Data-focussed inventory management software provides web-based inventory request application to smooth sample management issues
IDBS, a provider of integrated data management, analysis and decision-making software for life sciences, has announced ActivityBase Inventory Management (Aim).
A data focused inventory management system, Aim was developed in collaboration with Chiron Corporation and can be fully integrated with ActivityBase 5.1. Scientists use a web-based inventory request application (Aim-Web) to create requests while members of the sample management group pick up these requests, fulfil them and perform various inventory tasks via the inventory management desktop application (Aim-Client).
Chiron, a leading global biotechnology company operating in biopharmaceuticals, blood testing and vaccines, uses ActivityBase from IDBS to capture, manage and integrate its drug discovery data.
Late last year, Chiron successfully implemented Aim to help support the inventory management within its discovery workflow.
The Chiron sample management group and IDBS worked closely to develop a sample inventory management system capable of handling large numbers of compounds and containers.
The inventory at Chiron comprises over two million containers, and the sample management group handles over 2000 compounds every day.
The Aim system processes and inventories the Chiron chemical screening library; it also incorporates web ordering for easy customer access and central processing for fulfilling orders efficiently.
Neil Kipling, chairman and CEO of IDBS comments: "With ever increasing numbers of samples, inventory management is no longer just for sample managers.
Research scientists benefit tremendously from access to an inventory management system that is intuitive to use and that speeds up the daily routine.
Aim also has an extensive set of application programming interface and uses XML-based interfaces, all designed to make it easy to fit Aim into existing workflows.
Aim delivers inventory management at a low cost of ownership and can be deployed quickly." Using the requesting functionality within Aim-Web, scientists such as screeners, biologists, chemists can create inventory requests for items such as plates, compounds and custom plates.
The progress of outstanding requests may also be viewed and once a fulfiller has completed a request, Aim-Web will display the item(s) as completed and ready for collection.
Aim's request fulfilment functionality enables fulfillers to review and accept requests and determine the best match for the item in the request. Fulfillers can also perform a variety of inventory management tasks including creating new containers, plates, boxes and racks, transferring compounds from one container to another, performing dilutions, replicating plates and pooling plates.
With Aim's location management function, users can define locations in a hierarchical structure.
For example, users can define buildings, rooms, labs, and fridges - right down to individual shelf level. By tracking the location history of a compound, users can accurately identify the source of any sample contamination or any erroneous registration.
Aim has also been designed to meet the needs of the sample management group managers.
A flexible report builder enables group managers to generate a range of reports which show, for example, the workload for individual team members, containers which are short of compounds and turnaround times for fulfilling requests.
Report data can also be exported to Microsoft Excel for further analysis.
In addition, an application programming interface (API) lets users develop their own custom applications to comply with their specific business rules and workflow needs.
