Takeover of prewholesale activities, including the process integration of SAP systems, for a top 10 pharmaceutical company.

The Challenge

Our client, a top 10 pharmaceutical company, had been operating its own warehouse, and was looking for an outsourcing partner for its Austrian prewholesale business. The volume was 500 pallets and 90,000 order lines per year. Order processing, invoicing, and accounting would continue to be handled in house.

Our Solution

An essential component of our solution was the integration of SAP systems between Kwizda pharmaceutical distribution and the customer, with the brief implementation period of 4 months for the transfer to our warehouse representing the biggest challenge.

Our first step was the presentation of benchmarks and best practice approaches for SAP to SAP system integration. On this basis, we were able to define the necessary interfaces, structures, and methods, and to lay the foundation for further implementation.

In parallel with the development of data interfaces, the division of responsibilities between Kwizda pharmaceutical distribution and the customer was agreed upon by the project team. The focus was on the following topics:

• Material reference data
• The receiving process: quarantine status and release after receipt of the certificate of analysis and verification of temperature during transport
• Sampling during receiving for designated products
• Narcotics handling

In a separate project stream, we dealt with the application of the corporate guidelines of the customer in light of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, in order to ensure financial compliance.

The physical transfer of stock itself involved only remainders, as fresh supply deliveries were routed to Kwizda pharmaceutical distribution in advance. The ‘go live’ date agreed upon was met without delay and delivery to customers was guaranteed from day one.