Navicon SalesOut automated the analysis of secondary sales in "AKRIHIN"

Product introduction of Navicon SalesOut did not become an endpoint in the course of automation of secondary sales in "AKRIKHINE". The product lives and develops with each new requirement of pharmaceutical business. At the moment, in addition to data processing about sales of the distributor, Navicon SalesOut it is actively used for loading:

• monthly and week remaining balance,
• plans, including tender,
• purchases and sales of pharmacy chains.

The possibility of determination of cross-sellings, identification of Suppliers in reports on purchases of pharmacy chains allows "AKRIKHINU" to trace all chain of sales of the medicines.

"AKRIHIN" - one of the leading Russian pharmaceutical companies entering in top-10 producers on sales volumes and productions in Russia. In a product portfolio of the company there are more than 200 names of medicines (more than 100 brands) as self-produced, and brought to the Russian market at partnership with other companies. "AKRIHIN" is one of pioneers of license production: the company produces medicines in cooperation with foreign partners since 1988.

"AKRIHIN" is not engaged in direct sales of medicines, and implements them through extensive distributor network therefore an important part of a company performance is the analysis of secondary sales. However collecting and processing of these data it is usually connected with a number of difficulties. Each distributor provides reports in own format with different names of the same medicines and territories, the address of the end customer in the report and its actual address can differ, distributors can sell medicine each other, the report structure periodically changes. All this results in complexity of consolidation and comparison of data with planned values. Before the implementing solution Navicon SalesOut collecting and processing of the analytical reporting from distributors it was performed for "AKRIKHINA" by a third party, but the quality of data processing did not satisfy management of the company. The decision to address to Navicon company which already had an experience of the successful solution of similar tasks including in the pharmaceutical industry was as a result made.

In the solution Navicon SalesOut the data obtained from distributors about secondary sales a remaining balance in warehouses and sales plans are loaded into uniform Storage where there is their cleaning, deduplication, reduction to a reference type and enrichment. The possibility of identification of the same client, data on whom arrived from different distributors under different names, became an important element of the solution. A system allows to create automatically reference base of clients using a binding of the addresses to the All-Russian qualifier of the addresses (KLADR). On the basis of these data of analytics "AKRIKHINA" receive the correct consolidated BI reports and can easily estimate percent of accomplishment of the plan, trace sales of products to specific points, define the main trends of sales by each region, estimate efficiency of the medical representatives, etc.

One more technology advantage of Navicon SalesOut is use as one of system modules of means of the MS SQL Server of MDS (Master Data Services) which gives opportunities for storage and management of the normative reference information. In "AKRIKHINE" MDS is used as the Corporate Data warehouse: here corporate reference books of brands, distributors, clients, competitive medicines, etc. are kept. Use of MDS gave an opportunity of storage of large volumes of information and integration with other corporate systems using handbook data.

Commenting on project deliverables, Ponomareva Elena, the Head of analytical service "AKRIKHINA", noted: "We had qualitatively new processing of data and their analysis. Its main features – the speed and quality. It is enough to tell that data loading makes of the report near for about 1000 minutes of records. We refused services of contractors and we do all data processing independently, completely controlling this process. We not only optimized the labor costs, but also had an opportunity to quickly analyze information in different cuts and to accept timely management decisions on the basis of data retrieveds. Now we master additional systems capabilities – began to process reports from pharmacy chains and to load plans into a system. The next purpose – loading of a weekly remaining balance".

For the comprehensive analysis of activity of the company the data obtained from different sources as subjects of the analysis are used act:

• the sales on all the pharmaceutical market received from external systems;
• secondary sales in endpoints of sales;
• remaining balance in warehouses of distributors;
• plans of secondary sales;
• primary sales to distributors;
• different types of the additional information which is stored in file sources (prices, discounts, currency rates, etc.).

Collecting and comparison of separate information and also creation on its basis of the reporting, requires enormous manual work.

Choosing a Solution

As well as in most the companies, Excel was the main tools of analysts "AKRIHIN" before implementation of BI. Historically it developed that the analysis system constructed on its basis required permanent updating, support and difficult manipulations with data. Natural restrictions of Excel for volume of the processed data (up to 1 million lines) did this tool inconvenient for the full operational analysis. And constantly changing requirements of business did analysts of "AKRIHIN" by hostages Visual Basic – a programming language in which macroes are written to Excel.

By the end of 2013 the system of consolidation of data on the basis of Excel ceased to satisfy to requirements of "AKRIHIN". Top managers had a clear understanding of the fact that the company needs new approach to processing of huge data array for automation and increase in efficiency of this process. The company management of "AKRIHIN" decided to entrust so important project of Navcion company, basing the choice that the contractor has experience on implementation of BI systems in pharmotrasl, and on positive experience of collaboration with Navicon on the previous projects.

Result

Strictly set deadlines – were 2.5 months the main feature of the project – start was tied to date of "AKRIHIN" of a cyclic conference. Project completion after fixed term would be meant by a total failure. And only thanks to close cooperation of the Navicon and "AKRIKHIN" commands and also the high level of employee competence of both companies, the project was implemented in the specified terms.

"Terms of the project were extremely limited, and literally before its start there was no confidence that everything will turn out in time", - Ponomareva Elena says, the head of analytical service "AKRIKHIN", – "but a system nevertheless was started to a cyclic conference thanks to joint work with Navicon".

Besides, to accelerate and automate process of data acquisition of the listed systems and files, within the project it was necessary to design the uniform Corporate Data Warehouse (CDW) for input and storage of the normative reference information of the Company. Requirements to KHD were: universality within all company and flexibility at connection of new data sources.

"Already on a test stage we could reveal essential differences of structure of competitive environment in different regions" - comments on results of the Ponomareva Elena project, – "application of BI lifts work of analysts to absolutely other level – that time which was spent on data preparation earlier, can be used for their analysis now".