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Choosing a Provider for Your Digital Notebook or Electronic Laboratory Notebook

With over one hundred different digital notebooks and Electronic Laboratory Notebooks (ELNs) on the market is can be daunting to choose between the different options available. Once you have determined your requirements, this process becomes much easier because you can match your requirements to the features that different vendors are offering.

Things to consider​

When choosing a vendor for a digital notebook or ELN, there are several important factors to consider to ensure you make the best choice for your group or organisation. The following sections outline key considerations that may guide your decision-making process. It is also important to weigh these factors against their associated costs. For instance, if a vendor offers extensive features but charges a high price for training and support, it might be more cost-effective to opt for another provider with fewer functionalities but lower training and support expenses.

Organisational access​

Your organisation may already have access to an appropriate digital notebook or ELN that may meet your needs. For example, for academic institutions using the Microsoft suite of tools, OneNote with collaborative features may already be accessible for use in teaching. Some other lab-based tools, for example, Laboratory Information Systems (LIMS) software, may already be in use that come with a built-in ELN, or your organisation may also have a relationship or license with a particular vendor that can allow an ELN license to be added for a reduced cost.

Usability and software reputation​

Given that perceived difficulty with using digital notebooks and ELNs is a source of anxiety for researchers and others moving from paper notebooks to digital, it is important to consider the usability of the options under consideration. Researching the different options available, that meet your requirements and the considerations below, consider what other users have said about how easy the system is to set up, use, and migrate from. Ideally try out different software using a demo or trial edition with users who have similar working practices and needs as those who will be using the new system once it is implemented.

Provider reputation, experience, and stability​

Researching a vendor's experience in providing an ELN solution for your domain or type of organisation can help you to understand whether they are likely to understand the unique requirements of your field. Having relevant experience means their software includes features relevant to your domain, provide better integration with the tools that you already use, and they are likely to be able to better support your organisation in transitioning from current working practices to using their specific product. Other advantages of a more established provider with experience in your domain include:

  • More robust and reliable software
  • More likely to be able to anticipate and address relevant challenges during implementation and deployment of the software
  • More appropriate training can be provided
  • Existence of reviews, case studies, and testimonials from others with similar needs to your organisation or domain
  • More likely to have a stable financial position and long-term viability in the market.

However, there can be some advantages to working with less established ELN providers:

  • Newer providers may be more focused on providing functions that are new to the marketplace or more niche
  • May be more open to customising features to meet your specific requirements or working practices
  • Smaller organisations may have faster update cycles may mean that new functionality and fixes are available sooner
  • More likely to offer lower pricing, flexible licensing models, or extra services for early adopters
  • May be more likely to use standard and open formats enhancing data portability and interoperability, whilst also reduced the risk of becoming locked-in to a specific ELN provider

Product features and customisation​

Having decided which features you need, you need to determine whether the functionalities and capabilities you require are provided by given vendors. If a provider does not natively provide a feature or capability that you need, you should investigate whether it is possible to customise the notebook software. For example, does the software support the use of plug-ins or other add-ons to extend the functionality? Does the software provide an API or is it open source, enabling you to extend the capabilities yourself by programming your own extensions? If the software does not support such additions, is the vendor likely to be willing to work with you to adapt the software or add new features?

Hardware and software​

As part of the requirements gathering you should have identified what hardware and software you have available. If you are limited to existing hardware then you need to consider whether a particular digital notebook or ELN can run on the hardware or operating systems that you have available. There may also be prerequisite software that you need to buy for the chosen solution to function, correctly, for example, you may need to purchase database software to store associated data, or third-party software for an extended function to work. It is also important to consider how long you can run the selected choice on the existing infrastructure. Web-based notebooks may have fewer hardware and software restrictions compared to desktop applications or native mobile apps. Choice of new hardware and operating systems are likely to depend on budget, skill-levels, and space.

Performance​

If you are considering implementing a digital notebook or ELN for a large number of users, an important consideration is the scalability and performance of the software. It is reasonable to expect that a cloud-based service will have been properly tested and configured for scalability, but for multi-user digital notebooks and ELNs running on your own infrastructure, it is likely that the local IT department or administrators may need to manage scaling the solution and managing the performance of the application with many users. Consider how many users the system is meant to support and whether there are features or guidance to help ensure the service runs well with not just the anticipated load on the system, but also with increases in numbers and levels of usage.

Data security and compliance​

The vast majority of ELN vendors will provide role-based access control, but there are other security aspects to consider such as ability to run the software entirely locally, choice between public and private-cloud services, different supported authentication and authorisation methods, and other data protection features such as real-time threat monitoring and audit capabilities. Compliance may be required to a variety of regulations or standards. For example, ELNs may adhere or provide functionality to assist compliance with GDPR, Good Laboratory Practice (GLP), FDA 21 CFR Part 11, ASTM, ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO/IEC 17025, and other international standards.

If your group or organisation has specific requirements for data security or compliance to specific regulations it may be easier to select a provider that already has these functions built-in and verified by the community or regulatory body, than to attempt to create them yourself or ask a provider to add them later.

Other considerations in these areas are:

  • How easy is it to back-up the data and what options are there for where to back it up?
  • If the service is cloud-based, how often does back-up occur, how easy is it to retrieve the backed up data, and how long does recovery of data take?

What kind of support is provided?​

When choosing a provider you need to consider aspects of both how they can help you to make the transition to their software, and also the long-term support that you may need to meet your needs. For example:

  • Are they willing to provide a demo and discussion of their software?
  • Can you try before you buy?
  • Do they offer any help with implementation and deployment of the software?
  • Can they provide training for IT staff, administrators and users to help with your training requirements?
  • What is the quality, availability, and duration of the technical support on offer?
  • Is there a support community? For example, are there user support forums that enable members of the community to help with commonly asked questions, suggestions for solving problems, tips, and other best practice guidance?
  • How often are fixes or updates provided to the software or service?
  • What are the vendor's plans for new features?
  • How can feedback be provided?

Services to help with choosing a provider​

See the following sections for details of some services that can help you choose an ELN based on your needs.

ELN Finder​

PSDI is actively involved in developing the ELN Finder tool that allows users to search for and identify the most suitable ELNs for their needs using comprehensive filter criteria. The system offers dozens of distinct filter options, many of which align closely with the recommendations and considerations outlined in this resource. Currently, the tool features more than 40 ELNs for users to evaluate and choose from.

See ELN Finder, to explore the available ELNs using filters for import and export capabilities, search capability, delivery model, data storage, pricing model, and many more.

JISC Electronic research and laboratory notebook DPS​

JISC has established a dynamic purchasing system (DPS) that enables JISC and its customers a way to easily purchase good value and quality Electronic Research and Laboratory Notebook solutions (ERNs) from approved suppliers.

The DPS can be used by higher and further education institutions, specialist colleges and research council establishments in the UK, as well as any other organisations connected to the Janet network, including local authorities, regional broadband consortia, or other bodies whose core purpose is the support or advancement of further or higher education.

You can see which providers have been added to the service and find out more about how to access the DPS from JISC's Electronic research and laboratory notebook DPS.

What to do next​

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