When the idea to design and develop Optima LRMS® took shape, it was clear to our founders that the main objectives were to address two important areas.
Firstly, it should facilitate the planning of laboratory activities, drastically reducing the time required to do so and freeing up staff for higher value- added activities.
On the other hand, the software should collect all the information about the execution of the activities and provide useful reporting tools for meaningful insights.
At Optima, we are proud to be part of our customers’ digital transformation journey and to be part of the discussion about which indicators would be most relevant to their business goals.
Laboratory Performance Indicators versus Metrics
Key Performance Indicators ( KPIs) and metrics are both quantitative measurements, but should be used for different purposes. While metrics provide quantifiable data points and track the progress of specific processes or business actions, KPIs are directly linked to specific business objectives and show whether an organisation is winning or losing against those strategic goals.
A good analogy is to think of a metric as real-time reporting of a play on the field, that is constantly updated, while the KPI is the scoreboard that shows whether you are winning the entire game
In short, metrics provide a detailed, granular view of operations, while KPIs provide an overview of overall success and strategic progress.
Measuring your Lab Performance with Optima LRMS®
Once the information is collected in your Optima LRMS® database, you can derive every conceivable measurement from it. However, measuring everything can be confusing and misleading, because tracking the wrong metrics can lead to a waste of time and resources.
As a recommendation, if an indicator does not provide valuable information for improvement, it should be quickly discarded.
The very first business objective for your laboratory is to improve efficiency, quality and productivity. Therefore, Optima LRMS® offers you several options to track your metrics based on the data processed during the automatic scheduling and to evaluate the performance of your laboratory operations.
Potential metrics and KPIs for Laboratory operations with Optima LRMS®
Turn around Time (TAT)
Allows you to track the average time it takes to complete a particular task or process, for example, from receipt of the sample to delivery of the final result. So you could:
- Assess whether or not the average TAT is falling below expectations over a given period of time
- Identify the factors impacting your TAT and explore the possible options to reduce the duration
- Measure adherence to schedules: Actual start time and completion compared to times facilitates by the Optima automated scheduling.
- Evaluate your ability to commit to a more accurate TAT for specific processes
The KPI would be directly linked to productivity by tracking the total number of samples processed over a period of time against a business target.
First Time Right (FTR)
Allows you to evaluate the effectiveness of the technical analysis process and understand how often a sample or batch needs to be re-run because something went wrong and result are out of specification. So you can:
- Determine the percentage of samples that meet quality standards on the first attempt.
- Identify error rates, the frequency of mistakes in processes or data at the employee and equipment level
- Evaluate test accuracy, review protocols, reagent quality and instrument validation.
The KPI would be directly linked to quality by tracking the percentage of rejected samples over a period of time against a quality target
Sample Processing Time (SPT)
Allows you to evaluate the accuracy of your forecats in terms of your ability to process a higher number of samples. By tracking this metric, you can:
- Review sample workflow and identify bottlenecks
- Review potential batch processing opportunities
- Assess instrument readiness (validated, need for specific settings, calibration…)
- Check how easyly analysts can access the information they need to do their job
- Evaluate the performance of the analysts and instruments
The KPI would be directly linked to effectiveness and also contribute to continuous improvement initiatives.
There are certainly many more metrics that can be tracked in Optima LRMS® once your activities start being automatically scheduled. Some are very useful when you start with Optima, while others only really become relevant once the data has accumulated over a period of time.
The Optima LRMS® application allows you to create your own reports, configure your personalised dashboard and extract summaries from the built-in reports.
Last but not least, the Optima team is always ready to discuss the best approaches with you and for you.
