Best Practice
MS Dynamics CRM
Heel x gorelate a CRM project
19. October 2022
For the company Heel, gorelate implemented a customer engagement project and extended the Dynamics 365 standard with add-ons to enable processes specially tailored to Heel and the pharmaceutical industry. You can read about the solutions we have found in our case study.
Distribution of samples, visit planning, etc.
The distribution of drugs is subject to strict legal rules – especially with regard to the distribution of samples to doctors. But it is not only the legal background that poses challenges for the implementation of a CRM system, it is above all the work of the field staff whose documentation should be efficient and verifiable – online and offline.
Distribution of drug samples
Hardly anything is more important for a pharmaceutical company’s field staff than knowing which doctors have already received samples and which have not – the reason being the strict regulations. What sounds so simple in theory is not in practice: of course, field staff distribute the samples to many doctors and the doctors themselves do not always work in just one practice, but in several practices or also at a hospital. In order to ensure that the distribution of samples takes place within the legal framework and can be documented, gorelate has extended the Dynamics 365 standard by initially creating three entities. gorelate then linked the drug sample to the entity “person”, meaning that the sample is, by requirement, attached to the person. This ensures that only the legal maximum number of samples per year can be distributed to a doctor.
Interaction between back office and field staff
Since the back-office staff can also send samples, the total quota must not be exceeded here either – this was also taken into account during implementation. Today, back-office and field staff can rely on the fact that the total number of a person’s samples is always displayed correctly, preventing the maximum amount of samples from being exceeded.
Call planning and documentation
For the planning and documentation of appointments with doctors and pharmacies, gorelate has developed its own add-on: call planning. The field staff initially plans the appointment in the add-on and drags it into a calendar view using drag & drop. To document a visit, the field staff simply clicks directly into the appointment on the tablet and then starts recording.
Order entry with different discount models
At the same time, the field staff can then also take care of the order entry, while taking into account specific discount models. As with the other extensions, gorelate implemented this function using the Flexible Grid. This allowed us to extend the Dynamics standard in terms of pricing and discounts and to map models that are tailored to individual products or customers. All of these field staff steps also work within the Dynamics 365 app.
Detailed documentation of the doctor’s visit
Another function for the field staff is the possibility of mapping the conversation with the doctor: This includes the planning carried out by the field staff, which topics were actually discussed and the reaction of the doctor. In this way, the field staff can document its work and at the same time the interest shown in the product is recorded.
Project insights: challenges and highlights
Starting point and decision to collaborate with gorelate
Heel was using Aurea CRM but in the course of an evaluation decided to replace it. gorelate presented Dynamics 365 to Heel and was able to get the company on board for the joint project: “Our long, trust-filled cooperation in combination with their well-thought-out presentation convinced us that gorelate can also break new ground together with Heel,” says Vassil Mangalov, Head of Business Excellence at Heel and co-project lead. The two have known each other for some time: Mathias Brückner and Ulrich Zeh, now Senior Consultant and Project Manager, respectively, at gorelate, have been supporting Heel for almost 20 years, initially via Regware, then via Update and finally gorelate.
"gorelate has shown us that they have the necessary expertise in Dynamics 365 and can link it to the world of Heel.”
Vassil Mangalov, Head of Business Excellence at Heel
„Pharmafit“ with add-ons & Grid: Dynamics 365 extension
“Our joint project began with two challenges,” says Mathias Brückner, who was in charge of the project with Heel: “On the one hand, replacing an existing and, above all, pharma-proven CRM system with Dynamics 365, which offers many advantages but clearly had to be extended with regard to the pharma-specific requirements that are often required by law.” As a solution, gorelate decided to rely on in-house development – using gorelate’s Flexible Grid and our add-ons, it was possible to efficiently implement sampling, call planning as well as order entry and pricing, for example. And so that Heel’s sales force can work just as efficiently, gorelate has also implemented a quick entry option into the Dynamics 365 app.
Parallel operation of two CRM systems & pandemic
The second challenge affected the transition period, explains Mathias Brückner: the parallel operation of the old and new system could be solved with the help of the migration tool gomigrate, especially with its permanent data hub. Organisationally, there was also the pandemic, so it was necessary to rely more on remote work – also challenging due to the complexity of the project, says Mathias Brückner. Roswitha Kininger from Heel also points to the high agility of the requirements and their implementation sequence as challenges for the project: “We are very satisfied with the flexibility with which gorelate reacted to changes in framework conditions over the course of the project.”
“The parallel operation of the legacy system really was a challenge to overcome. The operation of the data carousel in the background for mutual data transfer between the legacy system and Dynamics until its ultimate replacement was a real highlight from an administrative and organisational point of view.”
„The parallel operation of the legacy system was really a challenge to overcome. The operation of the data carousel in the background for mutual data transfer between the legacy system and Dynamics until the final replacement was a real highlight from an administrative and organizational point of view.“
Roswitha Kininger, Information Management Business Consultant at Heel
Mathias Brückner finds the extension of the Dynamics 365 standard with the help of the Flexible Grid particularly successful: “And the associated process improvements to the pharmaceutical basics and the must-haves of the predecessor system.”
Mathias Brückner
senior Consultant
For Brückner, a further successful feature is the interaction of a wide variety of applications with Dynamics, such as Outlook, SharePoint, Office or mobile clients, and the resulting increased benefits for users. Heel also attaches particular importance to the integration with Office: “From the user's point of view, this is very positive. It would not have been possible before,” says Corinna Stinner, CRM Specialist, Business Excellence Heel Germany.
„The rapid capture of requirements for advertising material and samples with the help of the Grid is a highlight for the back office.“
Corinna Stinner, Specialist CRM, Business Excellence at Heel Deutschland
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