User:Shawndouglas/sandbox/sublevel4

Most additional costs are associated with additional work beyond the base configuration. For the cost-conscious clinical diagnostics lab, it will be useful to find a solution that meets as many of your needs as possible out of the box. Adding customizations, unique functionality and advance integrations increases costs, as they are a function of the time it takes a developer to add them. As such, consider a highly user-configurable system as much as possible.

Another area of additional cost comes with maintenance, support and warranty (MSW). The MSW plan you pay for will be just as important as the LIMS itself. Your LIMS will be viewed as mission-critical, and having a reliable and responsive team and resources available 24/7 is hugely important in retaining operational and competitive status. Downtime can negatively affect not only immediate customer satisfaction but also your reputation. This is where the MSW comes in. Analyze the vendor’s MSW carefully.

Purchase of a LIMS will usually include an MSW as a percentage of the license fee, typically 15 to 20 percent annually. If you’ve opted for a subscription-based cloud service, the MSW should be included in the monthly or annual subscription costs. The MSW should include a set number of support hours so your users can contact the vendor and get help when they encounter problems. It should include updates and upgrades (i.e., maintenance), and unlimited free fixes of any bugs (i.e., warranty).

You may also have a need for additional professional services (e.g., consulting, customization and additional training), including implementation help. These services are generally billed hourly. However, implementation services may be milestone-based. Many vendors operate using something of a combination of the two approaches, providing best estimates for each deliverable, with the caveat that actual costs may vary somewhat. It's always best to construct a budget with around 20 percent additional funds available in case of unforeseen obstacles, or to support additional features or functions down the road.

A few other areas where additional costs or fees may spring up include:

• Maintenance on your self-hosted solution.
• More storage space.
• Data migration.
• Disaster recovery.
• Additional cybersecurity services.
• Additional instrument or software integrations.
• Additional LIMS modules.
• Additional validation services for data or the LIMS.
• Support beyond the MSW.