Blue Link’s Complete End-to-End CSOS and Pharmaceutical ERP Software

Ilmie Sham Ku

Most pharmaceutical distribution businesses will agree that selling schedule II drugs is a highly complex, time-consuming and headache-inducing process. Take for example the requirement to submit DEA Form 222. Without a proper Controlled Substance Ordering System (CSOS) in place to complete this form electronically, this process alone can take several days to complete via courier. Having CSOS in place certainly helps to speed up this specific process from days to minutes and saves on mailing costs - but what about meeting all the other stringent, ever-growing industry regulations? Compliance requirements/regulations have become sterner, as the responsibility of securing the pharmaceutical marketplace to keep counterfeit drugs off the market falls more and more on the shoulders of these distributors. As a result, many distributors are implementing multiple pieces of software just to keep up with requirements such as the FDA Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA), complicated pricing models, extensive reporting (T3), and VAWD compliance to name a few. However, this is where many of these businesses run into problems. Having multiple, disjointed systems that house different business, inventory and customer data is not only time consuming as data entry processes are often repeated, but it makes it difficult to achieve full visibility of inventory which makes meeting compliance and regulation requirements difficult.

Blue Link ERP + CSOS allows pharmaceutical distributors to not only accelerate the CSOS process but also allows them to manage their inventory, accounting, purchasing and warehouse needs while helping to stay FDA/DEA/VAWD compliant - all from one system. Below we explore the different features and benefits of  Blue Link's complete end-to-end pharmaceutical ERP system.

CSOS Functionality

  • Secure electronic transmission of orders for Schedule II (C2) class drugs via B2B Online Order Portal
  • Eliminates the need for customers to complete and mail/courier DEA Form 222, instead, can complete an electronic Form e222
  • Allows for Schedule II sales orders to be submitted in minutes not days
  • Suppliers can receive orders from an unlimited number of registered customers using CSOS
  • Detailed logs of the communication showing that the customer's certificate was valid at the time of purchase
  • Ability for supplier to submit mandatory CSOS Reports every 48 hours
  • DEA Certified as of March 28, 2017

Other Pharmaceutical ERP Functionality

  • Inventory management capabilities such as multiple warehouse, serialized inventory, multiple units of measure, automated reordering, inventory counts, pricing rules etc.
  • Accounting features include G/L, AR, AP, bank management and payment processing
  • Extensive reporting and analytics functionality for real-time insight into business health
  • Warehouse management features allow visibility of multiple warehouse locations, tracking bin/shelf locations, create/view/print packing and picking slips etc.
  • Lot tracking allows for product traceability to keep track of which customers received specific shipments (useful for achieving FDA/DEA/VAWD compliance)

Benefits of an Complete End-to-End System

  • Fast and easy data transfer between ERP and CSOS
  • Less expensive than having two separate systems to manage
  • Less time consuming as there is no need to switch back and forth between multiple applications
  • Provides the same CSOS pharma and ERP functionality designed for large businesses at a fraction of the cost with small-medium size businesses in mind
  • One vendor to handle all your pharmaceutical software and support needs such as set-up, training and implementation

CSOS Demo