Directed by Professor Yao’nan Zhang and his team from the Cold and Arid regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the research and development project of “Total management system for the State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soils Engineering (SKLFSE)” , or SKLFSE-TMS, was authenticated for its scientific and technological achievements on 24 January 2010 by a group of relevant experts organized by the Science and Technology Department of Gansu Province and hosted by the Lanzhou Branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The SKLFSE-TMS was developed on the integration and elaboration of the existing internal management structures, control measures for experimental procedures, authentification and approval systems, and decision support systems. It optimizes and renovates the laboratory management flowcharts, optimizes experimental procedures, and integrates many managerial components, including scientific projects and programs, fixed assets, human resources, specimen testing and reporting, data access and knowledge sharing, personnel performance evaluation, and comprehensive analysis. The SKLFSE-TMS also couples the development of scientific research and fixed assets, scientific and engineering research and technical support personnel, and their achievements. In particular, it realizes the transformation in managerial thinking, methodology, and technical research and development from the result/bean counting to dynamic process management. In addition to providing a solid technical support for the digitalization of the SKLFSE, this system can be widely applied in total management of the laboratories at state and provincial levels.

In the aspect of managerial mind-settling, the SKLFSE-TMS provides a transformation from the previous result-based static management to a present processed-based dynamic management. Through continual tracing of the dynamic changes in projects and programs, fixed assets, specimen tests, and personnel information, a dynamic tracing management is realized on the basis of laboratory experimental procedures and management flow charts. The TMS includes 10 functional managerial modules: the overall system, human resources, administrative/office work, research project and programs, open research fund, fixed assets, authentification and approval subsystem, specimen tests, data access/sharing and knowledge management, and tabulation/reporting of statistics and analysis. Focused on the personnel management and supplemented with user feedbacks from project and equipment management, the TMS integrates activities of main research entities through the coupling of information technology and management modes, forming an humane management environment with optimized resources, more shared knowledge, and better motivated research personnel. Through integrating management styles with information technology, it forms an information management system conducive to promoting the creative and innovative productivity in laboratory.

The authentification committee experts carefully listened to the oral presentations of the research team, closely examined reviewed pertinent data and reports, attentively observed the demonstration of the TMS, and fiercely questioned and lively discussed with the research team, and consensually concluded that the SKLFSE-TMS could provide an effective technical platform for the laboratory management; the TMS can realize the management of laboratory, acquisition, analysis, processing, and inquisition of experimental data and sharing of knowledge, and a transformation of the laboratory managerial modes from static result counting to dynamic process control; it is suitable for wide applications in the total management of laboratories at state and provincial levels, can provide a technical support for the laboratory digitalization and support for making decisions in assessing the laboratory research trends, developing strategies, and dynamic adaptation to environments and minor adjustment in management policies.