2008 02 06 eln differences
DESCRIPTION
Trying to tease apart the different kinds of ELN projects, and how to increase the chances of success.TRANSCRIPT
http://www.amphora-research.com/
A journey through the ELN jungle
Simon ColesCTO
1
http://www.amphora-research.com/ 2
http://www.amphora-research.com/
Copies of these slides
2
http://www.amphora-research.com/
About Amphora
• Started in ELNs in 1996
• Globally deployed, fully electronic ELN for Kodak
• Grew from there...
• Now work with large & small companies
• Biotechs, Pharma, Chemicals
3
Who we work with
4
Who we work with
4
http://www.amphora-research.com/
Industry
5
http://www.amphora-research.com/
What we do
• Patent Evidence Creation & Preservation
• Make lawyers happy
• Which means you can make scientists happy
6
http://www.amphora-research.com/
What we do
• Sometimes our stuff is used...
• Standalone
• In conjunction with other “ELN” products
• With in house systems
7
http://www.amphora-research.com/
jungle |ˈjə ng gəl|nounan area of land overgrown with dense forest and tangled vegetation, typically in the tropics
8
http://www.amphora-research.com/
Welcome to the Jungle
9
http://www.amphora-research.com/
electronic lab notebook |ˈjə ng gəl|nounwhatever a vendor has to sellwhatever the programmer wants to write
10
Audience Survey
• Do you have a Med. Chem ELN project (in progress or complete?)
11
Audience Survey
• Do you have a Med. Chem ELN project (in progress or complete?)
• Do you have other kinds of scientists?
11
Audience Survey
• Do you have a Med. Chem ELN project (in progress or complete?)
• Do you have other kinds of scientists?
• Are you deploying into
• A regulated environment
• A discovery environment
11
http://www.amphora-research.com/
So....
• You’ve decided to get an ELN
• Do you
• Buy a tool, and fit your work to the tool?
• Find out how you work, and buy/build a tool to fit?
12
http://www.amphora-research.com/
The “ELN” Word
• Very ambiguous
• Probably best if you didn’t use it
• Say what you mean
13
http://www.amphora-research.com/
What do you mean?
• The term “ELN” means different things to different people
• Somewhere the scientists will work
• A Patent Evidence system (& long term record)
14
http://www.amphora-research.com/
Patent Evidence
• Typically this is a broad, thin layer
• Consistently applied across the whole company
15
http://www.amphora-research.com/
Differences that make a Difference
• There are 2 key aspects which impact the character of your ELN implementation
• Regulated Vs Unregulated
• Industry
16
http://www.amphora-research.com/
Regulated or not?
• If you are regulated, chances you are talking about process automation, enforcement, and compliance
• This isn’t easy, but it is
• Relatively unambiguous
• Fairly well mapped already
17
http://www.amphora-research.com/
Industry/Company Type
• Life Sciences
• Biotech or Pharma
• Biology Vs Chemistry
• Multi-national Chemicals
18
http://www.amphora-research.com/
Chemistry Vs Biology
• In Life Sciences, the biggest distinction is between Chemists and Biologists
19
http://www.amphora-research.com/
Chemistry
• Chemistry is pretty structured
• Buy (or build) them a Chemistry-centric ELN and let them get on with it
• The selection process is detailed but at least the work relatively consistently
20
http://www.amphora-research.com/
Sources of Chemistry ELNs
• If you’re a big pharma, you’re probably already set
• With varying success - this isn’t easy
• Solutions
• Buy off the shelf
• Build from what you have
• Vendor capture
21
http://www.amphora-research.com/
Sources of Chemistry
• In Biotechs, you probably can’t afford to build or do vendor capture
• Unless Cheminformatics is a core strength
• So you’re going to have do as much as you can with off-the-shelf (customised as needed)
• Nice selection of vendors, have fun!
22
http://www.amphora-research.com/
Biology
• Massive diversity
• Lots of Microsoft Office and other “non ELN” applications
• Best approach is to get out of their way
23
http://www.amphora-research.com/
Examples
• Nadine’s talk about J&J earlier
• Really good example of in-depth analysis of process
• 98% approval rate on a project that size is pretty stunning
24
http://www.amphora-research.com/
Large Chemicals
• Somewhat boring places you may or may not have heard of
• But employ 1,000 of scientists and make most of the fun stuff in your house and car
• e.g. companies like Kodak, BASF, PPG, Milliken, USG, etc.
25
http://www.amphora-research.com/
Large Chemicals
• Massive diversity
• R&D is typically very close to the customer
• Tight timescales
• Low tolerance for “non-value add” activities
26
http://www.amphora-research.com/
Large Chemicals
• The ELN project will “Open the can of worms” in terms of
• The tools people are using
• The records they are creating
• The patent evidence that is generated
27
http://www.amphora-research.com/
General Purpose ELNs
• “You all use the same Paper notebook don’t you?”
• “So surely you can all use the same Electronic notebook?”
28
http://www.amphora-research.com/
General Purpose ELNs
• You can do it for small numbers of users and certain styles of work (e.g. e2v)
• Where workflow is important
• For large numbers of users
• The diversity in process will kill you
• You end up building an expensive version of Word & Excel
29
http://www.amphora-research.com/
General Purpose ELNsFu
nctio
nalit
y
Number of users30
http://www.amphora-research.com/
General Purpose ELNsFu
nctio
nalit
y
Number of users
Possible
30
http://www.amphora-research.com/
General Purpose ELNsFu
nctio
nalit
y
Number of users
Possible
Poss
ible
30
http://www.amphora-research.com/
General Purpose ELNsFu
nctio
nalit
y
Number of users
Possible
Poss
ible
Doomed to failThe organisation will frustrate you
30
http://www.amphora-research.com/
Front end tools
• Most organisations will end up providing different front ends to different users
• Examples
• BMS, Solvay, all the other large companies
31
http://www.amphora-research.com/
Patents
• As a rule, what you need to do from a Patent perspective is pretty generic
• You might have some specific needs, but 95% of what you need can be done off the shelf
• This is one area where you want to stick with convention
32
http://www.amphora-research.com/
Security
• In Life Sciences things are relatively sane
• In Large Chemicals, you get all the fun of “Chinese Walls” created by Commercial agreements
33
http://www.amphora-research.com/
Security
• This is another whole can of worms
• That didn’t really exist until the ELN came along
• No one could find anything in the paper notebook anyway
34
http://www.amphora-research.com/
Security
• Ultimately you have to do what the organisation requires
• But you need to avoid massively complex regimes
• If you do NDA-related Chinese walls, you need to have that tagged into the record at creation
35
http://www.amphora-research.com/
Records Management
• The Cinderella of ELN projects
• Desperately important
• Clearly something that’s dependent on your own processes
36
http://www.amphora-research.com/
Conclusions
• Our original question
• Some thoughts
37
http://www.amphora-research.com/
Our Questions
• Do you
• Buy a tool, and fit your work to the tool?
• Find out how you work, and buy/build a tool to fit?
38
http://www.amphora-research.com/
Conclusion
• Unless you have been specifically charged with changing the workflow
• Don’t pick the fight
• You’re there to support the science
• Today and in the future
39
http://www.amphora-research.com/
Conclusions
• They’ve probably already got what they need anyway
• Or a very good idea of what they need
• That’s why they asked for an ELN in the first place
40
http://www.amphora-research.com/
Conclusion
• If you are charged with changing the workflow
• That’s your project, not “ELN” or whatever
• Try to keep the scope as small as possible
• Size and diversity will kill you
41
http://www.amphora-research.com/
Patent
• Stick with best practice unless you really know what you are doing
42
http://www.amphora-research.com/
Security
• Do what you have to do
• But try to keep it simple
43
http://www.amphora-research.com/
Conclusion
• Chemistry - buy, or build, the best you can
• Biology - get out of their way
• Large chemicals - you’ll never fully understand everything in detail
44