A LIMS migration that keeps the laboratory running while it changes underneath.
When pathology networks consolidate, the laboratories underneath them have to move onto a shared LIMS and middleware — usually mid-service, with patient results in flight. We support that migration — laboratory-side: migration planning, supplier coordination, configuration support, testing, training and change management, with one accountable point of contact through the programme.
Consolidation forces a migration the laboratory rarely has the headroom to run.
Pathology networks are merging laboratories that grew up on different systems, different reference ranges and different ways of working. Where a network converges onto a shared LIMS and middleware — as many are doing, though the pace and model vary by network — every site that is not already on it has to migrate with minimal disruption to the service it provides to clinicians and patients.
Decades of records, not a clean export
Historic results, patient identifiers, test codes, reference ranges, panels and audit history sit in a legacy structure that does not map one-to-one onto the new system. A naïve transfer loses provenance — or worse, silently misaligns a result with the wrong reference range.
Analysers and the LIMS have to keep talking
Middleware sits between the bench and the LIMS, routing orders and results across analysers from several manufacturers. Re-pointing those interfaces during a live migration is where go-lives stall — a dropped result is a clinical incident, not an IT ticket.
The team has a day job
The biomedical scientists who know the workflows are running the rota. A migration that depends on their spare time slips for months. One that ignores their knowledge ships a configuration that does not match how the laboratory actually works.
The risk is not the new software. It is the gap between go-live and a laboratory that trusts its results again — the weeks where validation, reconciliation and retraining decide whether the migration was a success or a slow-burning incident. That gap is where we work.
Four strands of the migration, supported as one piece of work.
We work to whichever LIMS and middleware the network has chosen — the role is to support your laboratory's move onto it cleanly, not to sell you a platform. Support across the whole migration, or just the strand your team cannot cover internally.
Data migration & integration
Supporting the move of historic and live data onto the new LIMS with its provenance preserved and documented, and the re-wiring of analysers and middleware so orders and results flow on day one. We help map the legacy structure to the target, reconcile what came across against what should have, and prove it before anyone relies on it.
- Field-level mapping of results, identifiers, test codes and reference ranges
- Analyser and middleware interfaces re-pointed and tested end to end, with validation evidence prepared for the laboratory's sign-off
- Reconciliation of migrated records against source — counts and content, not just a row total
- A documented audit trail of what moved, what changed and why
Configuration
Setting the new system up to match how the laboratory actually works — not the vendor default, and not a copy of the old system's quirks. Test panels, rules, reflex logic, reference ranges and report layouts, agreed with the scientists who own them and validated before go-live.
- Panels, profiles and order sets built to current clinical practice
- Auto-validation and reflex rules reviewed line by line with the laboratory
- Reference ranges and units reconciled across the merging sites
- Report formats and result comments that read the way clinicians expect
Process automation
Replacing the manual steps the old workflow carried with rules and routing the new system can run — auto-verification of in-range results, sample routing across a hub-and-spoke network, repeat and reflex logic. This is a hands-on configuration service, scoped and tested with your team within the laboratory's clinical-risk and governance framework (DCB0160), with every rule reviewed before it goes live.
- Auto-verification rules for in-range results, with clear exception handling
- Sample routing and worklist logic across hub and spoke laboratories
- Repeat, reflex and add-on rules that cut manual handling safely
- Every rule documented and tested, ready for the laboratory to validate and sign off — automation you can audit
Training
Getting the bench, the office and the duty scientists confident on the new system before go-live, and supported through it. Role-based sessions on the real configuration — not a generic vendor course — plus the quick reference the team keeps at the analyser.
- Role-based training on your configuration, not a stock curriculum
- Floor-walking and on-call support across the go-live window
- Quick-reference guides and a super-user network the team owns afterwards
- A handover so the laboratory is self-sufficient when we step away
Validate before you cut over. Reconcile before you trust it.
A clinical laboratory cannot afford a migration that is discovered to be wrong after go-live. We work in stages that each have to pass before the next begins — so the cut-over is the calm step, not the leap of faith.
1 · Scope & map
We document the legacy system, the interfaces and the workflows as they really are, then agree the mapping onto the target LIMS — what moves, what is rebuilt, and what is deliberately left behind.
2 · Build & trial
Configuration and interfaces are built in a test environment and run against pseudonymised data, provided and governed by the laboratory under its information-governance and data-protection obligations. The laboratory works through its own scenarios until the new system behaves the way it should.
3 · Reconcile & validate
Migrated data is reconciled against source — record counts and content — and the configuration and automation rules are validated and signed off by the people who own them, in line with ISO 15189:2022 requirements.
4 · Cut over & support
A planned go-live with a defined fallback, then floor-walking and on-call support through the first weeks — staying close enough to catch the issues that only surface under live load.
A single point of contact, laboratory-side.
elixir brings the laboratory and clinical-scientific perspective to the migration, drawing on years of hands-on experience across NHS pathology. Process automation here is a human-led service: we scope, build, test and document every rule with your team — the laboratory's own clinical and quality leads then validate and sign it off, in line with ISO 15189:2022 and its clinical-safety obligations.
Tell us where you are in the migration.
Send a short note about the LIMS and middleware you are moving to, the sites involved, and where the work is hardest — data, interfaces, configuration or training. We will reply with how we would approach it, what it would involve, and an honest quote — usually within two working days.