Quantum Dispense – Case Study

Overview

Think Pharmacy is a rapidly growing pharmacy group whose head office is located in Brisbane. As part of their “Think Pharmacy Generation 2” (G2) project, Think redesigned the concept of a “community pharmacy” to reflect a pharmacy that genuinely supports the needs of the contemporary community. This is done by employing new technologies designed to creatively facilitate access to Think’s products and services in novel and streamlined ways.

Think Pharmacy engaged Software Projects to design and develop a software product called “Quantum Dispense”. This software product has a key role in managing and streamlining the workflow of a busy dispensary.

Quoting from the Think Pharmacy website

Quantum Dispense – a revolutionary Pharmacy and Dispensary Management platform designed to vastly increase the throughput of a dispensary; accurately. It will integrate new dispensary automation technology; also devised by the group and Tosho (our Japanese partner). The system will monitor every step of the dispensing process and provide interactive feedback to pharmacy staff and the customer.

The Problem

When the software development project commenced in October 2007, Think Pharmacy had set a launch date for the first of their “G2” pharmacies at Chermside for Q2 2008, so time frames were tight.

Another challenge was that Quantum Dispense would be required to quickly adapt to any emerging requirements identified as the new G2 pharmacy concept evolved and matured.

One of the key technical challenges in developing the Quantum software would be the level of integration required with a number of diverse systems, which included

Pharmacy point of sale software;
Pharmacy script dispense software;
Think Pharmacy Online – Think’s web-based pharmacy store; and
Dispensary automation technology, including world-first technology from Tosho, Japan.

The Solution

Software Projects and Think agreed to develop the software using an agile approach. The software was developed in a series of iterations. Representatives from Think and SP met regularly to set goals for the next iteration. The duration of each iteration was typically two weeks, and at the end of the iteration the new functionality would be reviewed and goals set for subsequent iterations.

This approach seemed to be the best match for the project profile. Think assembled a multi-disciplinary team to review the deliverables of each iteration, and to fine-tune the requirements as the project moved forward.

The first version of Quantum Dispense was installed at Chermside to coincide with the store’s opening in May 2008. Since that time SP have prepared a number of incremental releases to provide additional functionality, as specified by the product roadmap.

The Technology

The Quantum Dispense architecture involves 4 sub-systems; Quantum Dispense Server, Quantum Dispense Mobile, Quantum Dispense Desktop and Think Scripts (in-store).

Quantum Dispense Server

The Quantum Server component runs as a Windows Service and provides data synchronisation with the Pharmacy Dispense System, the Point of Sale (POS) system, and Think Pharmacy’s online ordering system.

Quantum Server monitors the progress of orders through the pharmacy dispensary life cycle, and at the appropriate stages it interacts with a new machine that is designed to deliver pharmaceuticals to pharmacy staff in an efficient manner as possible. This machine was developed by Tosho in Japan, and the model at Chermside Pharmacy is the first of its kind in the world. During development of Quantum Dispense, staff from Software Projects liaised with technical staff at Tosho to ensure correct operation when the two systems were connected for the first time.

With built-in database maintenance tasks and automated archiving, the Quantum Dispense system runs efficiently and responsively in a high volume script processing environment.

Quantum Dispense Mobile

The Quantum Mobile component is a PDA application running on the Windows Mobile operating system. The application uses the barcode scanner and RFID scanner built into the PDA to scan drugs and trays of drugs that are ready for collection.

This automates the workflow and provides real-time verification of hand-packed drugs by validating against the barcode.

Quantum Dispense Desktop

The Quantum Desktop application is a Windows-based application that communicates with the back-end Quantum Server application. The Quantum Desktop application provides the primary workflow user interface in Quantum Dispense for Dispense Technicians, Pharmacists and Stock Maintainers.

Think Scripts

Think Scripts is a customer kiosk-style application deployed on various workstations throughout the pharmacy. Customers can place orders for repeat scripts and choose to be served by a particular pharmacist.

Think Scripts is implemented as a Windows-based application using one of Microsoft’s latest .Net technologies, Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF).

Technology Highlights

Code written using C#,
Database server: Microsoft SQL Server 2005
Development tools Microsoft Visual Studio 2008, with JetBrains ReSharper 4.0
Object relational mapping using NHibernate
Unit testing using NUnit
Automated builds prepared using NAnt and MSBuild
Continuous integration using CruiseControl.NET
Code coverage using NCover
Windows Installer Packages built using WiX