Overview

Nagarro implemented a Microsoft Exchange based marketing material ordering system to automatically manage the marketing literature order handling for the field sales force of a large pharmaceutical company.

Problem Description

Pharmaceutical companies typically have a strong field sales force which handles marketing and promotion of products.  Typically these companies receive thousands of requests for marketing material from the field force everyday.  The field force needs to be informed of the status of ordered items, as well as the shipping details of the items.  The client had relied on manual processes such as phone calls and faxes to place orders. Not only were these methods time consuming and error prone, field representatives had to place orders outside of client visits, thus reducing their productivity.  The client needed an automated, 24 X 7 system capable of processing thousands of requests each day from geographically dispersed field representatives.

Solution

The 24 X 7 marketing material ordering system was developed by Nagarro to solve the client’s problem and completely automate the entire ordering process.  The system allows field representatives to browse and place orders off-line on laptops, tablet PCs, or handheld devices, while visiting physicians.  The system automatically handles the incoming stream of orders, dispatches them to the warehouse, informs the field representatives about the status of the orders, performs security and validation checks on the orders, and sends out shipping details to the field representatives.  Further, the application is also able to send orders to pre-designated reviewers in case an order requires prior approval before processing. To assure orders are up to date, each field force representative was provided with an electronic catalog containing a list of all the items available. The catalog also contains the maximum quantity of each item that can be ordered at one time, along with the specifications of available items.  The field force representatives were also provided with an offline ordering tool that used the catalog to generate a request for the items selected by the representative.  When representatives are able to VPN to the corporate network, the offline catalog is updated with current information and the orders are uploaded to an order processing system. Specific features of the system:

• Validation checks on new orders including the person who is ordering, the maximum quantity ordered, and the pack and case size constraints
• Verification of item availability through warehouse database search
• Periodic polling of shipping databases to identify and update shipping status of orders
• Automated email notification reporting shipping status of orders, including item and quantity availability, shipping status, and tentative arrival date
• Automatic email notification of internal and external critical errors

Benefits

• Improved efficiency of marketing material order process as a result of reduced man hours
• Decreased errors associated with manual processes
• Increased productivity of field representatives as a result of increased ordering ability and availability of up-to-date catalog and order information