My contribution
- Developed the project plan and coordinated discovery, design, testing, pilot, rollout, and post-implementation review.
- Managed vendor relationships with Allentown and KSI, including integration concerns, contract alignment, and operational readiness.
- Oversaw change management, stakeholder communication, training, and rollout coordination for researchers, principal investigators, and cage management staff.
- Mitigated risks related to technology integration, data accuracy, operational disruption, and adoption.
Outcome
Implemented RFID-enabled cage cards and handheld scanners, improved census accuracy and transparency, retired manual billing tickets, enabled PI self-service reporting, and increased operational efficiency without changing LAMPS core census logic.
Overview
Lab Animal Management & Protocol System (LAMPS) determines the animal census from cage activation/deactivation events. Historically, staff verified counts manually and keyed Service tickets for billing—introducing delays and occasional discrepancies. We deployed RFID-enabled cage cards and handheld scanners to provide trustworthy supplemental reads that make reconciliation faster and more accurate—without changing how LAMPS defines the census or performs billing.
Major achievement: retired manual Service tickets and moved to LAMPS’ native billing, enabling PI self-service reporting and cleaner downstream processes.
At a Glance
- Sponsors: Dr. Mark Lowe, Dr. Kenneth Boschert, Amy Walter
- Partners: Allentown (RFID HW/SW), KSI (LAMPS integration)
- Pilot: CID & McDonnell Basement (parallel manual counts)
- Rollout: Phased campus deployment
Resources
Objectives
- Improve billing timeliness and accuracy via native LAMPS billing
- Reduce manual effort and error; speed reconciliation
- Increase transparency for PIs and DCM with reliable data signals
- Scale for growth and keep LAMPS stable during rollout
What Changed (and What Didn’t)
- RFID-enabled cage cards — unchanged print workflow, now with unique RFID IDs
- Handheld scanners — evidence for reconciliation; not the basis of census or billing
- Reporting — PIs view census/per-diem in LAMPS; Allentown platform supports internal ops
- Billing & Census — still determined by activation/deactivation in LAMPS (unchanged)
Timeline
- • Charter approval — Jun 2023
- • Contracts finalized — Sep 2023
- • Build/Test & Infrastructure — Fall 2023–Jan 2024
- • Pilot (parallel with manual) — Feb–Apr 2024
- • Phased rollout — Feb 2024–Apr 2025
- • Warranty window — to May 2025
- • Post-implementation review — Apr 2025
Scale & Investment
This was a large-scale enterprise project requiring coordination across multiple vendors, research units, and IT teams. The initiative involved deploying hundreds of thousands of RFID-enabled cage cards, dozens of handheld scanners and printers, and new server infrastructure to support the integration.
As Project Manager, I was responsible for scope, risk, vendor coordination, and ensuring delivery within defined budget and timeline constraints.
Results
- Faster reconciliation; fewer downstream corrections
- PI self-service reporting and clearer, native billing
- Improved data integrity and compliance confidence
- Stable LAMPS operations throughout rollout
“RFID gives us the data to validate LAMPS information so that we capture more accurate census numbers and better overall transparency.”