4-page Case Study - Posted 2/18/2008

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Symbion Health

Pharmaceutical Distributor Improves Point-of-Sale Health with New Windows Server Platform

Symbion Health Ltd is a leading provider of healthcare services based in Melbourne, Australia. Its Symbion Pharmacy Services division distributes pharmaceutical and over-the-counter products to 1,300 pharmacies and hospitals. The division also supplies services to Symbion Pharmacy Services’ retail pharmacy chains Terry White Chemists® and Chemmart®. In 2007, the organization decided to standardize the operating platform for minfos®, an integrated pharmacy management system used in 600 pharmacies, in order to encourage user uptake, streamline collaboration, and cut maintenance costs. Symbion Pharmacy Services participated in the Rapid Deployment Program for Windows Server 2008, installing the operating system at three retail outlets. Symbion Pharmacy Services anticipates Microsoft ® Windows Server ® 2008 will improve application performance and decrease IT support costs by reducing the complexity of managing remote servers.

We can offer the Windows Server 2008 version of our pharmacy management application at one-third the price of the previous version. Simon Pearce Manager of minfos Operations, Symbion Pharmacy Services Pty Ltd

Situation

Melbourne, Australia-based Symbion Health Limited is one of Australia’s leading health, diagnostic and wellness providers. Formerly known as Mayne Group Limited, the company employs 10,500 staff and is listed in the Australian Securities Exchange ASX 100 index, with a market capitalization of A$2.6 billion.

Symbion Pharmacy Services Pty Ltd provides wholesale distribution of pharmaceutical and over-the-counter products to pharmacies and hospitals across Australia. The company also develops and maintains minfos®, a fully integrated dispensary and point-of-sale system designed for use in retail pharmacies as well as Symbion Pharmacy Services’ branded pharmacies, Terry White Chemists® and Chemmart®.

The minfos application is an all-in-one product for retail pharmacies, currently used in 600 pharmacies Australia wide. The minfos software operates the point of sale, dispenses prescription pharmaceuticals, maintains store inventory, and performs retail management and accounting functions. Symbion Pharmacy Services manages all minfos sites remotely from its Melbourne headquarters.

The minfos software was originally written to run on the Novell NetWare platform. This infrastructure had serious speed and stability problems.

“Dispensing and point-of-sale operations are critical to the day-to-day operation of each pharmacy,” says Simon Pearce, Manager of minfos Operations, Symbion Pharmacy Services. “Slowness was a constant source of embarrassment to pharmacists, who had to twiddle their thumbs waiting for the system to process while customers stood around getting irritated. And if the system was down, they couldn’t dispense medicines at all.”

System support was a major sticking point for many pharmacists, who were forced to wait for onsite support if there were any issues with the minfos system.

“We had very limited options to support the application over the network and we would usually have to send a technician onsite. However, those NetWare support skills were becoming much harder to find, particularly outside capital cities. In addition, pharmacies had to arrange their own routers for internet connectivity within the store. They needed to email purchase orders and sales data back to us.”

In August 2007, Symbion Pharmacy Services began development of a new minfos application on Windows Server 2003. The first pharmacy test site noticed an immediate improvement in login speed.
“Windows Server 2003 showed great potential to improve ease of deployment, support, cost and scalability,” says Pearce.

Slowness was a constant source of embarrassment to pharmacists, who had to twiddle their thumbs waiting for the system to process while customers stood around getting irritated. Simon Pearce,    Manager of Minfos

“It made good business sense to create one standardized system that we could provide to all pharmacies,” says Pearce. “This was a vital step towards achieving our goal of having the minfos system installed in all the pharmacies managed by Symbion Pharmacy Services, as well as pharmacies owned and managed by other pharmaceutical companies.

“We have aggressive growth targets for pharmacies using minfos within the next 12 months. We aim to add more than one new pharmacy per day, so speed of installation is crucial if we’re going to meet that deadline.”

Solution

In late 2007, Symbion Pharmacy Services joined the Rapid Deployment Program for Windows Server 2008. It ran a pilot project, installing Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition at three pharmacies: the Terry White Chemists branches at Springvale, Dandenong, and Southlands, in Victoria.

“We chose these three sites because they each represented a different installation scenario,” says Pearce. “One was a greenfields site with no existing software, one was running Windows Server 2003, and one was running NetWare.”

To deliver a more flexible and cost-effective service to pharmacies, Symbion Pharmacy Services worked with KAZ Group, a Microsoft Gold Partner for Enterprise Systems, which designed a wholesale licensing scheme for hardware and software, and provided architectural design and deployment services to implement the solution.

Symbion Pharmacy Services used the Role-Based Installation feature of Windows Server 2008, allowing technicians to install only the system components needed to run the minfos application. Minimizing the number of installed services makes the operating system easier to configure, maintain and update, and reduces vulnerability to external attacks.

Symbion Pharmacy Services can manage server installations and upgrades remotely from its head office in Melbourne. The Windows Server 2008 Server Manager provides a consolidated view that includes server configuration information, status of installed roles and features, and links to add and remove server roles, services and features. Management tools for installed roles and features are also hosted within Server Manager so that you can access all the management tools in one place.

Running Windows Server 2008 will allow the minfos server at each pharmacy to be directly connected to the internet, making it easier for pharmacies to send purchase orders and inventory data back to Symbion Pharmacy Services.

“We can run a virtual private network connection and use Remote Desktop Connection to access and manage the server remotely from head office,” says Pearce. “This will substantially reduce the number of times we have to send technicians onsite.”

The company also plans to take advantage of other new features in Windows Server 2008, such as the Read-Only Domain Controller option for Active Directory ®. This will allow pharmacies to access the minfos system without gaining the ability to modify user permissions, ensuring Symbion Pharmacy Services maintains control over its network security.

We can run a virtual private network connection and use Remote Desktop Connection to access and manage the server remotely from head office. This will substantially reduce the number of times we have to send technicians onsite Simon Pearce Manager of Minfos

Benefits

By moving to Windows Server 2008, Symbion Pharmacy Services will significantly improve the stability and performance of the minfos system. They can also provide it to pharmacies at a lower cost, increasing user satisfaction. The new operating system can be deployed quickly and maintained centrally, minimizing support costs.

Ease of Installation

The new server management features of Windows Server 2008 have decreased the average time taken to install the minfos system at new pharmacy sites from a full day to just two hours.

“Windows Server 2008 covers the process of installing, configuring, and managing server roles from end to end,” says Pearce. “The graphical and command-line tools that allow you to install, configure, and manage the server will save our IT staff a lot of time. Installing it will become a no-brainer. The feedback from the sites involved in the pilot project was that the installation was by far the smoothest and most seamless changeover we’ve done.

“We will spend less time deploying and managing the system, which will free staff to spend more time improving minfos and adding value to the software.”

Reduced Costs

The increased availability of Microsoft specialists and the lower licensing cost of Windows Server 2008 mean Symbion Pharmacy Services can offer the minfos license at a more competitive price.

“We can offer the Windows Server 2008 version of the minfos software at one-third the price of the previous version,” says Pearce. “That is going to be a huge factor in increasing the uptake of the minfos system by pharmacists. The cost of the previous system was the first thing that pharmacists baulked at when they were considering the minfos system.”

The new licensing system designed by KAZ Group will allow pharmacies to lease the software and server hardware for a flat monthly fee.

“It gives pharmacies the flexibility to put money back into their business where it needs to go, rather than into computer equipment,” says Theo Vereker, National Infrastructure Sales Manager, KAZ Group. 
The centralized management and remote access features of Windows Server 2008 will also substantially reduce maintenance costs for Symbion Pharmacy Services.

“Windows Server 2008 practically eliminates the cost of having to send technicians onsite,” says Pearce. “It will save hundreds of hours of staff time and travel every year.”

Improved speed and scalability

The speed and responsiveness of the minfos system on Windows Server 2008 promises to greatly improve pharmacists’ ability to deliver better customer service.

“Pharmacies have told us reports that used to take 25 seconds to generate now take only five seconds,” says Pearce. “This will make a huge improvement to the speed of customer service.

“We want to expand our minfos user base from 600 to a planned 1,300 pharmacies. The scalability of Windows Server 2008 made it ideal for future-proofing the division against our expansion plans. The ease of scalability and improved speed of the minfos system on the server mean we are confident of achieving our targets.”

Windows Server 2008

Windows Server 2008, with built-in Web and virtualization technologies, enables you to increase the reliability and flexibility of your server infrastructure. New virtualization tools, Web resources, and security enhancements help you save time, reduce costs, and provide a platform for a dynamic and optimized datacenter. Powerful new tools like IIS 7.0, Server Manager, and Windows® PowerShell, allow you to have more control over your servers and streamline Web, configuration, and management tasks. Advanced security and reliability enhancements like Network Access Protection and the Read-Only Domain Controller option for Active Directory Domain Services harden the operating system and help protect your server environment to ensure you have a solid foundation on which to build your business.

For More Information

For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at
(800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to: www.microsoft.com

For more information about KAZ Group products and services, call 1300 657 627 or visit the Web site at: www.kaz-group.com

For more information about Symbion Health products and services, call (+61) 03 9918 2000 or visit the Web site at: www.symbionhealth.com

For more information about the minfos® system, call 1800 657 993 or visit the Web site at: www.minfos.com.au

minfos® is a registered trademark of Symbion Pharmacy Services Pty Ltd ABN 25 000 875 034