Pharmaceutical products’ storage, transportation, and distribution are regulated by specific guidelines such as Annex 9 of the World Health Organization (WHO) Technical Report Series. According to these regulations, highly active and radioactive materials, narcotics, and other hazardous, sensitive, and/or dangerous materials and pharmaceutical products, as well as substances presenting special risks of abuse, fire, or explosion, should be stored in a dedicated area that is subject to appropriate safety and security measures.
To ensure the requirements are met, Life Sciences Supply Chain Management allows users to define product storage attributes and allows for the control of inventory movements within specific warehouses/locations based on these attributes.
The list of storage attributes can be configured in the Storage attributes form (Inventory management > Setup > Storage attributes > Storage attributes). For each storage attribute, the following parameters can be specified:
Skip check: Used to define whether the control on inventory movements should be omitted for a selected storage attribute whenever the control on storage attributes for a specific product and warehouse/location is performed.
Print on label: Used to define whether the label text for a selected storage attribute should be printed on labels.
Label: Used to define the default text to be printed on labels.
Users can associate storage attributes to a selected product in the Storage attributes form (Product information management > Products > Released products > Manage inventory tab > Storage attributes and Product information management > Products > Released products > Released products details > Manage inventory tab > Storage attributes).
The Skip check, Print on label, and Label fields in the Storage attribute form for an item are automatically populated based on the values that have been selected in the master Storage attributes form, but they are still editable in case any further modification for the selected item is needed.
Additionally, it is possible to configure storage attributes for a selected warehouse and/or location:
If the Enable locations in the Warehouses form is disabled, storage attributes in the warehouse can be defined by clicking the Storage attributes button in the Warehouses form (Inventory management > Setup > Inventory breakdown > Warehouses or Warehouse management > Setup > Warehouse > Warehouses). The storage attributes of the warehouse are automatically applied to all the corresponding locations, and it is not possible to create location-specific storage attributes.
If the Enable locations in the Warehouses form is enabled, the Storage attributes button in the Warehouses form is disabled. Different storage attributes for each location associated with the selected warehouse can be defined by clicking the Storage attributes button in the Inventory locations or Locations form (Inventory management > Setup > Inventory breakdown > Inventory locations or Warehouse management > Setup > Warehouse setup > Locations).
To verify the adherence to storage restrictions, authorized users can configure the Approved storage attribute check method in the Item check groups form (Inventory management > Setup > Inventory > Item check groups) and the value is applicable for all items using this item check group. The check method selected here is inherited from the Approved storage attribute check method field in the Manage Inventory tab of the Released product details form (Product information management > Products > Released products > Released product details), but the value for the selected item can be changed. It is possible to select among the following options:
No check – During the inventory transaction the system will not check if the storage attributes of the warehouse/location are suitable for the item.
Warning only – During the inventory transaction the system will check if the storage attributes of the warehouse/location are suitable for the item. If the combination is not valid, the system will return a warning message, but the user will be able to complete the transaction. This means the product should preferably be stored in warehouses/locations with appropriate storage attributes.
Not allowed – During the inventory transaction the system will check if the storage attributes of the warehouse/location are suitable for the item. If the combination is not valid, the system will return an error message and the transaction will be aborted. This means the product can only be stored in warehouses/locations with appropriate storage attributes.
Authorized users can generate a report that lists all batches/sub-batches stocked in inventory dimensions whose storage attributes are not appropriate by going to Inventory management > Inquiries and reports > Storage attributes > Storage attribute mismatch.
The radio buttons in the Parameters > View section can be enabled to identify the inventory dimensions (for example, Site, Warehouse, Sub batch number, etc.) to be displayed in the report. The Location and Batch number dimensions are automatically enabled and mandatory.
The data in the report can be filtered or sorted by defining a query, which can be opened by clicking Select.