Helps customers to capture, store, and index large volumes of original raw instrument data, reports and documents, and convert the content of these records as XML files
Thermo Electron announces the release of a host of significant extensions to one of its flagship laboratory informatics solutions, eRecordManager.
Launched in 2002, eRecordManager is Thermo's award-winning solution that helps customers to capture, store, and index large volumes of original raw instrument data, reports and documents, while also converting the content of these records for storage as XML (eXtensible Mark-up Language) files.
Thermo's informatics business was, until March 2003, doing business separately as Thermo LabSystems and Thermo Galactic.
The new version, eRecordManager 2002 Release 2, provides customers with a wide range of new features focused on enhancing security of electronic records and further improving ease of use of the system.
Adding to an extensive library of XML converters, eRecordManager now offers new converters for file formats including Applied Biosystems/MDS Sciex Analyst, Dionex Chromeleon CDS (chromatography data system), and Thermo's Multichrom CDS.
Enhancements to existing file converters in the new eRecordManager release include those for Micromass Masslynx, Bruker XWIN-NMR, and Perkin Elmer's AccessChrom, Turbochrom, and Totalchrom instruments.
Through these converted XML files, eRecordManager is unique in providing the life science community with the ability to share, compare, query and visualise analytical data, with or without the original instrument hardware/software.
Many more converters are in the pipeline as Thermo Electron continues its commitment to develop converters for all commonly-used instrument file formats.
Thermo contests that conventional data archiving systems only allow the restoration of data into the original data system application, or as a 'picture' of a report which only represents a small subset of an electronic record as defined by the FDA. Another highlight of eRecordManager 2002 R2's new features is an application-type wizard that offers easy system setup for data capture and conversion of file formats from a large number of common applications.
Thermo has used its knowledge of the file and folder structures produced by the instrument software applications to create a software wizard for a set of pre-defined applications type templates.
This feature eliminates the need for customers to determine the file storage mechanisms used by their applications in order to capture and archive their data.
The new application wizard function is complemented by enhanced set of documentation on the XML converters and the conversion process. New documentation covers recommended settings for archival rules, metadata parameter lists, and configuration details. eRecordManager 2002 R2 is being distributed to all supported customers upon request.
eRecordManager allows scientists to archive electronic records and collaborate with colleagues via information sharing.
It translates instrument data into a platform-neutral format called GAML (Generalised Analytical Markup Language), based on XML, which frees the data from reliance on the original instrument software for its retrieval. Prior to the availability of eRecordManager and its library of file converters, such interrogation of data was dependent on the preservation of the exact original computing environment.
