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With the importance of consistent quality in biobanking storage, continuously improving biobank laboratory and facility operations is not just a good idea, it is a necessity.
Biobanks, Tissue Banks, Blood Banks, and Cryobank storage facilities that aim to increase market share, lower costs, mitigate risks, and improve operations to ensure they meet and exceed their expectations are looking to automation for operational efficiencies, particularly as it pertains to internal and external quality and compliance.
Many biobank organizations focus their efforts on improving quality and compliance. One of the major challenges is that common, or more traditional, practices for managing quality and compliance data are becoming outdated with widespread availability of emerging digital lab transformation technologies.
When provided with the proper solutions, automated reporting operations for biobank facility and equipment data can be generated much easier than in the past and organizations that implement such solutions will see many benefits. Understanding these benefits—and potential challenges—will ensure interdepartmental support for utilizing automated reporting for many areas of biobank operations.
1) Accurate, Reliable Data
Data that is accurate and reliable is a key benefit to automated reporting. It provides a foundation for biobank operations. When data from equipment and facility conditions is inaccurate and unreliable, biobanks are left with many challenges.
Automated reporting for biobank equipment and facility conditions and operations, such as accurate data of storage equipment, provides increased oversight and assurance knowing that valuable devices are functioning optimally and the samples or assets stored within are safe. Automated reporting delivers the right data at the right time, and ensures that all reporting on biobank operations runs successfully, data is input correctly, and any customized reports for internal or external audits and inspections are generated appropriately.
Robust software solutions that handle complex reporting tasks are imperative to efficiently reporting on biobank operations and conditions. Biobank employees are relieved from manual, paper-based reporting functions by the digital solution, an added benefit when implementing automated reporting systems that effectively eliminates hours of tedious, difficult, and boring manual reporting tasks.
Biobank storage facilities process vast amounts of data, which can be very difficult to derive valuable insights from, particularly with manual reporting processes still in place. With an automated reporting system, biobank equipment and storage data is readily available and gives organizations the ability to report on myriad aspects within the system, create a variety of graphs and reports, and access real-time information. These benefits enable biobanking personnel to view data holistically and derive insights for improvements quickly and efficiently.
2) Increase Productivity
Despite the benefits of implementing new technology, when a biobank’s technological demands increase, productivity can become an issue. An estimated eight hours a week for biobank facilities and operations employees is lost due to unnecessary data management. Automated reporting operations can resolve these issues. Time and money is saved from eliminating employee’s time spent manually recording and reporting data from biobank equipment and facility conditions. Automated reporting also minimizes the necessity for operator intervention on specific facility conditions and equipment. In most cases, multiple hours in a day are saved, which allows for more time to process other tasks and improve overall systems usage.
Implementing automated reporting systems for monitoring biobank laboratory facility and equipment conditions has shown to save facilities and operations employees at least one full day of work per week.
The impact of instant, real-time access to crucial reports on facility and equipment conditions for quality and compliance is almost immeasurable, almost. Biobank quality managers are able to focus on analysis and effective decision-making rather than worrying about system maintenance and repair. Having a fully automated and integrated system enables consistent comparison of multi-site operations and is another added value to improve overall operations.
3) Quality & Compliance
Automated reporting for biobank equipment and facility monitoring is becoming necessary for many organizations. Time is always a factor when needing to prove quality and compliance. Due to organizational complexities, biobanks require solutions with ease of management, and the ability to track quality and compliance more effectively for a variety of operational processes. Automated reporting processes for biobank facility and equipment monitoring results in more standardized, consistent processes and improves standard operating procedures (SOPs). This allows biobank employees to focus more on important science-based tasks.
Previous methods for manually inputting and analyzing quality and compliance data in biobank facilities are already antiquated. There are a plethora of technologies on the market that enable easier data acquisition and management. Biobank facilities and operations managers that leverage technology for data acquisition and management processes are able to focus their time planning for future growth and innovation.
If an employee at a biobank spends a majority of their time compiling data, ensuring accuracy, and generating manual reports, there is very little time left to leverage any insights that might be derived from this data. Utilizing advanced monitoring technologies with automated reporting allows for increased capacity with quality and compliance data management. Automated reporting solutions for biobank equipment and facility monitoring analyze all data and create visual, graphical and numerical reports instantly for key decision makers and stakeholders. Quality and compliance managers are able to see increased results in less time. Automated reporting for biobank equipment and facility monitoring is primarily about moving from reactive data acquisition and management, to proactive data optimization. Any biobanking organization that switches to automated reporting processes will gain a competitive advantage.
Choosing a Solution
Deciding on the right solution for biobank equipment and facility monitoring is difficult, and choosing a software that is truly flexible to fit into unique operational requirements is a challenging process. Flexibility with a solution and capabilities for customization of workflows, data fields, form fills, reports, rules, and user access are all important areas to consider. Also, the overall user interface is a very important aspect for continued benefits with end-users. Focusing attention on a solution’s flexibility is a critical part of the decision-making process.
