DEVELOPMENT OF LABORATORY INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (LIMS) AT UNIKL MICET

Abstract

Laboratory in an institution or a workplace hold many information such as inventory of equipment, chemicals and maintenance record. The current available method was usually manual and paper-based system. The problems with this method were it less efficient, not real-time updated and it was not easily to retrieve or to access. The objectives of this research were to develop a web-based Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) for managing laboratory information at UniKL MICET using Joomla! Content Management System (CMS) software, to simulate the information processing of LIMS and to evaluate user experience using LIMS by User Satisfaction Test (UST). The development of LIMS was divided into four stages. The first stage was analysis and feasibility study, where this stage is the most important stage to determine and provide guide in developing the LIMS interface. The second stage was the development of LIMS interface, where the LIMS is developed using Joomla! CMS. The third stage was carrying out the LIMS User Satisfaction Test (UST), where the user experience using the LIMS was evaluated. The final stage was the introduction of the system. At this stage, the LIMS features were finalized and ready for implementation at the institute. Based on the obtained UST results of 50 respondents, 74% agreed that the current manual system was efficient but requires upgrade. The average score obtained for functionality of LIMS was 3.95, which was a good indicator that the system can be used to obtain and manage laboratory information. The average score obtained for the interface of LIMS was 3.91 which indicate the LIMS provide better environment of managing laboratory information compared to the manual system. As for conclusion, the LIMS can be used to manage the laboratory information to assist the current manual system that being practiced at UniKL MICET.