Stacks Image 14

The Integral Blog

The Integral Blog

Integration with Oracle ERP

Stacks Image 170
Stacks Image 172
Customer:
The Canadian subsidiary of a multinational generic Pharmaceutical company with 16 manufacturing plants, 5 research and development facilities and over 10,000 employees worldwide. In Canada they have over 200 drugs issued a Notice of Compliance (NOC) by Health Canada. All of this is supported by an efficient supply chain.

Challenge:
Doing business as a Canadian subsidiary of a multinational corporation presents unique challenges. High on that list is typically IT support. As is the case with this Pharma, technology directives typically come from overseas and the United States and the Canadian group must adapt them to their own market. Key to this is the mandated use of server-based Oracle ERP; all of the Pharma’s systems need to be integrated with the Oracle platform. On a macro level this makes sense but in practice the Canadian market is unique (sophisticated yet smaller) with high levels of regulation including inter-provincially. The different requirements need significant technology resources that this Pharma simply didn’t have available and there was ever increasing work to be done.

Solution:
In looking for a technology solution provider the Pharma did the most effective thing possible – they asked other industry professionals in their networks for recommendations. The strongest recommendation they got was for Integral Group; the Pharma acted on the recommendation and has been working with Integral Group for almost 5 years and the scope of work continues to grow.

The Pharma’s initial requirement was to integrate EDI customer connections with their Oracle ERP and with their 3PL provider. With data coming from – and going to – so many different sources, the Pharma uses EDI to ensure that their orders are successfully passed to their 3PL for fulfillment and shipment. That project, and the ongoing work, went so well that the Pharma charged Integral with solving some of their other business challenges.

After engaging in comprehensive case-by-case needs analysis, Integral Group developed custom solutions - integrated with Oracle - to address specific business needs for the Pharma. These are some of the custom applications we have developed to improve the Pharma’s business:
A Sales App for Mobile Devices created to replace handwritten paper forms for cross country representatives in the field. The representatives use this app to gain immediate access to real time prices, orders and shipment status. The whole process is integrated with Oracle ERP and orders flow alongside the EDI stream.

A Returns Portal to validate and manage product returns. In this highly regulated industry, the Pharma needed a tightly controlled and auditable process to manage returned products. This custom application tracks and reports on returned products; from customer requests, to the RMA, to physical receipt and inspection, to pharma authorization.

Credit Card (CC) Processor Integration: This allows the Pharma to use automation to replace the current system of manual one-at-a-time CC processing done by logging into the processor’s website. The result is that Pharma employees spend less time processing credit card payments. There are fewer keying errors and the Pharma receives payment much faster.

Working with Integral Group to integrate EDI with Oracle was a positive experience for the Pharma. The Pharma then rewarded Integral’s success by offering us the opportunity to develop critical custom applications that would also integrate with Oracle; we’ve become almost an embedded resource in the Pharma’s organization. Our Integral team is proud that each time the Pharma placed their trust in our technical expertise and support, we rose to the challenge and exceeded expectations. Integral Group has developed a relationship with the Pharma that builds on itself and just gets stronger over time.
Stacks Image 180
Search
Categories