Is your animal facility struggling to serve your research community efficiently due to multiple electronic and paper systems that are not connected? Many laboratory animal facilities, from universities and nonprofits to biotechs and pharmaceutical companies, face significant inefficiencies because of this fragmented approach.

In this article, we’ll discuss the common problems most research facilities face and how Mosaic Vivarium, our flagship software, can help fix them.

Common Facility Problems Due to Separate Systems

• Protocol Compliance: IACUC protocols specify the number of animals allowed. If your census system only counts cages, accurate animal counts become challenging, risking non-compliance. In short, who is really tracking the animal counts?
• Health Records: Managing health issues without integrated animal tracking means creating new patient records for each sick animal, increasing administrative burden and potential for errors.
• Animal Ordering: Ensuring orders stay within IACUC protocol limits is difficult when ordering software, or paper forms aren’t connected to the operational system tracking animal usage. How do you ensure you are not inadvertently ordering beyond your limits?
• Researchers’ Animal Inventory: Researchers need to count and identify animals to be assigned to studies. Are researchers spending time tracking animals separately from the husbandry staff? Is each research group using its own approach to recordkeeping?
• 3R’s: Increasingly, oversight committees are recommending the establishment of repurposing programs where unneeded animals from one researcher are made available to others. This is very hard to do without a central database.

Imagine how much more streamlined your facility would be if all these functions were integrated into a single system based on a shared database of animals and enclosures.

How Mosaic Vivarium Boosts Efficiency

A comprehensive enterprise software solution like Mosaic Vivarium can revolutionize the way you manage your laboratory animal facility, addressing the needs of multiple stakeholders with a single version of the truth.

• Researchers can obtain real-time updates on animal inventory available for studies as soon as the husbandry staff has procured or produced the animals. Also, a central system helps investigators keep complete and consistent post-approval monitoring data defined by compliance officers.
• Veterinarians can use real-time health monitoring and automated alerts to provide prompt medical attention, ensuring high standards of animal care. Digital medical records also allow for quick access to health histories, facilitating better decision-making.
• Compliance officers can use Mosaic Vivarium’s built-in compliance features to ensure adherence to animal use limits, reducing the risk of violations. Also, comprehensive audit trails and documentation make regulatory inspections smoother and less stressful.
• Facility managers can keep key metrics readily visible in Mosaic Vivarium’s dashboards, as well as prepare invoices of cage per diems, tasks/labor, and supplies in a matter of minutes.
• Animal Technicians can streamline task assignment and tracking to confirm that daily care and maintenance routines are efficiently managed. Mosaic Vivarium also improves communication by tracking investigator requests for work in the facility to make sure jobs are done with the correct cages and animals.
• Animal Procurement Teams can process orders with confidence knowing that orders will comply with IACUC protocol limits.
• Inventory Management can receive orders and automatically place new animals on census.

Mosaic Vivarium integrates census, IACUC protocol management, animal health records, animal ordering, facility tasks, and more into a single database. This unified solution ensures all stakeholders work from a shared version of the truth with no double-entry of data. Benefits include:

• Improved Accuracy: A single source of data truth enhances accuracy and reduces errors.
• Operational Efficiency: Streamlined processes and integrated systems boost productivity and reduce administrative overhead.
• Enhanced Collaboration: All stakeholders can access the same information, improving coordination and communication.

Investing in Mosaic Vivarium not only enhances efficiency and compliance but also fosters a culture of collaboration and innovation. By addressing the needs of all stakeholders, we can efficiently drive forward the important research that improves lives.

Ready to learn more about how Mosaic Vivarium can help your facility?
Schedule a free demonstration today!