Pharmazeutische Gehaltskasse für Österreich

Pharmazeutische Gehaltskasse für Österreich (Pharmaceutical Salary Fund) is a public body serving the entire federal territory of Austria, with its headquarters in Vienna. It operates with the Austrian Chamber of Pharmacists (ÖAK) as an administrative community.  

Pharmaceutical Salary Fund takes pride in its role as the dedicated social and economic institute for all Austrian pharmacists. Emphasizing a harmonious partnership between employee and employer representatives, the organization ensures fair treatment across its operations. With a core mission to offer social security and organizational relief, the fund is crucial in supporting and serving the pharmacy community. By upholding these principles, it stands as a pillar of support, fostering an environment that empowers pharmacists and promotes their well-being in every aspect of their profession. ‍

Goals

Increase efficiency with the digital transformation solution

The project aimed to increase efficiency by digitally transforming communication services and manual processes. The existing infrastructure needed to be updated and replaced entirely during the project duration. There were many internal manual tasks, resulting in inefficiencies that required optimization.

Improve digital and visual experience

The authorities' website required improvement to enhance its users' digital and visual experience. This would involve redesigning the website with a focus on atomic design principles for iterative enhancements.

Certainty and control over fund flow

Pharmaceutical Salary Fund aimed to establish greater certainty and control over the flow of funds. Achieving this objective required streamlining and automating various processes.

Challenges

The project of developing the recruiting portal faced several challenges, including:

Outdated infrastructure - The project started with obsolete infrastructure, necessitating its complete replacement throughout the project duration.

Processes that need to be optimized- The existing processes relied heavily on manual work, leading to delays and errors.

Heterogeneous user groups - The users' groups were diverse in age, technical affinity, and experience, posing challenges in designing user-friendly solutions for all.

High complexity - The project involved numerous stakeholders and external partners connected to related systems, increasing the implementation complexity.

Changing requirements - Requirements tended to change during the project, which was effectively managed by adopting the Agile Scrum methodology.

Needs- In addition to the heterogeneous users of Pharmazeutische Gehaltskasse für Österreich, there is another user group of accountants. Up to 400 accountants work as service providers for the pharmacies, which have very different needs for access to data.

Services & process

The project focused on optimizing, merging, digitalizing, and automating processes across three distinct user groups to address the goals and challenges. The approach involved:

UX workshops and requirements specification - User experience workshops were conducted with Pharmazeutische Gehaltskasse für Österreich to gather insights and define specific requirements.

Atomic design library and portal development - An atomic design library was created to guide the iterative visual redesign of the authorities' portal, ensuring a consistent and user-friendly experience.

Cloud infrastructure and cloud-native design - The project utilized Azure cloud infrastructure and cloud-native design principles to create a unified and robust platform for effective process capabilities.

Microservice integration platform - A microservice layer was implemented as an integration platform to merge various data sources and systems seamlessly.

Digital transformation technologies and architecture - The solution was built using modern technologies like React, Spring, Liferay, OpenAPI, OIDC, Kubernetes, Terraform, ensuring a future-proof and scalable outcome.

Execution

The project involved over 1200 consultant days and followed the Experience Driven Development (XDD) approach, encompassing the following modules: Strategy, Ideation, and Realization. Various roles, including Project Manager, Service Designer, UX Designer, UI Designer, Cloud Architect, Software Engineer, and QA Manager, were assigned to ensure smooth execution.

Unified e-service portal

A unified e-service portal provides the following benefits:

• A unified and digitized recruitment process for employers, employees, and the salary fund reduces overhead and improves efficiency
• Implementation of new communication features to enhance recruitment processes
• Establishment of a managed customer database for monitoring and controlling financial assistance
• Introduction of a job assignment tool with manual intervention capabilities for faster job integration

_{‍Improved exchange of regulatory information}

This portal also provides the following:

• Centralized exchange of regulatory documents between member-care, employers, and employees, simplifying clearance processes
• Merging business processes between the salary fund, employers, and employees to reduce the administrative burden
• A flexible user interface with well-organized overviews for significant time-on-task reduction
• Decoupling of complexity caused by multiple connected systems, ensuring robust and secure operation

“The digitized recruitment process and centralized exchange of regulatory documents simplify clearance processes and reduce administrative burden, ensuring robust and secure operation.”

- Christian Plattner, Head of Service Department

Flexible self-service center

Finally, a unified e-service portal provides:

• A fully automated, flexible self-service center to filter, select, and download relevant tax and audit documents
• A simple and intuitive system for pharmacies to handle roles and access rights for employees and external hires
• Business trustees hired by pharmacies could be granted selected access to work-related data and documents
• Reduced overhead and increased efficiency for Pharmaceutical Salary Fund and pharmacies through a secure, user-friendly self-service center
• Using ID-Austria (eID) to log in to the portal makes it easier for users to use it

“The fully automated self-service center enhances efficiency for Pharmazeutische Gehaltskasse für Österreich and pharmacies while offering a secure and user-friendly experience for accessing tax and audit documents.”

- Dr. Brigitte Wunsch – General Manager

Conclusion

By undertaking a comprehensive digital transformation journey that involved merging, digitalizing, and automating processes for three distinct user groups, Pharmaceutical Salary Fund achieved its goals of increased efficiency, improved digital experiences, and greater control over the flow of funds. Adopting modern technologies and Agile methodologies allowed the project to address the challenges effectively and deliver a future-proof and scalable solution. The unified e-recruiting portal, improved exchange of regulatory information, and flexible self-service center showcased the successful outcome of this endeavour, benefiting both Pharmaceutical Salary Fund and its user groups. ‍

All of this contributes to a reduction in our collective carbon footprint. With 1,400 pharmacies saving an astounding 252,000 pages of paper annually through digital prescription billing documents and 700 economic trustees conserving 126,500 pages annually, this solution is a testament to the commitment to a greener, more sustainable future.