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CDC Goes On Demand for Pharma Companies Sign Up to receive Daily News Alerts in your E-mail Inbox
Posted on Wednesday, November 28, 2007 4:25:00 PM |
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CDC Software today announced an on-demand suite of enterprise software applications for life sciences companies, based on technology from Ross Systems, CDC's ERP software business. Aimed specifically at small and mid-sized pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical manufacturers, the offering includes basic enterprise resource planning and supply chain functionality derived from the Ross Enterprise suite, which is tailored to process industries. New functionality in the on-demand product includes project accounting, electronic batch records, centralized quality control, and a new validation methodology for good manufacturing practice (GMP) sites, CDC said.CDC partner Vantage Systems, a provider of managed software services, will host and manage the applications and offer additional services, such as GMP assessments, validation, change control, outsource manufacturing collaboration, and chargeback processing, officials said.Available now, the on-demand product comes with a typical subscription cost of $500 per month, per user, for the basic ERP suite, CDC said. Additional modules, including CDC's Pivotal CRM functionality and analysis and reporting capabilities, are available as add-ons, as are the supplementary services that Vantage offers.These services include chargeback processing, which addresses the complex pricing arrangements among manufacturers, distributors, and buying agencies typical in life sciences supply chains; and outsource manufacturing collaboration, which tracks products and transactions between contract manufacturers and branded or generic manufacturers throughout the supply chain. A good manufacturing practice typical in regulated life sciences plants requires validation of any systems that have an impact on the quality of the material produced. Many manufacturers making the transition to ERP from paper-based systems of record, therefore, must have the ERP system validated, a process that typically takes as long as 125 days when the system is implemented through a traditional on-premises licensing model, said Bob Congiusti, Vantage Systems CEO and former IT executive at pharmaceutical manufacturer Cambrex, in an interview.By contrast, validation templates offered as part of Vantage's services can be delivered to customers via a hosted model in as few as 25 days, Congiusti said.The value of on-demand delivery for small and emerging life sciences companies is realized in this type of accelerated deployment, Forrester Research analyst Ray Wang told Managing Automation. "Many SMB biotechnology, pharma, and life sciences firms need rapid deployment and cannot be bothered with long, cumbersome implementations," Wang said.Company officials said the new product targets emerging and small life sciences companies currently using basic accounting products, such as QuickBooks, a previously untapped market for CDC Software.
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