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Deploying an Electronic Laboratory Notebook

Once you understand your requirements and have chosen a digital notebook or Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN) provider, you are ready to start deploying your chosen notebook software. This topic provides advice on the tasks you may need to carry out during your deployment planning process. Adopting an ELN requires a carefully planned rollout strategy to ensure successful implementation. Unless the implementation is small, it is beneficial to roll out implementation in phases to enable users to adapt and to identify and fix any problems early in the process.

Management support​

One of the biggest challenges to overcome with transitioning from paper to digital notebooks is addressing the human factor, as resistance to change is common. People often hesitate to embrace new systems or alter their established workflows, which can become a significant barrier. To overcome this, strong leadership support is essential. Managers, principal investigators, department heads, supervisors, and lab managers should actively advocate for the ELN adoption making it clear what challenges the ELN aims to address, and emphasize how it will deliver tangible benefits and improvements for the group and the organization as a whole.

Initial testing​

A sensible first step is to install and configure the notebook software onto a small number of computers or devices for testing and training prior to a full rollout. This enables the software to be tested in conjunction with the chosen hardware and infrastructure, and also to test interoperability with other software in use, such as Laboratory Information Systems (LIMS), data analysis tools, and instrument management systems. Testing integration one element at a time makes it easier to identify any problems and where they originate. Keeping a log of problems enables the issues to be discussed and tracked with the software vendors or local support teams.

This is also a good time to receive training for the support team from the vendor to understand the processes involved in setting up aspects of the notebook ready for wider rollout such as designing policies, configuring user management, and setting up templates.

Setting up​

Depending on your requirements there may be major work required in setting up hardware and infrastructure to support the planned system. This work needs to completed and tested to an appropriate standard before it can be used with larger numbers of users. If extended functionality to be developed or installed to work with the ELN this also needs to be completed and tested.

Other activities that may need to be completed before users can formally use the system include:

  • Setting up user accounts and user groups
  • Configuring access policies
  • Configuring backups
  • Configuring external data storage if required
  • Defining data management policies (e.g. naming conventions, file organization, and version control)
  • Developing templates
  • Setting up reviewer practices and digital signatures
  • Documenting processes and use of the system
  • Running training for users

Pilot​

Starting with a pilot group of users offers valuable opportunities to gather feedback prior to fully deploying the ELN system. This approach helps identify any technical or operational issues with the system and evaluates how well it functions in a laboratory setting. Additionally, it allows you to refine processes, making it easier for future users to adapt and ensuring a smoother transition during the full rollout. A pilot can also highlight training needs, integration challenges, and areas for improvement to maximise the system's effectiveness. This group can also help identify what additional customisation and templates may be need to ensure that the notebooks can be used to their full potential.

It is beneficial to seek volunteer participants for the pilot who will be keen early adopters of the technology to champion the system and serve as mentors for others later in the process. Trying the system with students and new staff who are not embedded in established ways of working can also be effective. Participants can contribute feedback and create case studies to showcase successful applications of the ELN, helping future users understand its benefits and supporting training initiatives.

Staff time and resources will be needed to coordinate and plan the pilot, and that technical support will also be required. It should be clear to the users where to go to find help, and it is valuable to have at least one point of contact to facilitate ongoing support and troubleshooting.

A pilot may run for a certain length of time, or until it is established that satisfaction with the digital notebook or ELN are at a high enough level to implement the system for more or the remaining users. If there are different user groups with significantly different needs then it may be appropriate to run multiple pilots in different areas to iron out any domain specific concerns or problems.

Managing the transition from paper to digital​

There are various approaches that can be taken for managing how users move from paper to digital notebooks, and different groups may have different preferences. More cautious users may prefer to continue recording in the paper notebooks alongside the digital notebook, at least during the pilot phase. This gives reassurance that they will not lose their work and provide some trust in the software, but can be burdensome and may reduce the acceptance of the new software because it adds to their workload. For students and new staff who are not already invested with some data in a notebook, moving straight to the ELN does enable them to more quickly adopt new patterns of working. If standardisation is desired in how information is recorded and data captured in the ELN, then templates can provide a good way to ensure consistency, and potentially help with the transition.

It is important to ensure that any aspect of working with the new system is not having a negative effect on the users, their work, or the notes that they capture. For example, if the users are forced to use a keyboard to take notes, they may instead scribble on pieces of paper inside the lab and then write the notes into the ELN later, or a badly designed template may prevent users adding data that they want to record. It is important to regularly talk to users to understand any concerns or identify any problems that may be occurring to manage these as soon as possible. Ideally these problems will be identified during the pilot stage, but continuous monitoring is essential in case new problems are introduced as a result of an update or some other change in the hardware and software ecosystem that has an impact on the notebook software or users.

What to do next​

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