But what about the vast majority of existing companies of all shapes and sizes? Costs and disruption can be huge. Do we have any examples from those who have introduced an ELNB system into their organisation AND can subsequently see a tangible benefit AND are prepared to say so? No system will be perfect, most certainly not first time round but can we see examples of where a business benefit has been achieved, or is this still too early?

In the same vein, can anyone highlight an example of where ELNB information has been trawled to provide previously unsuspected outcomes?

In practical terms does negative result information really lead to positive outcomes, elsewhere? Come on champions, you've made the pitch, let's see the play! (PS. I'm all for ELNBs)

Anyone want to have a go at specifying the essential fields? How about these for starters:

- Title
- Date
- Identifier
- Author
- Scheme (may need to specify an exchangeable drawing format) Reagents (wt, mol, vol) Solvents (vol)
- Products (ID, wt, mol, yield) could also specify intermediates where necessary
- Atmosphere (type, pressure)
- Temperature
- Technology (e.g. microwave, array)
- Description (text)
- Hazard (which standards - could be overall for the reaction or associated with particular reagents/ products / solvents) Spectra recorded (or attached)

In my experience as a medicinal chemist within the pharmaceutical industry, a witness should be 'one skilled in the art' so that they could reliably stand up in a patent court. This is usually interpreted as a scientist from the same discipline. Thus, a chemist would witness a chemist's notebook and biologists would witness each other's books. Furthermore, the witness is signing to say they have 'read and understood' what is set down in the lab notebook. Generally a witness will not be someone very familiar with your work, i.e. your supervisor or another member of your project team, but rather someone with the knowledge to take your book and repeat your experiment.

I believe the electronic lab notebook would actually make life a lot easier for the witness. The mandatory fields will ensure some degree of consistency between scientists, the pre-loaded phrases will make the report easier to read than the shorthand currently employed by many scientists and there will finally be no problems from illegible handwriting!
Posted by TM

Guess this depends on cost at the end of the day...I'm sure they're relevant for any organisation from the knowledge management point of view - perhaps more so in a small organisation if there is high turnover of some contract staff for example...if however the cost per person becomes too high in smaller organisations there is a problem.
Posted by LM