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| Examples in Process-Mapping – Getting Started | ||
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Those
of you currently working on or starting a LIMS
project will probably end up doing some process-mapping,
even if you don’t realize it. A few of
you with small laboratories or who purchase
a LIMS that is extremely specific may not need
to do process-mapping, but everyone else will
do it to some extent. Even though you may not realize it, when you’re trying to figure out what functionality you need to write your RFP (Request For Proposal) or when you are figuring out how to configure/customize your LIMS to your own needs, you’ll be mapping the LIMS to your own workflow. At some point, you’ll be taking your process and linking it with the LIMS processes. Quite often, I’ll be talking to someone who has never done process-mapping or work-flow analysis before, and they’ll tell me they just don’t know where to start. It sounds difficult and overwhelming. Either this person’s project didn’t budget for a consultant to help them with this task (both internal and external consultants cost the project budget money, in most cases), or the boss has said flat-out that this person has to do it by him or herself. It’s true that there’s an art to doing good process-mapping. Like anything else, the more experience you have, the better it will be and the faster it will go. The more experience you have, the better your questions will be to those needing the system. That said, you only get experience by doing it. Some people do bring a consultant in so they can learn from this experienced person, but that does not mean you can’t do it alone. If you’re dealing with the entire LIMS, just start with the highest-level processes that you can think of (e.g., sample login) and then come back and work each of these general topics to the next level. Keep doing that until you think you’ve got enough detail. If you’re not sure if you have enough detail, just remember that you can always come back and put more in. It’s a misconception that you need expensive, elaborate software tools to do process-mapping. While tools help tie the pictures together and help you remember the types of things you want to put into the process map, you can also use the most basic tools, such as MS Word drawings with text, or (I know you can’t believe I’d suggest this) pen and paper. In the next part of this article are a few high-level examples of process-mapping. They’re aimed at helping you think about how to get started. I’ve tried to select examples from different areas of the LIMS industry, as well as from a cross-section of many aspects of your own projects across the industries. The examples are split into two parts. This month, I’ll provide some general examples.. Next month, because there are so many pharmaceutical and biotech industry people receiving this newsletter, I’ll discuss examples more oriented toward these industries. Example 1: Count/Percentage-Based Testing Different industries have different names for this type of testing. What it means is that every time you run a particular method, you keep track of the fact that you ran it and must do something special after you run this method a specific number of times. For example, every 10th time you run Method XYZ, you must to run it in duplicate, and the results of both tests must be within some narrow range of each other. Some examples of the types of questions you might ask yourself concerning this process-mapping example:
Example 2: Applying Multiple Product Specifications to a Manufactured Product for the Purpose of Finding a Customer Some of you apply the most general specifications when you manufacture a product, and then later check the specifications of various customers to determine to whom to sell this batch of product. Some examples of questions you might ask yourself concerning this process-mapping example:
One tip: it’s good to ask obvious questions because it ensures you answer them, and it can help draw answers from other people. I think you get the idea, and I hope this helps you get started on your own. |
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