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“Has anyone seen last week’s Salmonella results for batch 8B?” the QA manager shouts across the lab.
Someone digs through binders and printouts. Another scrolls through a maze of file names, hoping the answer appears before the audit clock runs out.
What’s behind this mess?
It’s the same thing that:
Yes, we’re talking about good old Excel spreadsheets.
They’re behind million-dollar mistakes, yet 70–85% globally of labs still rely on them to manage data (especially in QC/QA), according to industry surveys.
It’s wild how many organizations still run their entire workflow on Excel.
– See the discussion on Reddit
Excel is great for quick calculations. But when you’re tracking hundreds – or thousands – of samples and results? There’s a reason researchers call spreadsheets the “dark matter” of corporate IT, and comedians love to make fun of them, like in this satirical YouTube clip from Stand-up Maths about the Excel fiasco in the UK.
“If you really want to descend into the abyss of compliance hell, let an inspector find an error in a spreadsheet,” says R.D. McDowall, LCGC Europe. GxP-critical calculations in Excel mean no audit controls. In regulated labs (especially under GxP, Good Practice guidelines like GMP, GLP, GCP), this is key for proving data integrity to regulators.
In quality-driven labs, even small mistakes multiply across samples, reports, and audits. Human errors, or even intentional edits, can go unnoticed for years. Anyone can open a file, change numbers or formulas.
Here’s how a LIMS like 1LIMS replaces spreadsheet chaos:
✅ Everything tracked, automatically: Every action – who entered, edited, or approved each test – is logged and timestamped.
✅ Barcodes for every sample: Scan and find any sample in seconds. The full test history pops up in seconds.
✅ Instant, ready-to-send reports: Create, sign, and send Certificates of Analysis or lab reports with a few clicks.
Curious what modern lab management feels like?
Book a free demo, and we’d be happy to show you around.
In the meantime, what’s the worst time a spreadsheet let you down? We’re collecting real stories and might even feature a few (anonymously) in an upcoming post!
👉 Discover best practices and tools for getting lab data under control.
👉 See how Micarna Group cut audit prep time by 50%.
👉 Find out how Zweifel now tracks test results in seconds.
👉 Read the expert’s take: Are spreadsheets a sound foundation for lab data integrity?
Happy & safe lab work!
❤️ Greetings,
1LIMS Team
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