Contact Information: Press Contacts: Kathleen Moran Information Builders (917) 339-6313 Karyn Martin Emerge PR (617) 729-3173 Mindy Herrmann IPC (608) 825-4130
IPC Saves $1 Million Developing Drug-Tracking System With iWay Software
Pharmaceutical Distributor Develops World-Class E-Pedigree System at a Fraction of Cost
| Source: Information Builders
NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - August 27, 2008) - iWay Software, an Information Builders company
and an innovator of enterprise
integration solutions, today announced that IPC, the nation's largest
group purchasing organization for independent pharmacies, used Information
Builders iWay Software to meet drug tracking requirements in complete
compliance with U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards. IPC
completed the project for a fraction of the cost of deploying a packaged
e-pedigree solution, and well in advance of an imminent FDA deadline.
IPC is responding to FDA requirements designed to curb pharmaceutical drug
counterfeiting. Last year, the FDA announced that drug wholesalers must
track the pedigree of all pharmaceutical products dispensed in their retail
pharmacies. Meeting this requirement meant IPC had to create a tracking
system that could account for each bottle of drugs that passes through its
warehouses with a consequent impact on many of its core information
systems.
IPC used iWay Service Manger to integrate important pharmaceutical data
with its back-office information systems. It now maintains a pedigree for
each bottle of pharmaceuticals, including all pertinent dates, the names of
each party involved, and the addresses of key transactions, as regulated by
the FDA.
"Without iWay, we might have been forced to go out of business, or do
business entirely differently," said James Blake, vice president of
Information Technology at IPC. "In 14 weeks we had a complete e-pedigree
system in place, and it is integrated with all of our legacy systems. We've
easily saved $1 million in development dollars in a relatively short
timeframe. More importantly, we were able to meet federal requirements that
we couldn't have met otherwise."
With its new e-pedigree system in place, IPC can manage, route, and store
electronic documents that detail the chain of custody for its
pharmaceuticals. There are many different protocols involved, such as FTP
and AS2, and many different routing rules for the documents. IPC used iWay
to translate the routing rules and streamline the information workflow via
XML standards.
Today, when pharmaceutical wholesalers send product data to IPC, the drug
tracking system automatically ties that data to a purchase order. iWay
matches the purchase order with a shipping notice, then sends back a
confirmation of the transaction. After the wholesaler verifies that the
correct manufacturer is listed, IPC updates its pharmaceutical database.
Thanks to this automated business flow, IPC knows the exact pedigrees of
the drugs that it has purchased before the products even arrive at its
shipping dock. In turn, they are able to provide this information to their
individual pharmacies, fulfilling the FDA requirement.
In addition to the e-pedigree system, IPC is using iWay to streamline
e-commerce and data interchange requirements, ensuring secure transport of
data to its business partners. Ultimately, the company plans to use iWay to
create a single framework for all data coming into and going out of its
information systems, including orders, report requests, and pedigree
information. IPC is also using iWay to streamline the deployment of a new
ERP system by mirroring transactions in its legacy systems.
"Standardizing on iWay has positioned IPC to replicate just about any
process flow extremely easily," said John Senor, president of iWay
Software. "Because iWay has such a high-level object-oriented design
process, developers can develop new interfaces very rapidly, with little or
no code."
While many companies use iWay as a universal platform for mapping
dissimilar data types and facilitating efficient data interchange, IPC also
relies on the software as a business process control agent. IPC plans to
use iWay to control the flow of orders between its AS/400 environment and
its Microsoft .NET environment, as well as to simplify the process of
incorporating radio frequency identification (RFID) identifiers into its
distribution systems. IPC recently purchased Information Builders WebFOCUS
BI platform, which it plans to use to expand its operational reporting
capabilities.
About IPC
IPC is the largest group purchasing organization for independent pharmacies
in the United States. Headquartered in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, the company
represents 3,200 primary and 2,500 affiliate pharmacy members. In addition
to serving as the distribution facility for these stores, IPC processes
orders, tracks rebates, negotiates bulk-purchasing agreements, and supplies
sales analytics to its members.
About iWay Software
iWay Software has been an innovator in the enterprise integration market
for more than 10 years. The company's integration methodology is simple: it
uses a single, integrated set of graphical design tools to assemble
powerful pre-built components for enterprise-class B2B, A2A, or B2B2A
integration scenarios -- without the use of custom code. The company
delivers the fastest, most cost-effective, and simplest way to integrate
and streamline critical business processes. iWay Software's vendor,
platform, and protocol-neutral integration solutions fulfill the promise of
SOA: true reusability.
iWay Software's rapid integration solutions help companies both large and
small meet new business challenges without making their vital information
investments obsolete. The company truly fulfills its motto: "iWay: Because
Everything Should Work Together." With revenues topping $50 million in
2006, iWay Software is among the top 10 integration vendors worldwide and
works with many Fortune 500 companies. For more information, visit:
http://www.iwaysoftware.com
About Information Builders
As a leading independent business intelligence (BI) company for the past 30
years, Information Builders has provided innovative solutions to more than
12,000 customers, including most of the Fortune 100 and numerous U.S.
federal government agencies. The company's flagship WebFOCUS product is the
world's most widely used BI platform. Superior architecture and intuitive
nature enables WebFOCUS to address the needs of everyone in the extended
global enterprise -- executive, analytical, operational, and beyond. It
provides the agility to adapt to changing business conditions with the
security, scalability, and flexibility to support dozens to millions of
users.
Unique to the company is the integration expertise it brings to the BI
market. Information Builders iWay Software suite solves complex integration
problems with pre-built components that require minimal custom programming.
The award-winning combination of WebFOCUS and iWay gives Information
Builders customers the ability to embrace the company motto: "Because
Everyone Makes Decisions."
Information Builders is committed to customer service excellence with a
Professional Services division that specializes in building custom
applications using WebFOCUS and iWay Software. Headquartered in New York
City with 90 offices worldwide, the company employs 1,450 people and has
more than 350 business partners. Visit http://www.informationbuilders.com