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Retrieve results faster with centralized electronic storage of chromatographic data
By Linda Doherty, Ph.D.
Agilent Enterprise Software Solutions Marketing Manager
There are many reasons that chromatographic results must be revisited, including quality assurance signoffs, audits, and the need to respond to client questions. When it is cumbersome to access the data, the result is delayed reports, difficult and time-consuming audits, and slow responses to client requests. Most analytical laboratories have a variety of instrumentation from different vendors; so many times the data and results remain in disparate data systems throughout the laboratory. Central storage of data is usually one-way: archival. Retrieval of information can be tedious and time consuming. There is an obvious need for centralized storage of chromatographic data from multiple vendors that allows immediate access to archived data.
Content management and collaboration solutions like EMC Documentum or Microsoft SharePoint are excellent tools for managing files that come from Microsoft Office, but when it comes to storing scientific information, they are not designed to easily manage complicated data formats.
Today, the ability to save scientific data in a central repository is done with scientific data management tools. Agilent provides such a tool: OpenLAB Enterprise Content Manager (ECM). OpenLAB ECM has its genesis in the life sciences laboratory environment, so it has the unique ability to manage data generated from analytical instruments and measurement devices (for example, chromatography systems, mass spectrometry, NMR, imaging systems), as well as any document type.
OpenLAB Enterprise Content Manager is a software solution that provides a secure, central repository and rich content services. OpenLAB ECM allows you to create, manage, collaborate, archive, and re-use all business critical information with ease. This open system solution manages raw data and human readable documents of any data, in any form, from any supplier, and its Web-based user interface significantly reduces the learning curve for new users.
OpenLAB ECM integrates with chromatography data systems from Agilent and other vendors
Agilent’s LC, GC, and MSD ChemStations have desktop integration to OpenLAB ECM. This means that you can manage method and sequence files, along with the acquired data, directly through the ChemStation user interface. You can store methods remotely and share them across the laboratory. Data saved to ECM is versioned and can be easily recalled for review.
OpenLAB ECM also provides connectivity to non-Agilent data systems. Each system that is connected to ECM has a corresponding filter pack to tag data and files for search and retrieval. Since all data can be stored in OpenLAB ECM, a filter pack tags specific information so that information can be retrieved through search algorithms. Examples of basics tags are operator name, compound names, and retention times.
Agilent has just released two new filters – one for Waters Empower 2 and one for Dionex Chromeleon 6.8. Chromatography data systems that have a database backend, rather than a flat file repository, present an interesting data management dilemma. Database products such as Oracle and SQL Server produce an archive file that is compressed and can be easily stored for long-term data archive. However, in that archive format the data can not be viewed, indexed, or searched.
Agilent’s OpenLAB ECM system has specialized support for Waters Empower and Dionex Chromeleon data. Using these specific filter interfaces, you can schedule automated data transfer into OpenLAB ECM. OpenLAB ECM allows you to query for data that meets user-defined archive criteria. When stored in OpenLAB ECM, the data can be indexed, searched, and reviewed without a complex restore procedure.
Scalable solution
OpenLAB ECM has a modular architecture that provides flexibility when tailoring the system topography to your corporate environment. As business needs grow, OpenLAB ECM can grow. OpenLAB ECM is a proven solution that has helped organizations across many industries (chemical, pharmaceutical, environmental, and forensics) get control of their business-critical information while improving regulatory compliance, reducing operational costs, and boosting productivity levels. It takes only a short time to see a return on this investment.
To learn more about OpenLAB ECM, visit our OpenLAB product page, or read recent customer stories (5989-6349EN, 5989-5204EN) that describe the quantifiable benefits of this solution. |