Case study · A cannabis testing lab in Akwesasne
Certificates of analysis without a LIMS subscription
A lab in Akwesasne paid for a LIMS only to issue COAs. We moved it to Google Sheets and Apps Script: enter data once, get a COA from a template it can edit.
The situation
A cannabis testing lab in Akwesasne was paying for a LIMS for one reason: it needed certificates of analysis. The data it recorded was simple enough that an enterprise system was more than the work called for.
The problem
Cost and sophistication. The lab was paying a quarterly subscription for a full application it didn’t need. What it needed was simpler: a spreadsheet its team already understood, with the calculations and the certificate handled for them.
The certificate itself was locked away. The LIMS built each COA from an HTML template that the vendor wouldn’t share, so the lab couldn’t change its own document.
What we did
We built the system in Google Sheets and Apps Script, on the idea behind GIMS: enter the data you record in the lab once, and every calculation and all of the COA formatting are done for you.
We also freed the certificate. The template the old system used, and wouldn’t share, became a Word document (.docx) that the lab can edit however it likes.
The result
The quarterly subscription is gone, saving the lab thousands of dollars. Because the lab owns its template, it could reconfigure its certificate, starting with taking a former lab manager’s signature off it.
What it means for your lab
If you’re paying for a LIMS mainly to produce certificates, check whether your data needs one. The right system is the one sized to the work you actually record.
- Fully customizable. Your certificate template is a document you own and edit: your layout, your fields, your signatures. Nothing is locked inside a vendor’s app.
- Built on tools you know. Where a spreadsheet and a script do the job, we build it there. Your team enters each result once, and the calculations run the same way every time.
- No subscriptions you didn’t choose. If you work with us, the only recurring payments are for services you actually want.
That is how we approach Lab data & LIMS work: a system the size of your lab, owned by your lab.
Written from our own account of the work. The client is anonymous.
Try itAn illustrative tool with sample data
Read a certificate of analysis the way an auditor does.
The COA explorer walks through a sample certificate, section by section. The data is sample data, not a client’s.
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