Method of operating an analytical laboratory

A method of operating an analytical laboratory, the method comprising the steps:

• a) receiving and identifying a plurality of biological samples held in sample containers and sorting the plurality of sample containers into a sample rack by a pre-analytical laboratory instrument of the analytical laboratory;
• b) retrieving an order list A from a storage unit, the order list A comprising a plurality of test orders corresponding to the sample containers within the respective sample rack, each test order defining at least one processing step to be carried out on the biological sample held in the respective sample container;
• c) determining an optimal transportation route by the control unit for the sample rack based on the order list A, a set of constraints and an objective function, the transportation route being indicative of a list and/or sequence of laboratory instrument(s) required to complete one or more of the test orders of the order list A;
• d) re-determining the optimal transportation route by the control unit upon a change of one or more of the set of constraints and/or a change of the objective function;
• e) transporting the sample rack to one or more of the plurality of laboratory instruments according to the optimal transportation route by the sample transportation system;
• and
• f) processing the biological samples according to the corresponding test orders by the target laboratory instrument(s).