Oncology Therapeutics Networks, Essay Example

Oncology Therapeutics Networks [OTN] is an example of a healthcare organization that has the structured to align itself with a more process centered concept.  At the core of the OTA business model is the need for “distribution of medication to customers, immediately as they need it.”  (Bell, 2009)  In order to make work this OTN needs a real-time centralized customer communication concept.

They have achieved this by upgrading management information systems to run on Oracle enterprise resource planning software applications.  OTM have partnered with the business integrations solution software firm of Tibco in order to complete the business integration solutions that are required. “With Tibco, our business processes are not constrained by the applications we have.  We can design our processes and then pick the applications that best suit them — not the other way around. “[Orlando Calderon, chief architect of OTN]. (Bell, 2009).

The concept of using a centralised relational database system such as Oracle has offered numerous advantages to OTM.  “By replacing dozens of point-to-point    interfaces with TIBCO’s integration software, Bell estimates that OTN saved seven person months in interface development time and cost. A custom adapter for connecting OTN’s CRM software took only 14 days to develop. The initial phase of an automated order and inventory management system was up and running in only three months.” [Chuck Bell, Director of Enterprise Data, OTN].

Essentially OTN have placed the ‘Patient’ at the centre of its business operational model and built the management information systems around this.  In essence they have built the services to directly meet the needs of its customers in a timely fashion.  ERP completes a cyclical process incorporating all of the business processes using single sources of data in a real time environment.    Fig 1 refers.

Figure 1: Enterprise Resource Planning

Internal and external factors

The internal factors that helped shaped the organization may in large be attributed to the flexibility of the organization and willingness to adapt to a new model. The type of management information required to operate the business was clearly understood. It was simply a case of logistics, resources and ability to handle large volumes of data for subsequent analysis. The computers could handle the power but we needed the software to interrogate the data and produce the reports. ERP was simply a logical destination for OTN to follow.  External factors were really reliant upon consultancy support; support from the suppliers and in particular the hardware and software vendors, the principle stakeholders and our customers in determination of service levels, quality and expectations.

Increased accountability

Working in the pharmaceutical industry means that there is an ongoing need for increased accountability. This relates to the way we do business and streamlining the operations to offer customers the most expedient turnaround on their prescription drug requests.  The need to ensure accuracy and validation over prescriptions and carefully watch our inventory control as most of the goods have a limited shelf-life.  The firm adopts a Total Quality Management (TQM) approach in order to maintain ongoing customer service and satisfaction. “Total quality management (TQM) refers to quality management, compliance management, risk assessment, document control and any other component of total quality that contributes to the control, quality and validity of a product and/or service.” (Master Control).

The use of Enterprise Planning has allowed the size of the organization to expand and it has helped the business transformation in terms of streamlining the processes, elimination of redundancies and making general improvements to the management information and reporting structures.  There has been a significant improvement in inter departmental relationships and planning as a result of introducing ERP. “It brings about interactions and tends to nurture healthy relationships among departments in organizations which would have otherwise remained isolated. The problems of co-ordinations faced by each department are made known to the company. They can arrive at a better means of doing things on such group discussions.” (Academic Tutorials).  We have noticed significant improvements in our Management Accounting systems and the way we have revised our business practices within this area of the business “A second impact of ERP systems has been a general shift to manage at the activity level rather than at the more abstract level of financial transactions. This means that management accounting, with its focus on activities, can be most effective when it is used with ERP systems to incorporate the activity level for costing and performance measurement.” (Jackling).

Conclusions

Enterprise Resource Planning has played an important role in the evolutionary growth and advancement of the business organization.  There is an initial investment in training and set-up but these have to be measured against the Returns on Investment over time.  “Despite the huge initial investment, once installed, the ERP system significantly reduces the cost of operations in a company. However, it requires adequate training and a lot of manual effort. As the work-flow in ERP software is far more complex than any other average business software’s, the training becomes necessary and expensive” (Buzzle.com).

Works Cited

Academic Tutorials. ERP Impact on Organizations. 2010. 12 10 2010 <http://www.academictutorials.com/erp/erp-impact.asp>.

Bell, Chuck. OTN finds powerful medicine in business integration. 2009. 11 5 2010 <http://www.tibco.com/resources/customers/successstory_otn.pdf>.

Buzzle.com. Benefits of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). 2010. 13 10 2010 <http://www.buzzle.com/articles/benefits-of-enterprise-resource-planning-erp.html>.

Jackling, Beverley. The Impact of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems on Management. 2010. 12 10 2010 <http://www.unisa.edu.au/commerce/docs/The%20Impact%20of%20Enterprise%20Resource%20Planning%20Systems%20on%20management%20Accounting.pdf>.

Master Control. Total Quality Management (TQM). 2010. 12 10 2010 <http://www.mastercontrol.com/quality-management-software/total-tqm/tqm.html>.