Operations management using bar codes - health care industry

Operations Management:Tracking Operations using

Operations Management AssignmentPrepared By: Manohar M. M. IyerXMBA Batch 19 , ITM Vashi, 2012.

Tracking Operations using Bar Coding Technology

Introduction:

This study is taken froma real life Project handled by me(Manohar) in the year 2007, while I was working with areputed UKPharma marketing firmwhich was to launch aChain of Human care wellbeing centres across India thatwill render all wellness services under one roof, likeClinical diagnostics, Ayurveda, Homoeopathy,Gymnasium,Consultations,Skin& Beauty,etc.


Gymnasium,Consultations,Skin& Beauty,etc.

I was a core member of Technology & Software Teamofthe firm & our team’s job was to create a systemthat willsmoothen the entire operations not only intra-centre, butalso Inter-centre across India and all information will besaved in one central server accessible across all systems inall the centres.

The advantage was that the customer can book for servicefrom anywhere in India, avail of the service at any centrein India and continue the next sitting at any other center asper his convenience.

The top management could at the click of a button canhave a dashboard at any given time or for a specificperiod, of any one centre in India or Region wise or thewhole unit and get details like number of customers


whole unit and get details like number of customersavailing of the services, number of consultants/ Serviceproviders available, Stock details of service ingredients,efficiency of the centre, costs, inter-centre transactions,Projections, etc. .

The Backbone of this operation is Bar Coding.

Disclaimer note: This document is prepared purely as an educational project assignment to be submitted as a component of the XMBA curriculum being conducted by ITM (Institute for Technology and Management) at Vashi, Navimumbai.

The information contained within this document is for educational assessment purposes only

The idea & content totally belongs to the company I had worked for or its investor, share holder, group, organization, company or any


or its investor, share holder, group, organization, company or any other entity connected with it as specified by the company

None of the Idea & content mentioned in his document or results/inferences that come out after understanding this document is permissible to be copied or to be used in part or whole without written permission from the company

The reader of this document is strongly advised not to indulge in any such activity

Case Study


Learning

We will learn use of bar coding in operations under following heads

•The Idea behind WBC Application

•Customer Perspective


•Customer Perspective

•Processes & system in WBC operations

•The final whole flow of operations

The Idea behind WBC Application


The Idea behind WBC Application

WBC software application is used for capturing all information related to the processes/ work practices of Brand X

What is WBC application?


processes/ work practices of Brand X Wellbeing Centre, a human care centre

The process is driven by usage of Bar coding technology.

Brand X Wellbeing Centre is a human care centre, which takes care of Customer’s Wellbeing by providing various Wellbeing Services & Wellbeing Services & ProductsProducts.

What is Brand X Wellbeing Centre?


ProductsProducts.

The Objective is to improve & maintain customer’s Wellbeing, by rendering all services under one roof, like Clinical diagnostics, Ayurveda, Homoeopathy, Gymnasium, Consultations, Skin & Beauty, etc.

Why Wellbeing Centre & WBC

• All services related to Customer’s Wellbeing provided under one roof.

• Facility to book for services in advance.

• Personal attention by customer care


• Personal attention by customer care associates

• Complete track of services through Barcoding.

• Customer record and history maintained.

Customer Perspective


Customer Perspective

Appointment

• Customers can book for services online.• While booking customer provides details like

Name, Address, contact information, service customer wants to avail, preferred time, preferred centre and offer code.


preferred centre and offer code.• When customer visits the centre for availing

the service, we will raise a order and provide an itinerary with barcode and all details related to the chosen service.

Provision of Service • The Customer Care associate will Guide the

customer to the room where h/she can avail the service.

• The Bar code provided to the customer will be scanned and the consultant or technician


be scanned and the consultant or technician who will attend the customer, will get all details related to the service.

• The service will be provided to the customer.• If it is a pathological related service, then the

sample will be collected from the customer for testing.

Payments & Reports

• The Customer care associate will guide the customer on where to make the payments for the availed services, how and where h/she can collect the reports, if any.


• The customer care associate can also provide information related to any other services that we provide, if customer inquires.

Follow - Up

• The Goal is Customer Delight & to achieve this we need to know whatever customer has to tell about us.

• We have a Customer follow-up system, through which we will inquire about the


through which we will inquire about the experience customer had while availing the services.

• Customers can provide us with their suggestions, feedback, queries, complaints, concerns or comments, etc.

Processes & system in WBC operations


Processes & system in WBC operations

Operational processes

• Inventory (stock)

• Appointment

– Transactions

– Order Booking

– Room Activity


– Customer Follow-up

– Questionnaire

• Lab

• Receipt

• Reports

• Utility

• Users

Operations System Modules

•• Reception/ Front Office Reception/ Front Office

•• Service Providers/ ConsultantsService Providers/ Consultants

•• Lab ProcessLab Process


•• Lab ProcessLab Process

•• StockStock

•• Business ConceptsBusiness Concepts

Reception/ Front Office


Reception/ Front Office

What we will see

• Appointments

• Orders


• Payments

• Delivery

• Order Completion

Appointment• At the time of booking an Appointment enter the following

details

1. The appointment type� Pre-order

� Post-order

2.Whether h/she is an existing customer or a new customer.


2.Whether h/she is an existing customer or a new customer. Also whether h/she is an normal customer or a corporate individual with whom we have some tie ups.

� For new customers enter customer information like Name, Address & Other contact details

� For existing customers select the customer name.

– Select the Offer Code

– The service customer wants

– The preferred Time & Centre

OrderWhen customer visits the centre for availing a service, book an

Order.

– Check whether prior appointment or direct walk-in.� For walk-in customers,

– Book the service depending upon the room availability

– Enter the details of the service, the offer, the membership details, etc.

For customers who has taken prior appointment, select the


� For customers who has taken prior appointment, select the Appointment number.

� Note: For new customers, Capture complete customer details like Name, address, contact details, Customer Type, Corporate name, etc.

– Confirm the Order & Provide the printout of Itinerary with the Bar-code to the customer

– Guide him / her to a Customer Care Associate.

Payments

• Enter the payment details.• Choose the payment mode as cash / cheque,

DD/ Credit card.

– For Corporate individuals availing a service under corporate Offer, choose the


service under corporate Offer, choose the payment mode as Trade customer.

• Provide a 'Receipt'.

Delivery

• For clinical related services, reports need to be delivered to the customer.

• Reports received at the centre from the Lab can be delivered.


• Select the order based on the Order Number.

• Choose the delivery type as by courier/ by Post/ by hand.

Completion

•Services are completed if :

– Services are provided to the customer

– Tests reports, if any, are delivered to the customer


– Payments are received for the services.

•Order is completed if all services, mentioned in Order are completed.

Service Providers/ Consultants


We will see

• Room Activity

• Questionnaire


Room ActivityThe Customer Care associate will guide the customer to the room.

• Scan the Bar code to get all the details of the customer.

• Provide the service customer has opted for.

• Enter the BMI information if required.

• Scan the bar code again to complete the service

• For pathological related services


• For pathological related services

– Collect the sample,

– Generate bar code sticker & attach it on the sample container

– Send the sample to the lab.

• Consultants update

– Consultation feedback & recommendation.

– Information related to the diet/ exercise regimen that customer follows, If required.

Questionnaire• A system in which you can update

– Some sets of questions that you may ask to customers

– Their responses to these questions

• This will help:

– To maintain the record of customers that can be retrieved whenever required.

– To narrow down on a recommendation.


– To narrow down on a recommendation.

• Questions can be subjective or Objective and can be related to various areas of health.

• For some Objective questions, we can have optional answers, that can be predefined.

• Scores can be assigned to these answers.

• Depending upon the total score, some product/ services / information can be recommended to the customer.

Questionnaire

General Questionnaire

Joints & Muscles Energy

Category


Joints & Muscles Energy

“Do you feel energy slump more often”

YesScore=2

SometimesScore=1

NoScore=0

Lab Process


Lab Process

• Issue sample to Lab (External or Internal depending upon the service).

• Internal Labs to receive the sample

• Test & check the relevant parameters of the sample.


• Test & check the relevant parameters of the sample.

• Update the findings/ test results for the parameters checked.

Stock


Stock

What we will see

• Stock Procurement

• Stock Consumption

• Stock Adjustment


• Stock Adjustment

• Stock Transfer

• Standard Costing

Stock Procurement

Stock Required

Purchase Order

Raise

Authorize through EDMS


Supplier Sends Goods

Goods Receipt Note

Supplier Provides Invoice

Book

Finance

Authorize through EDMS

Stock Consumption

Service Provided


Ingredient Consumed

Stock Reduced

Stock Adjustment

Stock Damaged Free Samples

Negative Positive


Stock Adjustment

Negative Positive

Stock Transfer

One Centre Another CentreStock Transfer


Stock Reduced Stock Added

Standard Costing

• Details of cost of components in a product or Ingredients required for a service can be updated in Standard Costing


Business Concepts


What we will see

• Service Groups• Services• Service Ingredients• Service Kits• Marketing Campaigns


• Marketing Campaigns• Price List• Memberships• Trade Customers• Efficiency• Various Processes• WBC Application & Masters

Groups of serviceService Group

Clinical Beauty & skin


• Depending upon the types of services, wecan group the services into segments calledservice groups.

Clinical�Blood test�Urine test�etc

Beauty & skin�Manicure�Pedicure�Facial

Services

Services

Non- Sitting Based Sitting Based


Non- Sitting Based Sitting Based

Non- Defined Sittings Defined Sittings

Service Ingredients

• For providing service ingredients are required.

Blood Test

Syringe Bottle Cotton SwabTime/ Effort


• Ingredients can be Tangible or Intangible

• The cost of ingredients are included in the cost of theservice.

• Effort also contains the pre-calculated partial facilitiescosts for that duration of service like rent of room, Salaryof the service provider, cost for Power, water, furniture,systems, etc

Service KitsService Kit

Pre-Employment kit�Blood Test�Eye Test�ECG

Bridal Makeup kit�Manicure�Pedicure�Facial


• Some Assorted services can be clubbed into one & can be promoted as a Service Kit.

• The Kits will be sold as a Package of services & all services in the Kit will be provided.

�Eye Test�ECG�Stress Test

�Pedicure�Facial�Hair Style

Marketing CampaignsValentine 2007

Campaign

Feb 2007 offer�Massage 100/-�Weight Loss 200/-�Body shaping

Special beauty offer�Manicure 100/-�Pedicure 100/-�Facial 500/-


• All services are provided under some or other offer and these offers will be part of some Campaign.

�Body shaping 200/-

�Facial 500/-

Special Price on Feb 14th 2007•Massage 50/-•Facial 350/-

Price List

• Price list may vary – from City to city.

– Depending upon the Offer, Campaigns or kits. • Tie-ups with different Corporate will also be treated


• Tie-ups with different Corporate will also be treated as Offers.

Memberships• Services like Gym etc. required consistently

for longer durations can be offered as memberships

Membership


Membership

Membership Plan�Quarterly�Yearly�Monthly�Bi-Monthly

Membership Type�Gold (10 Guest visits) �Premium (5 guest visits)�Family (2 family members)�General

Trade Customers

• Corporates with whom we have tie-ups, also known as Trade customers, will be given some corporate offers with select services for their employees (corporate Individuals).

• The payment for the services availed by the corporate


• The payment for the services availed by the corporate Individuals can be received as Advance or On account or Against Bills.

• These payments, received from the Trade customers, can be matched, against the Receipts generated for services availed by their employees.

Efficiency• Few factors considered while calculating the Standard costing for

a service are:

– Cost of tangible ingredients & Intangible ingredients

– Time taken for providing the service.

– Number of times the service can be provided in a day.

– Expected number of customers availing the service in a day.


– Expected number of customers availing the service in a day.

• Over a period of time it may be observed that the actual costing varies from assumed value.

• This variation can be positive or negative & will affect the Efficiency of a service

Efficiency of a service = Actual Value - Assumed Value

The whole flow of operations


Book Order

All Info captured, Bar code generated

Bar code ReadHistory displayed

Stock reduced

Room Occupied

Service rendered

CENTRAL

Existing Customer?

Room Available?

Re-order?

Next Slot?


Stock reduced

SERVER

Questionnaire Response Further Consultation

More Sitting?

Cost updatedSample collected

Reports?

Bar code read Payment Received

Income updated

Summary:• As one can see at each stage information is fed into thecentralized server•The existing information in the server is updated•As per the query, the information is served back to theterminal•For example

•Lets say a center has five rooms out which three can beused for taking CBC blood and ECG samples•At a given specific time all three rooms are occupied


•Average time taken for each service is pre-recorded•When new order for CBC blood test is booked,automatically the server searches for the next availableroomand allots it to the customer•Similarly when the one service is rendered to onecustomer the corresponding service ingredients used areautomatically reduced fromthe stock in the systemand therelative costs are updated

Thus the operations are tracked by the systemso smoothlythat at any given time the top management could at theclick of a button can have a dashboard to get details likenumber of customers availing of the services, number ofconsultants/ Service providers available, Stock details ofservice ingredients, efficiency of the centre, costs for acentre.

Since all the centresare also connectedto the same


Since all the centresare also connectedto the samecentralised server the dashboard can also be obtainedregion-wise or for the whole unit.

The database can be used to track inter-centretransactions, Projections, etc. .

Thus using the Bar Coding technology entireoperations can be tracked.

I thank one and all who have provided me with the opportunity to handle this responsibility and the knowledge & support to prepare this document.

Please feel free to forward your valuable feedback, comments, queries and suggestions related to this document at [email protected]

Thank you,


Thank you,

Warm regards,

Manohar M. M. Iyer