LIMS/SAP® ERP Interface

Challenge

When a customer came to J&R to implement an interface between a new instance of SAP^® ERP and a legacy LIMS system for the purpose of supporting a manufacturing process, the scope of the project looked very large and expensive.  It was quickly determined that the standard off-the-shelf interface between LIMS and SAP^® ERP was not going to be possible for a number of reasons.

J&R needed to help this client find the most efficient way to have their existing systems work together without duplication of effort and data sets.

Solution

With both the SAP^® ERP and LIMS software supporting manufacturing lot data, the interface solution seemed obvious – to build an interface upon those common elements.  This was the intended approach when J&R arrived on the scene.  However, J&R proposed and implemented a simpler, less costly solution based on experience with both applications and knowledge of the environment.

Understanding that as SAP^® ERP and LIMS software become more mature, they both implement more and more functionality that traditionally have been handled by the other.  ERP software often records testing results and applies release specifications.  LIMS software routinely handles manufacturing batch data and registers quality decisions.  So, when an interface between the two is needed, the common approach is to find the common ground between the two systems and interface there.  The problem with this approach is that because there is so much overlap between the two types of software, the interface becomes more complex and costly to build and maintain.  The better approach is to find the point where the systems complement each other – not duplicate each other.

In the case of J&R’s customer, the SAP^® ERP system was going to be the driving force in its manufacturing process and would specifically drive product and material numbering going forward. This presented an opportunity to remove static data management responsibility from LIMS for a whole host of data that SAP^® ERP could better manage. The design that J&R proposed and implemented was for the SAP^® ERP software to automatically log samples into LIMS based on SAP^® ERP static data – not LIMS.  The LIMS software was still responsible for managing laboratory tests, instrument interfaces, and test data management, and for sending final test results back to the SAP^® ERP system to be available for release usage decisions.

Results

The new design allows each system to do what it does best, without duplication. It keeps the maintenance of static product parameters in one place, eliminating the need to maintain that data in two places.  Instead of having to keep track of the ever changing catalog of company product parameters, the LIMS coordinators can focus solely on test definition.  Laboratory management still uses the LIMS for sample management, but no longer worries about how samples relate to each other, since this is accomplished in the SAP^® ERP system.

In the end, J&R’s design and implementation solution allowed the customer to remove operational maintenance and complexity from LIMS and implement a simple interface between two systems where the same data did not have to be synchronized.  At the outset, this project looked costly and overwhelming, however J&R simplified the solution by their deep understanding of the systems at hand and the business requirement.