Environmental monitoring (EM) is an essential part of any pharmaceutical, medical device or biotechnology manufacturing process. It ensures that microbiological and particulate levels in the controlled manufacturing environment are maintained within acceptable limits. The EM programme will involve a regular regime of testing based on location and frequency. The results are used to monitor trends and trigger the appropriate corrective action if a limit is exceeded. Simon Wood PhD, Product Manager at Autoscribe, submits a feature on laboratory information management systems.