Systems and methods for supply chain management

• US 9,576,264 B2
• Filed: 03/14/2013
• Issued: 02/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/12/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Global Healthcare Exchange (GHX Ultimate Parent Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Global Healthcare Exchange (GHX Ultimate Parent Corp.)
• Inventors: Bolene, David, Bolinger, Eric, Drees, Margot, Fornarola, Janine
• Primary Examiner(s): Gart, Matthew
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ross, Scott
• Application Number:
  US13/826,367
• Publication Number:
  US 20140136291A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,440 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/1413 1D bar codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06315 Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0637 Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0832 Special goods or special handling procedures, e.g. handling of hazardous or fragile goods
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0833 Tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/20 for the management or administration of healthcare resources or facilities, e.g. managing hospital staff or surgery rooms

Abstract

Systems and methods are directed to supply chain management. In particular, the tracking, tracing, authenticating, and reporting of supply chain events for products, is disclosed. Various embodiments can store, analyze, and track supply chain events and help to coordinate and maintain trading partner connections. Various embodiments also help to enhance patient safety, secure the supply chains for pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and other healthcare products, and help users to follow regulatory requirements.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a computer-based system and based on scanning at a first location, data for a disaggregation event associated with an item at the first location;

wherein the first location impacts the scanning of the data that is obtained by a proximity-based scanner at the first location,

wherein the proximity-based scanner scans a parent electronic product code (EPC) and child EPC at the first location,

wherein the proximity-based scanner communicates with the computer-based system;

storing, by the computer-based system, the data for the disaggregation event in a database as ungrouped data elements formatted as a block of binary (BLOB);

tuning, by the computer-based system, the database to optimize database performance,

wherein the tuning includes placing frequently used files on separate file systems to reduce in and out bottlenecks;

obtaining, by the computer-based system, the data from the database for the disaggregation event;

in response to the parent EPC at the first location not being known, storing, by the computer-based system, the parent EPC in storage;

associating, by the computer-based system, the disaggregation event with the parent EPC at the first location;

determining, by the computer-based system, that an event sequence exists for the parent EPC at the first location;

in response to the event sequence not existing, initiating, by the computer-based system, an event sequence for the parent EPC at the first location;

in response to the child EPC not being known, storing, by the computer-based system, the child EPC in storage;

associating, by the computer-based system, the disaggregation event with the child EPC;

in response to a decommissioning event existing earlier in the event sequence, setting, by the computer-based system, a parent EPC state to a condition reflecting error;

wherein the decommissioning event is issued in response to at least one of destruction of an unconsumed item, an expired item, a damaged item, a recalled item, an item being dispensed, an item being consumed or an item being discarded;

checking, by the computer-based system, for an aggregation event earlier in the event sequence than a current aggregation event;

in response to the aggregation event not existing for the parent EPC, setting, by the computer-based system, the parent EPC state to a condition reflecting error;

in response to the parent EPC being not reusable, checking, by the computer-based system, that there is only one commissioning event earlier in the event sequence than the current disaggregation event;

wherein the commissioning event includes identifying at least one of a sellable item, a container associated with the item or aggregation hierarchies for the item;

in response to more than one commissioning event, setting, by the computer-based system, the parent EPC state to a condition reflecting error;

in response to an event sequence not existing for a child EPC, initiating, by the computer-based system, an EPC event sequence for the child EPC;

in response to beginning the event sequence with the current disaggregation event, and the child EPC being an item, setting, by the computer-based system, a child EPC state to indicate a missing commissioning event;

in response to the decommissioning event existing earlier in the event sequence, setting, by the computer-based system, the child EPC state to a condition reflecting error;

in response to more than one earlier aggregation event existing where the child EPC appears as a child, setting, by the computer-based system, the child EPC state to a condition reflecting error;

in response to more than one commissioning event for the child EPC for an individual item, setting, by the compute-based system, the child EPC state to a condition reflecting error;

in response to the child EPC being the container, and the container being not reusable, setting, by the computer-based system, the child EPC state to a condition reflecting error for an aggregation event earlier in the event sequence in which the child EPC appears as the parent; and

in response to the child EPC being the container, and the container being not reusable and more than one commissioning event earlier in the event sequence than the current disaggregation event, setting, by the computer-based system, the child EPC state to a condition reflecting error only.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising a visibility constraint based on a policy of a publisher of the disaggregation event.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising adding, by the computer-based system and in response to the condition reflecting error, a second subset of the items associated with the child EPC to be commissioned at least one of on the production line, as a shipment is being packed, or by a wholesaler.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising removing, by the computer-based system and in response to the condition reflecting error, a first subset of the items associated with the child EPC.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising creating, by the computer-based system, at least one of a new link for related events or an unlinked event by utilizing the rules engine.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising in response to decommissioning the container that includes the item, maintaining, by the computer-based system, commissioning data and aggregation data for the container.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating, by the computer-based system, an event sequence for the item.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising a visibility constraint that comprises a limited visibility for each of the events that are upstream to an event published by an entity in the supply chain.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying, by the computer-based system, an event that is immediately downstream from a shipping event of an entity in the supply chain; and

wherein the visibility constraint comprises a full visibility for the identified immediate downstream events.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein in response to the condition lacking the error, a second subset of the items associated with the child EPC is packaged.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the computer-based system, duplicate events; and

not pushing the duplicate events to an entity in the supply chain.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising a visibility constraint that comprises a full visibility for each event that is a receive event in response to a shipping event of an entity in the supply chain.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

designating, by the computer-based system, a type of the data as a key field in a plurality of related data tables to speed searching for the data;

partitioning, by the computer-based system and using the key field, the database according to a class of objects defined by the key field to speed searching for the data for the disaggregation event;

linking, by the computer-based system, the plurality of related data tables based on the type of the data in the key fields; and

sorting, by the computer-based system, the data according to a known order to simplify the lookup process.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising a commissioning event that is configured to at least one of identify sellable items, identify the containers for the sellable items or aggregation hierarchies.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising

determining, by the computer-based system, a visibility constraint by applying a visibility specification.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, by the computer-based system, an applied visibility specification based on a priority of a plurality of visibility specifications.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising in response to the item having a commissioning event, and no previous decommissioning associated with the item, reporting, by the computer-based system and in accordance with a rule, a new commissioning event as suspect.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising a commissioning event that includes at least one of an event date/time, a record time, an EPC List, a read point, a business location, a lot/batch number, a lot/batch expiration date, a GTIN, drug product information, a Manufacturer Name, Information Provider Name, a Manufacturer GLN, a Information Provider GLN, contact information for a Manufacturer, or contact information for an Information Provider, the EPC, dosage form, strength, container size, lot number, name of trading partners, shipping addresses, or a license.

19. A tangible non-transitory computer-readable memory having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by a computer-based system, cause the computer-based system to perform operations comprising:

receiving, by the computer-based system and based on scanning at a first location, data for a disaggregation event associated with an item at the first location;

wherein the first location impacts the scanning of the data that is obtained by a proximity-based scanner at the first location,

wherein the proximity-based scanner scans a parent electronic product code (EPC) and child EPC at the first location,

wherein the proximity-based scanner communicates with the computer-based system;

storing, by the computer-based system, the data for the disaggregation event in a database as ungrouped data elements formatted as a block of binary (BLOB);

tuning, by the computer-based system, the database to optimize database performance,

wherein the tuning includes placing frequently used files on separate file systems to reduce in and out bottlenecks;

obtaining, by the computer-based system, the data from the database for the disaggregation event;

in response to the parent EPC at the first location not being known, storing, by the computer-based system, the parent EPC in storage;

associating, by the computer-based system, the disaggregation event with the parent EPC at the first location;

determining, by the computer-based system, that an event sequence exists for the parent EPC at the first location;

in response to the event sequence not existing, initiating, by the computer-based system, an event sequence for the parent EPC at the first location;

in response to the child EPC not being known, storing, by the computer-based system, the child EPC in storage;

associating, by the computer-based system, the disaggregation event with the child EPC;

in response to a decommissioning event existing earlier in the event sequence, setting, by the computer-based system, a parent EPC state to a condition reflecting error;

wherein the decommissioning event is issued in response to at least one of destruction of an unconsumed item, an expired item, a damaged item, a recalled item, an item being dispensed, an item being consumed or an item being discarded;

checking, by the computer-based system, for an aggregation event earlier in the event sequence than a current aggregation event;

in response to the aggregation event not existing for the parent EPC, setting, by the computer-based system, the parent EPC state to a condition reflecting error;

in response to the parent EPC being not reusable, checking, by the computer-based system, that there is only one commissioning event earlier in the event sequence than the current disaggregation event;

wherein the commissioning event includes identifying at least one of a sellable item, a container associated with the item or aggregation hierarchies for the item;

in response to more than one commissioning event, setting, by the computer-based system, the parent EPC state to a condition reflecting error;

in response to an event sequence not existing for a child EPC, initiating, by the computer-based system, an EPC event sequence for the child EPC;

in response to beginning the event sequence with the current disaggregation event, and the child EPC being an item, setting, by the computer-based system, a child EPC state to indicate a missing commissioning event;

in response to the decommissioning event existing earlier in the event sequence, setting, by the computer-based system, the child EPC state to a condition reflecting error;

in response to more than one earlier aggregation event existing where the child EPC appears as a child, setting, by the computer-based system, the child EPC state to a condition reflecting error;

in response to more than one commissioning event for the child EPC for an individual item, setting, by the compute-based system, the child EPC state to a condition reflecting error;

in response to the child EPC being the container, and the container being not reusable, setting, by the computer-based system, the child EPC state to a condition reflecting error for an aggregation event earlier in the event sequence in which the child EPC appears as the parent; and

in response to the child EPC being the container, and the container being not reusable and more than one commissioning event earlier in the event sequence than the current disaggregation event, setting, by the computer-based system, the child EPC state to a condition reflecting error only.

20. A system comprising:

a processor,

a tangible, non-transitory memory configured to communicate with the processor,

the tangible, non-transitory memory having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

receiving, by the processor and based on scanning at a first location, data for a disaggregation event associated with an item at the first location;

wherein the first location impacts the scanning of the data that is obtained by a proximity-based scanner at the first location,

wherein the proximity-based scanner scans a parent electronic product code (EPC) and child EPC at the first location,

wherein the proximity-based scanner communicates with the processor;

storing, by the processor, the data for the disaggregation event in a database as ungrouped data elements formatted as a block of binary (BLOB);

tuning, by the processor, the database to optimize database performance,

wherein the tuning includes placing frequently used files on separate file systems to reduce in and out bottlenecks;

obtaining, by the processor, the data from the database for the disaggregation event,

in response to the parent EPC at the first location not being known, storing, by the processor, the parent EPC in storage;

associating, by the processor, the disaggregation event with the parent EPC at the first location;

determining, by the processor, that an event sequence exists for the parent EPC at the first location;

in response to the event sequence not existing, initiating, by the processor, an event sequence for the parent EPC at the first location;

in response to the child EPC not being known, storing, by the processor, the child EPC in storage;

associating, by the processor, the disaggregation event with the child EPC;

in response to a decommissioning event existing earlier in the event sequence, setting, by the processor, a parent EPC state to a condition reflecting error;

wherein the decommissioning event is issued in response to at least one of destruction of an unconsumed item, an expired item, a damaged item, a recalled item, an item being dispensed, an item being consumed or an item being discarded;

checking, by the processor, for an aggregation event earlier in the event sequence than a current aggregation event;

in response to the aggregation event not existing for the parent EPC, setting, by the processor, the parent EPC state to a condition reflecting error;

in response to the parent EPC being not reusable, checking, by the processor, that there is only one commissioning event earlier in the event sequence than the current disaggregation event;

wherein the commissioning event includes identifying at least one of a sellable item, a container associated with the item or aggregation hierarchies for the item;

in response to more than one commissioning event, setting, by the processor, the parent EPC state to a condition reflecting error;

in response to an event sequence not existing for a child EPC, initiating, by the processor, an EPC event sequence for the child EPC;

in response to beginning the event sequence with the current disaggregation event, and the child EPC being an item, setting, by the processor, a child EPC state to indicate a missing commissioning event;

in response to the decommissioning event existing earlier in the event sequence, setting, by the processor, the child EPC state to a condition reflecting error;

in response to more than one earlier aggregation event existing where the child EPC appears as a child, setting, by the processor, the child EPC state to a condition reflecting error;

in response to more than one commissioning event for the child EPC for an individual item, setting, by the compute-based system, the child EPC state to a condition reflecting error;

in response to the child EPC being the container, and the container being not reusable, setting, by the processor, the child EPC state to a condition reflecting error for an aggregation event earlier in the event sequence in which the child EPC appears as the parent; and

in response to the child EPC being the container, and the container being not reusable and more than one commissioning event earlier in the event sequence than the current disaggregation event, setting, by the processor, the child EPC state to a condition reflecting error only.