LabAnswer and OpGen implement the STARLIMS Cloud Platform to Support OpGen’s CLIA Certified Clinical Services Laboratory in Under Four Months

LabAnswer has announced the implementation of a cloud based, HIPAA compliant system to support OpGen’s newly launched clinical services laboratory. This CLIA certified laboratory will focus on developing a best-in-class portfolio of genetic tests and analysis services for the surveillance and identification of healthcare associated infections (HAIs) and human pathogens. Next generation DNA and genetic analysis technologies generate a tremendous amount of sequencing data that benefits significantly from automated scientific data management that a LIMS system provides.

OpGen contacted LabAnswer for assistance in implementing a system to support the launch of their new clinical laboratory services. With a requirement to have a system up and running in less than four months, OpGen selected LabAnswer because of its depth and breadth of experience in providing complete end-to-end service solutions with capabilities to take a system’s implementation from strategy and planning, through solution implementation and then ongoing support. LabAnswer brought to bear subject matter experts with hands on experience running labs, superb design and requirements gathering skills, configuration expertise, and project management and execution methodologies to make this a reality.

LabAnswer and OpGen identified the STARLIMS Cloud Platform as the enterprise information system to support the laboratory. The STARLIMS application provides configurable functionality to support business functions required by the clinical lab. Deploying via a cloud platform provides many benefits including no upfront capital or hardware costs, secure infrastructure, data privacy controls, and flexibility needed to rapidly develop and deploy an application. As business demand for the clinical services increases, the cloud platform will also be able to continuously scale without hardware upgrade projects.

At the onset, LabAnswer and OpGen formulated both strategic and tactical plans to deliver highest value functionality within strict business deadlines. In a strategic planning capacity, LabAnswer defined implementation scope by defining vision, goals and objectives, creating business process workflows and eliciting requirements.  After the initial scope was defined, the teams worked together to prioritize critical system and high value functions to be implemented in the LIMS, and relegated lesser value functions to an enhancement queue. In parallel, the STARLIMS Cloud Platform was setup to support the configuration, testing and deployment phases of the project. LabAnswer developed the system in an iterative prototyping model that kept the OpGen team constantly engaged in the evolution of the system.  As the system development entered into the final phase, LabAnswer executed the training and data prep for system go live in July.