Directorate General (Research), Livestock & Dairy Development Department, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, is mandated to keep livestock and cattle healthy and productive to ensure a wealthy nation.

The directorate manages various laboratories for veterinary sciences and livestock and dairy farming but was facing several challenges:

• Labs were fully equipped but lacked digital automation.
• The department needed a Lab Information System that could digitize the data entry process and record-keeping of test results.
• The labs were working on manual registers and memos. There was no mechanism for quick generation of reports, analysis, and prediction of epidemics (cattle), which prevented timely preparation and implementation of precautionary measures.

Based on the department's requirements the Fellowship team developed a Lab Information Management System that aimed to improve agility, introduce process automation, and facilitate seamless communication between centres, labs, and directorates.

The following features were included in the system:

• Manual processing and record-keeping have been streamlined.
• Each lab has been given access to the system dashboard for efficient transitioning of results, helping better record-keeping and tracking of test results.
• System administrators are now able to see an overview of all activities, resulting in better performance and oversight.
• There are provisions added in the system for future updates and expansion of new services.
• This system can enable the department to predict epidemics for livestock.

Expected Impact

The digitisation of labs aims to bring a number of key benefits to the department. It will increase the department's oversight on overall performance. It will enable labs to compile reports in less time. Data analysis will become easier and enable the department to predict epidemics in cattle and detect disease trends. Farmers and cattle owners will be able to track the status of test results online and via SMS.