A major goal of the designers of LLMS was to create a simple to use, flexible and comprehensive laboratory product test management system:
1/ allow a requestor to easily request product testing before the test product is sent to the laboratory.
2/ allow laboratory staff an a priori view of work being requested to allow for an evaluation of the requestor requirements, perhaps use of outside laboratories for specific tests, etc., and
3/ provide the laboratory an easy way to respond to the requestor with meaningful questions regarding technical, financial, and timeline issues.
A second major goal was to allow users of LLMS to easily view real-time “job load” statistics to see where bottlenecks are present at key points along the testing process. An always present graphic is displayed in LLMS that indicates job volumes and each key point. A click on the point reveals a detailed list of open testing jobs present at the selected point. As tests are completed on jobs released to the laboratory, LLMS automatically updates the distribution of job load across the laboratory. At completion of testing on a specific job, the job is automatically moved to a point that indicates that the job is ready for final approval and reporting.
Finally, an extensive query system has been included to allow users to ask questions of product testing information collected during the course of product testing. For example, turn-time computations can help assess performance within the laboratory and aid with capacity planning questions. What product tests seem to fail most often, or pass most often? Do certain requesting sources send products for testing that fail all the time? And so on...
