Vendor:Broughton Software Ltd.

**Broughton Software Ltd.**
Type	Limited
Industry	Laboratory informatics
Headquarters	Griffin House, First Floor, Broughton Hall, Skipton, North Yorkshire, U.K.
Area served	Europe
Products	LabHQ, LabHQ Link
Website	BroughtonSoftware.com
LinkedIn	https://www.linkedin.com/company/310710

Broughton Software Ltd. develops, distributes, deploys, and supports laboratory informatics software solutions.

History

Broughton Software Ltd. was founded in November 2012^[1] as a spinoff from Broughton Laboratories, where their flagship product, LabHQ LIMS, originated. By September 2015, the software had reached its fourth iteration.^[2]

In October 2016, Broughton Software achieved UKAS accredited certification to ISO 9001:2015 for operating a quality management system for the design and development, deployment and support of electronic data management systems for use in regulated environments.^[3]

Prior sister companies

LabHQ Ltd. was a sister company of Broughton Laboratories Limited that previously developed the LabHQ LIMS.^[4]^[5]^[6] In November 2012, Broughton Laboratories incorporated new sister company SkySource Ltd.^[7]^[8] The LabHQ LIMS was then transferred to SkySource, and LabHQ Ltd. officially dissolved on March 5, 2013.^[9] In September 2014, SkySource Ltd. became Broughton Software Ltd.^[1]

Technology and products

LabHQ

LabHQ is a modular and configurable laboratory information management system (LIMS) that helps you "store, process, report and analyse your QC data in a secure electronic environment."^[10] The software allows users to manage products, specifications, test methods and user accounts; customize many report types; and work within a GMP-regulated environment.^[10] LabHQ can be hosted locally or utilized with a software as a service (SaaS) subscription.

Additional modules

Aside from the base installation, users can choose to add four additional modules: environmental monitoring, equipment maintenance, stability study management, and stock management modules.^[10]

1. The Environmental Monitoring module is designed for sterile manufacturers to track batch and non-batch related monitoring. Users can create schedules and alerts to better monitor locations and operators. The main features of the module are the ability to add multiple tests when growth is identified, be notified when test results have reached alert and action levels, and to raise and rack investigations.^[11]

2. The Equipment Maintenance module provides users with the ability to trace equipment used against test results and record that in the audit trail. The main features allow users to track equipment status, create maintenance and calibration schedules, print equipment labels, and generate service history reports.^[12]

3. The Stability Study Management module allows users to create study protocols to track the product, storage conditions, time-points, testing regimes, and number of samples stored. Templates can be created for study protocols so that they can be reused for future batches. The module submits a sample for testing once it is pulled from storage via the stability study management module. Users can also receive notifications for each time-point and related trend data.^[13]

4. The Stock Management module provides users with the ability to trace stock used against test results and record that in the audit trail. The main features allow users to track inventory, stock levels and status; provide notifications for expiry and low stock levels; generate stock labels; and test self-made stock before use in the lab.^[14]

Features

The following feature list(s) is/are derived solely from public, freely-available online information the vendor provides. A lack of a "Y" does not necessarily mean that the product doesn't have that feature. The lack of a "Y" could mean:

the vendor chose to not put relevant feature information online despite its existence in the product.
the vendor chooses to make the feature information available only to those who create an account or call/e-mail.
the feature information exists online to the public, but a URL could not be found to cite the existence of the feature.
the feature does not exist for the product.

A vendor's product may receive more confirmed features with the addition of more public information to the vendor's site and/or by providing a URL to a page or document that can act as a citation for the existence of the feature. Prospective buyers are highly recommended to contact the vendor directly to verify features as this list isn't authoritative, and product upgrades and changes happen rapidly in some cases.

Product: LabHQ

Sample, inventory, and data management
Sample login and management?	Y^[10]
Sample tracking?	Y^[10]
Sample and/or result batching?
Task and event scheduling?	Y^[10]
Option for manual result entry?
Multiple data viewing methods?
Data and trend analysis?	Y^[10]
Data and equipment sharing?
Customizable fields and/or interface?
Query capability?
Import data?	Y^[10]
Internal file or data linking?
External file or data linking?
ELN support or integration?
Export data to MS Excel?
Raw data management?
Data warehouse?
Deadline control?
Production control?
Project and/or task management?	Y^[10]
Inventory management?	Y^[10]
Document creation and/or management?
Case management?
Workflow management?
Specification management?	Y^[10]
Customer and supplier management?	Y^[10]
Billing management?
Quality, security, and compliance
Regulatory compliance?	Y^[10]
QA / QC functions?	Y^[10]
Performance evaluation?
Audit trail?	Y^[10]
Chain of custody?
Configurable roles and security?	Y^[10]
Data normalization?
Data validation?
Data encryption?
Version control?
Automatic data backup?
Environmental monitoring?	Y^[10]
Reporting, barcoding, and printing
Custom reporting?	Y^[10]
Report printing?	Y^[10]
Label support?
Barcode support?
Export to PDF?
Export to MS Word?
Export to HTML and/or XML?
Fax integration?
Email integration?	Y^[10]
Base functionality
Administrator management?	Y^[10]
Modular?	Y^[10]
Instrument interfacing and management?	Y^[10]
Mobile device integration?
Alarms and/or alerts?	Y^[10]
Work-related time tracking?
Voice recognition system?
External monitoring?
Messaging?
Multilingual?
Network-capable?
Web client or portal?	Y^[10]
Online or integrated help?
Software as a service delivery model?	Y^[10]
Usage-based cost?
Industries served
industry-neutral