Despite the strict regulatory environment of the pharmaceutical sector, Napp Pharmaceutical makes room for IT innovation by improving processes, increasing collaboration and introducing more efficient ways of working.

Chris Jones, head of business projects for the Cambridge-based pain medications manufacturer, has helped transform the business from one that had no enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, email, PCs or network 13 years ago, to one that today is contemplating e-enabling processes such as procurement and invoicing.

‘To move the business forward we needed new technology, and by implementing Oracle we have been able to prove three words: flexibility, scalability and upgradeability,’ he says.

Napp has moved from a best-of-breed approach to a modular and web-oriented infrastructure.

Jones has overseen two major upgrades – from 2002 to 2003 he installed Oracle 11i, and from 2005 to 2006 he implemented Oracle E-Business Suite. Jones says they were time-intensive projects each lasting 12 months, largely because of the regulatory requirements of the pharmaceutical industry.

‘During a migration, we have to maintain the validation status of the system because of the rigorous way we are controlled,’ he says. ‘We are highly regulated by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the Food and Drug Administration, which have the power to shut us down, so we must do things properly.’

Jones says the upgrades have allowed Napp to exploit business opportunities. ‘Although the business might baulk at an upgrade that takes 12 months, we have been able to create more and more business reports and the business is dependent on reporting,’ he says.

‘Each time we have upgraded we have made improvements in the controlled environment in which we work. Although the pharmaceutical industry is risk-averse, we try to innovate and push the business to adopt new functionality.’

One example of successful IT innovation from Napp is a dispensing system built using Oracle Forms and Oracle application programming interfaces. The supplier now plans to adopt Napp’s system as a standard module, which Jones says will benefit the pharmaceutical specialist because it will be another interface that the company does not need to support.

‘The dispensing system is a classic piece of innovation, and by Oracle taking our ideas and making it a part of core functionality, we will get a configurable solution to put back into the business,’ he says.

Jones says other benefits from Napp’s innovative approach to its dispensing system are collaborative gains.

‘We will gain from the rest of the industry’s input,’ he says. ‘The system is the starting process of making tablets and every pharmaceutical company has a similar process. We watch our competitive edge, but if we collaborate together we end up with a better solution than if we had to do it on our own.’

‘Within Oracle clients, there are customer advisory boards on the web for beta releases of software so we can test together. We will be able to see where Oracle is going with the product and help make strategic decisions about our business technology roadmap.’

Jones says Napp is also planning to move towards a service-oriented architecture (SOA) for future IT innovation.

The firm is also considering other self-service technologies to improve workflow, including Oracle iProcurement and its iSupply portal.

‘The jury is still out,’ he says. ‘There is an awful lot of procuring across the organisation which would involve a lot of changes, such as catalogue management on the internet, but self-service applications are the future as they increase efficiency and give people time back to do other things.’

Implementing a big Oracle system offers Napp the potential to explore its uses and innovate further, says Jones.

‘We have gone for the priority implementations for the business to run on and now have time to look at the next process improvements such as e-signatures for requisitions,’ he says.

‘There is a lot more to be done around creating workflow systems based on a push rather than pull basis, and a lot of technology we want to exploit will innovate our business processes and create efficiency gains.’

Knowing he will have the skills set in place to drive further innovation is another bonus.

‘SQL is a more purchaseable skills set than some of the other more specialised skills and can be used across a number of systems, so the total cost of ownership for Oracle is kept low and we can invest in our developer team and be more innovative,’ says Jones.