[labnetwork] Seeking Opinions on Lab Management Software

[Gerald Lopez]

Philippe and Colleagues,

Thanks for the feedback. We are reviewing Stratocore at the moment as part
of a last minute due diligence.

In our brief assessment, it seems that Stratocore was designed particularly
for microscopy cores for *tool access control*, and while there is some
operational overlap with running a cleanroom, absent is *area access
control* as we charge and track access to parts of our cleanroom, which
NEMO does well. A few of us have found that reserving tools is a bit clunky
using the Stratocore calendar interface. NEMO's calendar is a bit more
intuitive and has the ability to provide a cleaner view of one's schedule.
This is especially important when running a multi-tool process, and you
want to plan your day accordingly with *fewer clicks*.

Looking at three specific categories of Annual Cost of Ownership,
Flexibility, and Feature Richness:

   1. *Annual Cost of Ownership*: Stratocore is significantly more
   expensive than NEMO. NEMO can be installed without vendor lock-in (no
   service agreement). And for about the same price year-to-year, we could
   push Atlantis to develop more into NEMO on our behalf for
   our specific processes and impact a larger community.
   2. *Flexibility*:  Stratocore is closed source and feature
   implementation is dependent on the development team's decision.  NEMO is
   community driven; anyone can contribute and their source code can be
   modified. For those not familiar, NEMO is extendable by way of plug-ins or
   you can completely branch out like our PennState colleagues.
   3. *Feature Richness*: While initially there are many well-thought out
   features in Statocore when it comes to billing, tool training requests,
   etc., the community contribution aspect of NEMO could easily outpace these
   over time.

Cost aside, I believe flexibility wins especially when there is community
involvement (similar to my days with GenISys and the ecosystem they created
with its customer base and user meetings). I am looking for a positive
difference of opinion if there are any. So far, I have heard none from our
network here but am open to them and a deeper discussion on our process
so far.

I agree with Philippe that this is a very hot topic for sure.

Best,
Gerald

Gerald G. Lopez, Ph.D. (he/him/his)

Director of Operations and Business Development & Center Associate Director

University of Pennsylvania | Singh Center for Nanotechnology

NNCI Mid-Atlantic Nanotechnology Hub (MANTH) ∙ nnci.net

3205 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA Deliveries: 3231 Walnut
Street, LRSM Building, Philadelphia, PA 19104

nano.upenn.edu ∙ lopezg at seas.upenn.edu ∙ +1-215-573-4041 ∙
linkedin.com/in/geraldglopez/


On Wed, Mar 15, 2023 at 6:18 AM Flückiger Philippe <
philippe.fluckiger at epfl.ch> wrote:

> Hello Gerald, Dear Folks and Friends,
>
>
>
> I hope you are all doing well.
>
>
>
> In the following months, we are going to evaluate how STRATOCORE can be
> adapted to the specific needs of our state-of-the art platform.
>
>
>
> Access control (physical interlock on every tool), conditional
> reservations depending of the targets installed on sputters/evaporators
> will be the key points to address.
>
>
>
> We will see how STRATOCORE is willing to be responsive and motivated to
> proceed to our demands, and what add-ons might be made by EPFL.
>
>
>
> Currently we are still running our homemade 20+ years old permanently
> upgraded software but we are reaching the limits of it.
>
>
>
> The reason we will investigate STRATOCORE is that it is already
> implemented in Life Science at EPFL.
>
>
>
> This is definitely a hot topic !
>
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Philippe
>
>
>
> *Dr Philippe Flückiger*
>
> *Director of Operations*
>
> *http://cmi.epfl.ch/
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://cmi.epfl.ch/__;!!IBzWLUs!XNt7jKZP_y-F055dlRPn4AEPFGQRT5T7HMCrEM3DLLO_gMCbSJPyAQRkeQ1JTvBMqYTWGQERJfgNOaS44Fxqg8jwU37J22mH$>*
>
> *Phone +41 21 693 6695*
>
>
>
> *From:* labnetwork <labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu> *On Behalf Of *Gerald
> Lopez
> *Sent:* mardi, 14 mars 2023 22:43
> *To:* labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu
> *Subject:* [labnetwork] Seeking Opinions on Lab Management Software
>
>
>
> Dear Colleagues:
>
>
>
> Would anyone on our network with experience working with both
> Stratocore's lab management software (Home - Stratocore
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.stratocore.com/__;!!IBzWLUs!XNt7jKZP_y-F055dlRPn4AEPFGQRT5T7HMCrEM3DLLO_gMCbSJPyAQRkeQ1JTvBMqYTWGQERJfgNOaS44Fxqg8jwU17eSWid$>)
> and NEMO be willing to share their thoughts on these systems? If you work
> with Stratocore, can you kindly share its pros and cons? What were your
> reasons if you moved from NEMO to Stratocore or vice versa?
>
>
>
> Best,
>
> Gerald
>
>
>
> *Gerald G. Lopez, Ph.D. *(he/him/his)
>
> Director of Operations and Business Development & Center Associate Director
>
> University of Pennsylvania | Singh Center for Nanotechnology
>
> NNCI Mid-Atlantic Nanotechnology Hub (MANTH) ∙ nnci.net
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://nnci.net/__;!!IBzWLUs!XNt7jKZP_y-F055dlRPn4AEPFGQRT5T7HMCrEM3DLLO_gMCbSJPyAQRkeQ1JTvBMqYTWGQERJfgNOaS44Fxqg8jwUzmJjuMu$>
>
> 3205 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA Deliveries: 3231 Walnut
> Street, LRSM Building, Philadelphia, PA 19104
>
> nano.upenn.edu ∙ lopezg at seas.upenn.edu ∙ +1-215-573-4041 ∙
> linkedin.com/in/geraldglopez/
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://linkedin.com/in/geraldglopez/__;!!IBzWLUs!XNt7jKZP_y-F055dlRPn4AEPFGQRT5T7HMCrEM3DLLO_gMCbSJPyAQRkeQ1JTvBMqYTWGQERJfgNOaS44Fxqg8jwUyMV3ZO8$>
>
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://mtl.mit.edu/pipermail/labnetwork/attachments/20230315/76287043/attachment.html>