Hathigen LIMS vs spreadsheets for lab sample tracking.
Many labs track samples in Excel, and for a small team that can work well. This page compares a spreadsheet tracker with Hathigen LIMS, a browser-based laboratory information management system, so you can judge when it is worth moving.
Spreadsheets are cheap, flexible and familiar, and they suit one person or a small team with a low volume of samples. They become risky when several people edit the same file, when you need an audit trail for ISO/IEC 17025 or customer audits, or when due dates and workload across several labs have to be managed. Hathigen LIMS keeps what people like about spreadsheets, because it imports your existing trackers and exports back to Excel, and adds one shared, audited system with routing, workflow stages and working-day due dates.
Hathigen LIMS vs an Excel tracker.
| What matters | Hathigen LIMS | Spreadsheet tracker |
|---|---|---|
| Cost to start | From RM 50,000 one-time licence, or RM 3,200 per month (12-month minimum) | Usually already paid for with Microsoft Office or 365 |
| Time to set up | Typically live in days, set up around your own labs, methods and stages | Hours for a simple tracker |
| Several people working at once | One shared system in the browser; everyone sees the same live record | Possible with shared workbooks, but copies, locked files and conflicting edits are common |
| Who did what, and when | Every sign-in, registration, stage change, edit and configuration change is recorded | Limited: file version history, not a per-sample record of who did what |
| Sending work to the right lab | Each requested method becomes its own job in the right lab’s queue automatically | Manual: copy rows, filter sheets or send emails |
| Due dates | Working-day due dates from your method catalogue, skipping weekends and public holidays, with due-soon and late alerts | Possible with WORKDAY formulas, kept up by hand |
| Access control | Per-lab roles, from view-only to technician, chemist, reception and administrator | Whole-file permissions only |
| Backups | Hourly backups with daily, monthly and yearly retention, plus an Excel export of every job | Depends on where the file is saved |
| Where the data lives | On your own network; no internet or cloud subscription needed | Wherever the file is saved |
| Your existing data | Existing Excel trackers can be imported, and every job can be exported back to Excel | Already there |
Prices in MYR, excluding SST where applicable. Hathigen LIMS pricing: up to 3 labs and 25 users; multi-site or custom workflows from RM 90,000; yearly support and updates are 18% of the licence.
When a spreadsheet is enough
- One person, or a small team, records the samples
- Sample volume is low and turnaround is relaxed
- Nobody outside the team audits the records
- Each lab works on its own, with little hand-over between teams
Signs you have outgrown it
- Several people edit the tracker and copies drift apart
- Auditors or customers ask who changed a result, and when
- Due dates are missed because nobody sees the whole queue
- Requests arrive for several labs and are routed by email
- Only one person really understands how the spreadsheet works
- You keep the records ISO/IEC 17025 expects by hand
From Excel to Hathigen LIMS in four steps.
Share
Send us your current tracker and tell us how samples move through your lab.
Set up
We configure your labs, methods, lead times, stages, roles and holidays.
Import
Your existing Excel records come in, so history is not lost.
Go live
We train your team. Typical time to go live: days.