Celsis Laboratory Group

“Swip Systems transformed our two out-dated divisional software and network systems into a seamless and fully automated laboratory management system, which allows us to transparently serve our customers from either of our two sites.”

Joe Rizzo – V.P. Finance

Overview

Celsis, now known as Alacami, was established over fifty years ago. Leberco Testing, Inc., based in New Jersey, and Scientific Associates, Inc., based in St. Louis, were each established to serve the pharmaceutical and personal care industries. In 1997, Celsis International acquired, merged and upgraded these two separate laboratory operations into the Celsis Laboratory Group division. Celsis Laboratory Group operates from two facilities, one located in St. Louis, Missouri and the other in Edison, New Jersey.

Challenge

Celsis Laboratory Group utilized a sample management system that was created by an in-house software developer. The system handled every aspect of the company’s daily operations from sample receipt through invoicing. Faced with an aging software development platform, the company needed to upgrade to a more current, flexible system.

Celsis required a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) that would further automate their business processes and scale with the growth of their company. Celsis also wished to upgrade their network infrastructure to include a real-time connection between their two locations and to consolidate into a single data center at their St. Louis location.

Solution

Engineers from Swip Systems met with the two Celsis managers in charge of the project to review the current software application and network infrastructure. The goal was to develop a strategy to rebuild their software application and infrastructure and ensure Celsis’ long-term success. A strategy was established and put into action.

The most important goal of the project was the development of the new software application. Our software development team began working with Celsis to review the existing software and the business processes in use at Celsis. The focus was to streamline the existing system and re-engineer the software into the new development platform.

During this process, the developers also began the integration between the new software and Celsis’ existing accounting package. In addition, data migration algorithms were developed to safely and accurately move the data from the existing system to the new software application.

While the software was under development, our network engineers began architecting the infrastructure to establish a real-time connection between the St. Louis and Edison locations. Our engineers helped Celsis select and implement the optimum mix of infrastructure components, security devices, and servers needed to properly interconnect the network.

We also assisted Celsis by providing security services to tightly lock down the network against malicious attacks and provide access to the system for their remote workforce.

Once the infrastructure was in place, our network engineers worked with Celsis to establish a disaster planning strategy to protect their data and their investment in the new system.

Our network administrators worked with the information technology personnel at Celsis to begin knowledge transfer and training to ensure that they were familiar with every aspect of the system.

Result

Twelve months from the start of the project, the infrastructure was completed, the business processes enhancements were implemented and the new software application was fully tested and operational.

This solution provided Celsis Laboratory Group with a flexible, scalable system capable of changing and growing as the company’s needs change and grow. Even today, Celsis continues to work with Swip Systems to modify their software application and infrastructure to meet their day-to-day business needs.