interface to relational data bases. Consensus has not developed for standards for system user interface or for data reporting, even though they are mature technologies, so requirements-based standards are appropriate for those areas.