Why mSupply?

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This brief paper outlines the main areas of functionality that mSupply covers, along with something of the approach and ethos of Sustainable Solutions.

People

Sustainable Solutions is incorporated as a company, but it’s principal shareholders are all supported as volunteers. 1) From July 2011 one of the volunteers becomes a full-time employee/shareholder

Our aims are to serve developing countries with solutions that provide real benefit.

That means that we are driven by a desire to serve, rather than by profit.

That said, we are a profitable company with no debt and a commitment to stay in business for as long as we are needed.

We have 4 expatriate and 5 Nepali staff who work on mSupply.

Experience

We've been doing mSupply since 1998, and full-time as Sustainable Solutions since 2001. In that time we've done hundreds of days of trainings, have converted hundreds of thousands of records from other systems to mSupply, and have installed mSupply in dozens of locations.

Our experience in Nepal as a developing country, and in the many other developing countries that we've worked in, gives us a unique perspective and understanding of the challenges and opportunities involved in working in similar environments.

We're committed for the long term. We know that a decision to install mSupply is a big one. We're planning to be here decades from now.

Ease-of-use

There is always a balance between features and usability, and while we know we don’t always get it right, we try to make sure we don’t add features that aren’t really needed, and we make sure that features only needed by one user don’t clutter up the interface for everyone.

mSupply is very easy to install- 10 minutes and a whole department is up and running.

mSupply uses an easy-to-use graphical interface that makes adding Purchase Orders, Patient Prescriptions, Tenders, etc a breeze!

The system is also made with high usage warehouses and busy pharmacy departments in mind. When fine-tuned the system automates item purchases, receipts and sales for the warehouse administrator and also provides features such as abbreviated directions entry for quick prescribing of medicines.

Stability & Reliability

The initial mSupply server installations in 2002 have run since then without ever crashing.

We have more than ten years of experience in keeping mSupply installations running in developing countries, so we know what it takes to make a reliable system. All multi-user mSupply systems we have installed are still running.

mSupply includes an automated internet backup system, so backups are automatically transferred to a remote secure site.

Server backups are automatic.

mSupply keeps a log of every action you make, and if there is a power failure then the log can be used to restore all unsaved data on the server.

Security

We do not know of any instances of a security breach of an mSupply server

There is a full password protected login and permissions system, allowing each user’s access to functions to be controlled.

A user log records all significant user interactions, allowing an audit of which user performed which actions.

Scalable

The same data file can grow from being used in a single-user system to having hundreds of concurrent users with millions of transactions.

Customisation

Most mSupply users have unique needs requiring some customisation of the standard mSupply software. mSupply allows customised versions that can still be easily upgraded as new releases are made. Often customisation is done at no extra cost if the client has a current up-to-date contract.

Specially designed for pharmaceuticals

mSupply is built from the ground up to handle batches and expiry dates.

There are multiple ways of classifying medicines, and mSupply supports ATC coding, WHO’s EDL categories and the user’s own custom categories.

Many of the reports are specific to the needs of pharmaceutical distribution

Reporting

The in-built reports have been developed over ten years in response to user requests.

Users can easily create their own custom reports and save them for use again. (Saved reports are available from a menu in the custom report window).

Items, Names, and transactions all have lots of spare fields that users can use to store custom data, and then use those fields in reports.

A web interface that allows managers in remote locations to log on with a web browser and download reports is due for release in 2012.

Mistake tolerance

mSupply provides easy merging of duplicate entry of items.

Easy adjustment of inventory errors (but with a full audit trail!)

Most fields allow entry by name or code, and allow partial entry of as much of the name or code as the user knows.

Easily find transactions you've entered, by number, by customer/supplier name, by a list of recent transactions, by a custom search.

If the user’s hardware is powerful enough, we can add on fuzzy find searches, allowing finding data even if the search terms are incorrectly entered.

Backorders

Items that you are unable to supply to customers are put onto backorder. A report of all backordered items is easily generated. When the stock for the backorder becomes available a customer invoice is automatically created awaiting your confirmation.

Web interface for customers

mSupply allows customers to remotely log in via a web browser and place orders, view order status, stock status and transaction history. This system is in daily use.

Customer stock history / indent ordering.

For users who want to centrally control the amount given to customers (as is commonly done with indent supplies in hospitals).

We also support a unique system of centralised supply where the supply point submits stock on hand figures, and mSupply (knowing the previous stock on hand, the ordering cycle, and the amount supplied during the previous cycle, can calculate a rational quantity to supply.

Quantification

mSupply uses a dynamic ordering system that allows accurate real-time analysis of how much stock should be ordered, based on current stock levels and usage history (unmet demand from customers, backorders, and stock on order are also taken into account).

This system has proven reliable, and requires little user intervention, unlike systems that require you to set minimum and maximum stock levels (mSupply still allows minimum stock to be set if really needed)

Procurement

mSupply handles purchase orders in multiple currencies, and allows ordering split deliveries.

The goods receipt module allows full or partial receipt of each purchase order.

Ad hoc quotes from suppliers can also be handled.

The quantification, tender management and purchase order systems all tie together so data flows from one to the other without requiring re-entry.

Tender management

The Tender Management module provides detailed production and management of tenders including using mSupply data to determine quantification, printing invitation letters, comparing tender submissions and automatically producing Purchase Orders for the winning tender supplier.

The Remote Tender Management Module provides posting of tenders by suppliers to https://tenders.msupply.org.nz secure web site. You download and automatically import completed tenders to mSupply for easy comparison of supplier responses, choosing the winning supplier and creation of purchase orders.

Dispensing

mSupply integrates well into hospital pharmacies, providing easy breakdown of bulk packs for dispensing.

Prescribers are recorded, and prescriber reports allow analysis of prescribing trends and costs.

Drug interactions are handled, as is repeat dispensing.

Patient history is recorded and easily accessible.

Medicine labels are produced using specialist label printers. Busy sites using mSupply produce hundreds of thousands of labels per year.

Multiple sites from one server

mSupply is able to handle multiple virtual stores within a single data file. A common use for this is a hospital, where several stores may be present, but each needs to run independently.

Sites can run in either dispensary or store mode, so one server can handle both a hospital pharmacy and a warehouse store simultaneously.

Using Citrix and a DSL internet connection you can run a whole country's medical distribution system from a single server, greatly reducing infrastructure requirements while dramatically improving availability and reliability.

Stock control

Because mSupply tracks each batch separately, you have a full FEFO system for every item.

There is a full audit trail for where each batch was delivered.

Each batch records a warehouse location, enabling easy warehouse management

Batches can be split and combined (if they have the same batch number and expiry)

Warehouse management

Full Location management

mSupply allows volume based calculations of available storage, that is especially critical for cold chain items.

Volume information is used to provide either reports or a graphical depiction of how full each section of the warehouse is.

Alerts are given when placing purchase orders if there will not be enough space to hold the incoming goods.

May 2011: We are committed to providing basic bar-coding functionality in the next major release.

Vaccines monitoring

mSupply allows recording of VVM status for batches, and allows sorting available stock by VVM status rather than by expiry.

Hospital Information System

mSupply now includes a simple hospital information system. It is designed to provide a basic service to record critical data using the standard ICD 10 coding system.

It provides a cost effective alternative to large commercial installations

No data lock-in.

All data in mSupply can be exported as industry-standard XML or as an SQL dump, allowing use by other systems as needed.

Cross-platform

mSupply is available for Windows and Macintosh.

We recommend Windows servers, but client computers can be either Windows or Macintosh.

Interaction with other systems

mSupply can either query other systems or provide data in real time via XML web services and other industry standard connectors.

mSupply provides automated seamless integration with Moneyworks accounting software.

All of these features and qualities go together to make a very powerful medical inventory chain management system, which has been tried and tested in dozens of locations around the world. We believe it has a unique set of features that means there is no other product that is comparable for managing medical supplies in developing countries

For full information, visit http://www.msupply.org.nz A demo version is available here

The user guide is available here

The home page for the documentation wiki is here