Notes for owners · Industry-Specific Software Guides
Questions a Fertility Clinic Should Ask Before Buying IVF Software
Ask whether the software treats the couple as one case and follows a cycle day by day. Then ask how lab entries, frozen samples, consents and package payments attach to that case. GullySystem builds these layers for fertility clinics. A clinic doing a handful of IUIs a month may manage with a register.
Ganesh HS, Strategy and Technology, GullySystem · · 4 min read
Does it hold the couple as one case
Most clinic software is built around a single patient. Fertility treatment involves two people, and both partners carry their own history, tests and results. Ask the vendor to show one case holding both.
Then ask how it is found. The front desk should reach the case from either partner’s name or phone number. Results must stay labelled to the right partner, even when they sit together.
Check earlier cycles too. A couple returning for a second attempt should not be registered again.
- Both partners under one case
- Search by either name or phone number
- Results labelled to each partner
- Earlier cycles visible on the same case
Can a cycle be followed day by day
A stimulation cycle is a run of scans, hormone values and dose changes, ending in a trigger, retrieval and transfer. Ask to see a cycle sheet with real fields, not a free-text note.
The doctor should see the whole cycle on one screen during the scan visit. Check that a dose changed on one day carries forward to the next. Ask where the planned retrieval and transfer dates are shown.
This is where generic software often stops. Get a plain answer.
How are lab steps and frozen samples recorded
Embryologists record eggs retrieved, semen preparation, fertilisation and embryo grades by day. Ask whether each step names the embryologist and the witness. Find out whether the lab can enter it at the bench, or only later from paper.
Frozen embryos, eggs and semen need a register by tank, canister and straw. Each entry should link to the couple, the storage start date, the renewal due date and the signed consent.
Ask for a list of renewals due this month. If the vendor cannot produce one in the demo, the register is only half there.
- Embryologist and witness on every step
- Tank, canister and straw for each sample
- Storage start and renewal dates
- A list of renewals due or unpaid
What happens to consents and package money
Consents are signed for each procedure, for freezing and for any donor programme. Ask whether scanned forms attach to the case and the procedure. A useful system shows which consents are still unsigned before a procedure is booked.
Packages are paid in parts. Ask how the package is set up, what is billed outside it, and whether the balance prints on every receipt. Disputes at the counter usually start with a balance worked out by hand.
Ask who can see what. Lab, desk and doctors need different screens.
Questions about data, records and leaving
Fertility records are sensitive. Ask how access is split by role, whether changes are logged with a name, and where the data is hosted. Ask who owns it.
Ask how your current registers and spreadsheets will be moved. Open cycles and stored samples matter most, so check them first.
Do not ask the vendor what your licence requires. Ask your adviser. Then ask the vendor whether the reports you need can be produced from the entries the system holds.
- Access split by role, with changes logged
- Who owns the data and how it is handed back
- How registers and sheets are moved across
- Which reports can be drawn from the entries
IVF software question sheet
A two-column sheet listing each question above, with space to note the vendor’s answer and whether it was shown live in the demo. Add a third column for follow-up items. Anything answered only in words goes back to the vendor.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
Can a general clinic system run an IVF clinic?
Not on its own. It covers appointments, records, billing and pharmacy stock. Cycle sheets, embryology entries and a cryostorage register are usually added on top.
Will the software keep us compliant with our licence?
No software can promise that. It can hold the consents, procedures, lab steps and storage entries your registers draw on. Your adviser confirms what your licence requires.
Should we ask for a demo with our own cases?
Yes. Give the vendor two anonymised cycles, one fresh and one frozen transfer, and watch them entered from the first scan to the pregnancy test.