LabVantage Solutions Expands and Improves its Portfolio

At LabVantage Solutions’ recent virtual press conference, the provider of laboratory informatics software announced a new advanced analytics solution, a new validated SaaS solution and an update to its LIMS Platform.

Advanced Analytics Solution

LabVantage Analytics is a full-featured, self-service advanced analytics solution that lets users easily explore, analyze, and visualize LIMS, enterprise, and external data to gain actionable business insights. Designed by analytics industry experts, LabVantage Analytics seamlessly integrates with all elements of the LabVantage LIMS platform, providing a single user interface and workflow.

“LabVantage Analytics represents another milestone in our support of digital transformation—turning scientific, business, and external data into accessible knowledge that speeds new discoveries, increases lab productivity, improves quality, and reduces consumables waste and instrument downtime,” said Robert Voelkner, vice president, Sales and Marketing at LabVantage.

Voelkner continued, “LabVantage Analytics incorporates these powerful analytic tools into the LIMS environment, using an artificial intelligence engine, machine learning, and predictive and prescriptive analytics to highlight those factors that matter most to business and laboratory managers. The goal is to help labs function more efficiently while pinpointing the key information needed for more informed and profitable decision-making. These include many hidden gems currently obscured in the massive data generated by laboratories. Our advanced analytics solution makes it easy to leverage data insights throughout the enterprise to improve operational efficiency, monitor testing quality more effectively, and reduce costs.”

LabVantage Analytics enables laboratory managers and their business colleagues both inside and outside the lab to take full control of their LIMS data together with relevant business and external data. It analyzes both structured and unstructured data from a wide variety of sources, combining data ingestion, pre-processing, storage, analysis, and visualization into a single application.

Its self-service features facilitating ease-of-use include dashboards and LIMS data reports that enable users to access the information they need without delay. The system also allows users to customize dashboards and add and modify reports.

 LabVantage Analytics is designed for seamless access from within the LabVantage LIMS solution and it can ingest data from any source, including other LIMS platforms.

Validated SaaS Solution

LabVantage Solutions has also added validation to a number of its subscription-based LIMS. Adding validation support to a cloud-hosted, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) LIMS increases confidence for organizations that function in regulated sectors, such as pharmaceuticals, biobanking, and clinical and molecular diagnostics.

Pre-packaged LabVantage LIMS that now offer SaaS validation are LabVantage Pharma, LabVantage Biobanking, and LabVantage Covid-19 LIMS.

“Having a validated SaaS LIMS ensures the delivered system is managed and maintained in a controlled, risk-aware manner,” said Jeff Vannest, senior director of product management at LabVantage Solutions. “LabVantage assumes responsibility for changes made to the software during feature enhancements, upgrades, and updates. Every alteration is fully documented, tested, and reported to our customers.”

Evidence of validated control is essential when a company must report to the FDA or a similar regulatory body. Validation presents a formal record that the installed software is held to the highest possible standard in terms of data integrity and control and the responsibility rests with the vendor.

Like other types of SaaS products, LabVantage’s validated SaaS LIMS meets the growing needs of organizations that want to move beyond the traditional models of licensing, installation, maintenance, and management of software in favor of an application from a vendor that accepts responsibility for back-end security, availability, and performance.

LabVantage’s validated SaaS LIMS can be configured as pre-packaged, industry-specific solutions that address unique workflows, which right-sizes the LIMS for an organization, eliminates the need for customization, accelerates adoption and deployment, and reduces risk and total costs.

With LabVantage SaaS, customers pay an annual subscription fee to access the entire LabVantage platform—LIMS, electronic laboratory notebook, laboratory execution system, and scientific data management system. Validated software updates are routinely implemented by LabVantage, freeing up customers’ internal resources and increasing productivity. The system is highly scalable and allows customers to pay only for what they need and use. It is a flexible option that makes it easy for customers to add features and capacity as they grow.

Additionally, a vendor-validated SaaS LIMS allows customers to expand the system to other locations, subsidiaries, and partners with confidence.

Version 8.6 of LIMS Platform

System security takes the highest priority in LabVantage LIMS 8.6 with the adoption of SonarQube to evaluate and scan source code for potential vulnerabilities; a greater use of Atlassian’s Jira software to track code more closely and increase the visibility of potential security issues during development; and a partnership with a third-party cybersecurity organization to perform ongoing, objective penetration testing of the software, among other development efforts.

“LabVantage is in the forefront of taking a proactive approach to cybersecurity, spreading cybersecurity best practices throughout our development process, and working with customers to address specific security needs,” commented Matt Grulke, vice president of R&D at LabVantage Solutions. “LabVantage LIMS 8.6 was developed taking both customer input and the company’s own research into account, as such partnership is a cybersecurity best practice.”

LabVantage LIMS 8.6 increases the focus on system security — moving to a design framework that understands the nature of data vulnerability and how to respond to it. Integrating SonarQube into the development process is one example. An open-source platform, SonarQube provides continuous inspection of code quality to perform automatic reviews with static analysis to detect bugs, code smells, and other security vulnerabilities.

In addition, LabVantage has extended its standard operating procedures for coding, and expands the use of Jira software into the process to track code more closely and increase the visibility of potential security issues during development.

The company also uses “magic byte” detection — a list of file signatures and data that can identify or verify file contents — to ensure malicious files cannot be uploaded, and reviews all third-party libraries to guarantee legacy libraries and their dependent plug-ins are upgraded.

To test the approach followed in developing LabVantage 8.6, the company invited its R&D staff to assault the product during an internal hackathon. In addition, LabVantage has partnered with a third-party cybersecurity organization to perform ongoing, objective penetration testing of the software.

LabVantage is also committed to spreading a culture of cybersecurity throughout the company, introducing several initiatives to ensure the company and its products are ready for any eventuality. The company constantly monitors the OWASP Top 10, which tracks the top current critical risks to web-based applications like LIMS, and is working toward training its internal staff as Certified Ethical Hackers. The overall objective is to ensure employees are trained to recognize and avoid cross-site scripting and SQL injection issues at any point in its system.

The company will continue to explore and adopt new standard operating procedures, work instructions, and guidances to ensure all employees are adhering to a culture that emphasizes security.

“It’s not just something that the research and development team owns,” said Grulke. “It’s something the whole company must embrace to ensure LabVantage remains an exceptionally breach-resistant addition to our customers’ technology stacks.”

Looking ahead, LabVantage will shortly introduce React.js, a Java Script library that will enable the company to achieve what is

known as “security by default,” where the default settings of its software products are the most secure possible. Several other best-in-class methods, such as multi-factor authentication, will be added to LabVantage’s cybersecurity approaches, ensuring that its software provides unparalleled protection for customers’ data.

LabVantage recognizes that system security is of paramount importance in any enterprise’s digital transformation, and the company is committed to collaborating with customers to make every network its products sit on to be as secure as possible.