TrustRadius Insights for Orchard Harvest LIMS are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, third party data sources.
Pros
Great and Customizable Interface: Several users have found the interface of the LIS Laboratory Information System to be excellent and highly customizable.
Easy Navigation and Customization: Many reviewers have praised the easy navigation of the test dictionaries and the system's ability to be customized according to their lab's specific needs. This flexibility is particularly valuable for small rural labs where new employees can quickly learn and use the system efficiently.
Efficient Data Entry and Retrieval: Users have highlighted the ease of entering and pulling data from the system as a significant advantage. This capability is crucial for efficient lab operations, allowing staff to quickly access necessary information.
we have a few different companies under the same owners. I am the IT support for all companies. Two of those companies are PCR labs. We use Harvest as our main LIS and database for lab results and information. Harvest helps us keep up with results, patients, and samples.
Harvest is a good starter LIS for new and starter labs. At a certain point of growth you may want to look into upgrading to Sequoia which is Orchards larger LIS system.
Pros
Good for small labs
Good support
Configurable for your environment
Cons
Pricey
Slow to get big projects done
Changing database to a standard SQL
Likelihood to Recommend
Harvest is the smaller LIS software that Orchard offers. It is best suited for smaller starter labs that don't have a ton of samples coming in. Larger labs that have a lot of samples coming in and multiple integrations with other EHRs and state reporting setups should look at using Copia\Sequoia since it is built for more throughput.
Harvest is used by the entire organization. It is used to control and connect our patient results, instruments, reference labs, doctors, and EHR. It is used by our phlebotomists, lab techs, and med techs in their daily activities when collecting and working with patient samples. Because it is also connected to our instruments it removes the need to manually enter the results from those instruments. These results are then sent to our providers via HL7 messages, fax, or email.
Pros
Rules Engine - We use rules to customize what happens when entering orders, evaluating results, or sending results. We are also able to run them based on location.
Interfaces - It is connected to our EHR and reference lab. This allow us to send and receive results, demographics, billing, ect easily and to and from one another.
Advanced Configuration Options - I love to hate them. While you can do a lot in the settings, there is a wall of text that you can use to customize even more how Harvest behaves and does.
Event Logs - When something goes wrong it does a good job to logging what happened.
Cons
User Interface - The software is like 25 years old, and it feels like it. They have added some buttons and links to try to make it easier, but it's not as flashy as the SaaS applications that are being built these days. It feels like there isn't a lot of time spent on refining the features, just adding more to it.
Archaic Architecture - The application use 4D for the database. This means that you can't use SQL for queries, latency is a huge issue and there isn't a hosted option. You have to have your own in-house server to run the server application.
Client is an Application - We have workstations dedicated to managing the interfaces. These workstations have to run the application as a program and can not run them as a service. This means that if you want to apply Windows updates it required manually closing and re-launching the application.
Data Mining - There are some basic reports, but they do not really allow you to build complex reports about the patients or work being performed.
Likelihood to Recommend
Harvest is well suited in a lab or a reference lab of about any size. You can customize the workflow with filters and permissions to ensure that the right people have the right abilities when they need them.
I would say that it is not as great for locations that have multiple remote locations without great internet. Because of the underlying technologies, latency between client and server can cause havoc.
