LIMS
Definition
Laboratory Information Management System: the software platform that tracks every exhibit, test request, result, and report within a laboratory. The electronic spine of the chain of custody inside the lab.
- Full name
- Laboratory Information Management System
- Tracks
- Exhibits, test requests, results, reports
- Role
- Electronic chain-of-custody record inside the lab
Common questions
Why is a LIMS considered part of the chain of custody, not just record keeping?+
Every transfer, test and access to an exhibit is timestamped and attributed to a user in the system, so the LIMS log itself becomes evidence that custody was unbroken and documented.
What happens if a LIMS entry is made incorrectly?+
Most systems require a corrected entry rather than deletion, preserving an audit trail of the original and the correction, since silently editing exhibit history would undermine the record's credibility.
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