Laboratory information management for private clinical labs
Vial Trail is a cloud LIMS that runs a clinical laboratory from order to report: patient registration, sample accessioning, result entry, second-person verification, report PDFs and billing. Each lab's data is kept separate and every change is recorded.
- Second-person verification
- Each lab's data kept separate
- Every change audited
Orders in progress
13
Awaiting verification
15
Critical, not communicated
2
Orders overdue
3
| Accession | Patient | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-004821 | R. Fernando | 96 mg/dLN | verified |
| 2026-004822 | S. Jayasuriya | 6.8 mmol/LHH | entered |
| 2026-004823 | M. Perera | 10.9 g/dLL | entered |
| 2026-004824 | A. Silva | 5.9 mIU/LH | in progress |
| 2026-004825 | K. Wijesinghe | TraceA | amended |
Sample data for illustration.
Workflow
From order to report
One order carries the patient, the tests, the samples, the results, the report and the invoice. Accession numbers are per lab and per year.
Step 1
Order
Register the patient, pick tests or panels, name the referring physician.
Step 2
Accession
Per-lab, per-year accession numbers and printable barcodes.
Step 3
Result entry
Enter values on the bench; ranges flag N, H, L, HH, LL or A instantly.
Step 4
Verify
A second person reviews. Critical values are surfaced first.
Step 5
Report PDF
A branded, versioned report, with amendments tracked by reason.
Step 6
Invoice
Raised from the same order and settled with receipts.
What it does
The parts an assessor asks about
Who did what, when, and against which range: recorded as the work happens, not reconstructed afterwards.
Second-person verification
A result is checked by a second person before it can be reported. The person who entered it cannot verify it, unless the lab owner has given a role that permission, for example a sole pathologist. Every result shows who entered it and who verified it.
Reference ranges kept with each result
Each result stores the normal and critical range it was flagged against. Change a range later and earlier reports still show the range that applied.
An audit trail you can read
Every change is recorded with who made it, when, and the values before and after. Owners and admins can browse it in the app.
Each lab's data is kept separate
Labs share the platform but never data. The separation is enforced in the database itself, so a mistake elsewhere in the software cannot show one lab another lab's records.
Instruments and QC
Log control runs and see Levey-Jennings charts and Westgard rule results. A failed run holds verification until it is released with a written reason.
Reagent and tube stock
Tubes come off stock at collection, reagents when a test is run and control material with each QC run, oldest expiry first, with low-stock and expiry alerts.
Branded report PDFs
Reports carry your lab's logo, letterhead and footer, the reference range in effect at entry time, and the report version. Every report issued is logged.
Billing in the same system
Invoices come from the same order: discounts, tax, part-payments, refunds and receipts, plus expenses and a finance dashboard.
Security and audit
How patient data is protected
Separation between labs, access by role and the audit trail are enforced by the database and the server, so a slip in the screens cannot expose another lab's records.
- Each lab's data is separated in the database, not only in the application
- Roles are set per lab, and nobody can grant more access than they hold
- Every change is audited with who made it and when
- Optional two-factor sign-in for every account
- No public sign-up: the Vial Trail team sets up each lab
Standards
Built to support ISO 15189:2022 accreditation
Accreditation is granted to laboratories, not to software. Vial Trail supplies the controls, records and evidence a lab uses in its own assessment, area by area.
Personnel
- Training and competency records per member, with expiry and an expiring-soon list
Reagents and consumables
- Reagent, tube and QC-material lots consumed first-expiry-first-out, with the lots each sample used
- Expiry and low-stock alerts; use of expired stock is flagged; waste recorded against its lot with a reason
Externally provided services
- Referral-lab register with accreditation status and expiry warnings
- Tracked shipments and printable manifests; the referral lab's report number kept with every result
- The report names the laboratory that performed a referred test
Pre-examination
- Barcoded specimen labels and per-lab accession numbers
- Sample rejection with the lab's own standard reasons and quality notes
- Sample storage and disposal against the lab's retention period
Examination
- Westgard multi-rule QC; a failed run blocks verification unless released with a written, audited reason
- Delta checks, proficiency testing and measurement uncertainty
Post-examination
- Second-person verification, and amendments that keep the original value and the reason
- Versioned reports, a log of every report issued, and a critical-value communication log
- Turnaround targets, due times and a TAT report
Nonconforming work
- A nonconformity log with root cause, corrective and preventive action, raised straight from a rejected sample
Complaints
- A complaints log with response and resolution
Data and information management
- An audit event in the same transaction as every change
- Per-lab custom roles, database-level lab isolation and optional two-factor sign-in
- Back-entry after an outage keeps the real time and records that it was back-entered
Continuity and emergency preparedness
- Printable downtime request forms and result worksheets built from your catalog
- Encrypted database backups and a written restore runbook
Evaluation and improvement
- Quality indicators: rejection rate, turnaround, amendments, critical-value communication, QC failures
- A validation pack: requirements traced to tests for each release, plus an installation and operation checklist
Reports also carry the release authority described in PHSRC Guideline 07 (Sri Lanka): who authorised the release with their SLMC registration number, and a consultant-supervision line for specialised tests. Not yet covered: instrument interfaces, auto-verification and controlled documents.
FAQ
Questions labs ask about Vial Trail
What is a LIMS?
A laboratory information management system (LIMS) is the software a laboratory runs its work on: test orders, sample labels and tracking, result entry, review and release, reports, quality control and the records an assessor asks for. In clinical labs it is also called a laboratory information system (LIS).
Who is Vial Trail for?
Private clinical and pathology laboratories that want orders, samples, results, reports and billing in one system. It is not tied to one country: each lab sets its own currency, tax, test catalog, reference ranges and report letterhead.
Is Vial Trail a cloud LIMS?
Yes. It runs in a web browser, so there is nothing to install on the lab's computers. Each lab has its own workspace, its data is kept separate from every other lab's in the database, and the database is backed up encrypted.
Does Vial Trail support ISO 15189?
It gives a lab working toward accreditation to ISO 15189:2022, the international standard for medical laboratories, the records the standard asks for: second-person verification, Westgard QC, an audit trail of every change, nonconformities, complaints, training records, quality indicators and a validation pack. Accreditation is granted to laboratories, not to software.
Can Vial Trail connect to analysers?
Not yet. Results are entered at the bench and QC runs are logged in Vial Trail; instrument interfaces and auto-verification are not yet covered.
How does a lab join Vial Trail?
There is no public sign-up. The Vial Trail team sets up each lab's workspace and its first owner account; the owner then adds staff and decides what each role may do.
Built for private labs
MRNs and accession numbers, referring physicians, your own test catalog and reference ranges, and billing in your lab's currency. Each lab's workspace is set up by the Vial Trail team.