Company Background
PharMerica Corporation is an institutional pharmacy services company servicing healthcare facilities. The second-largest institutional pharmacy services company in the United States (based upon pro forma revenues for the year ended December 31, 2006), PharMerica operates 119 institutional pharmacies in 40 states (as of September 30, 2007). Customers include institutional healthcare providers such as nursing centers, assisted living facilities, hospitals, and other long-term alternative care settings.
Project Goals & Objective
- Improve reporting, planning, and forecasting processes
- Implement new system with greater analytical capability for companywide manager use
- Implement new system within four months
Business Issues
PharMerica faced several challenges related to financial reporting and accounting capabilities. A company with annual revenues greater than $1 billion and 8,000+ employees across the United States, PharMerica needed a new system that would make critical financial data accessible to operational managers throughout the country. They also needed a faster, more efficient, and more intuitive way to create reports, and a forecasting tool that would allow management the time to analyze data and do budget planning. But perhaps the toughest challenge was that all new applications had to be in place and operational within four months.
Ranzal Role
Owing to Ranzal’s extensive Hyperion expertise, Pharmerica selected Ranzal to build a customized solution that would improve their reporting, planning, and forecasting processes within short period of time.
Business Benefits
Faster financial processes: PharMerica’s new, web-based planning tool has made financial processes simpler and faster. Staff across the United States are now able to take part in budget building in a more timely and efficient manner. Previously, management had to rely on Excel spreadsheets that were then transferred into JD Edwards for budgeting tasks – a long and tedious process that left little time for data analysis.
Easy access to data and reduction of printing costs: A newly created management information system provides upper level management with a user-friendly tool that has dramatically decreased the need for printed reports. Similarly, the account team is now able to create their own ad hoc reports. They no longer need to depend on others to write reports or wait for manual reports to process and print. Further savings have been realized through a customized web-based financial reporting tool. Over 200 users now have immediate access to financial data via the Internet, eliminating the need for printing the reports, mass distribution, and postage.
Rapid implementation and ease of use: Because the new system was so rapidly implemented – up and running in just two months – PharMerica quickly began to reap the benefits of decreased costs and increased productivity. Through the click of a mouse, PharMerica staff members now have access to the tools and data they need. According to one team member, “The new web based reporting and analysis system is fantastic; it has given me analytical capabilities like I never had before.”
