Pharmaceuticals 

Definition

Groups together pharmaceuticals-specific attributes that characterize a business partner in the pharmaceuticals or medical environment.

Structure

To be able to use the functions in the business partner dialog that are based on a sales territory that is split into regional pharmaceuticals markets (RPMs), you must have selected a country when you installed your CRM system (this field does not contain a default entry).

Grouping by Function/Organization

Grouping

The group classifies business partners that work in the pharmaceuticals environment. Groups can contain people (or their job titles) or organizations.

Members of a group of people could be:

·        Physician

·        Pharmacist

·        Nurse

·        And so on.

Members of a group of organizations could be:

·        Hospital

·        Pharmacy

·        Medical faculty of a university

·        And so on.

Subgroup

The subgroup characterizes the members of a group in more detail.

Subgroups of the group Physician could be:

·        Person in private practice

·        Junior doctor in a hospital

·        And so on.

The Hospital group could contain the following subgroups:

·        Local hospital

·        University hospital

·        Military hospital

·        Private clinic

·        And so on.

Market Segmentation

Regional pharmaceutical market (RPM)

In market segmentation, large sales territories are divided up into smaller areas for which data can be collected and analyzed. There are several types of market segmentation relevant for certain industries. An important type of market segmentation for the pharmaceuticals industry is segmentation into RPM segments.  Other types of market segmentation include the nanobrick, or the Nielsen areas for the consumer product industry.

In field sales for the pharmaceuticals industry, areas are defined by regional pharmaceutical market (RPM) segments. Each RPM segment contains a certain number of postal codes and town/city names from a particular country. It is therefore based on a geographical structure. The RPM segments do not overlap (there are, however, exceptions to this rule, for example in Austria, where one postal code can be assigned to two RPM segments or health regions.)

In Europe, it is usual to divide a sales territory into RPM segments. This segmentation is not found in the USA, however.

The reason for segmenting a larger territory into RPM segments is that in the ethical sector, direct sales figures are not available for the pharmaceuticals industry in most countries. Therefore, it is not known which physician prescribe which products and how often. Sales can only be measured based on figures from wholesale or from pharmacies and clinics that buy directly. The RPM is then determined by the Institute for Medical Statistics (IMS) (key figures are the sales volume and revenue of a product) and sold to the pharmaceuticals industry. A pharmaceutical company can also buy key figures relating to its competitors (rival products) from the IMS so that it can compare itself with the rest of the market.

A pharmaceutical company must therefore measure the success of an employee in a sales territory by analyzing the data provided by IMS. To be able to do this, it must define the territory in terms of RPM segments. It must therefore be able to assign an RPM segment to a business partner or a business partner address.

Nanobrick

In addition to the RPM segment, there is a more detailed level of segmentation that is used to record the prescription-related behavior of specialist physician groups within the segment. The following data is needed to categorize the physicians into these ‘nanobricks’:

·        Postal/zip code

·        City name

·        Street name

·        Specialist group

A nanobrick can cross boundaries of RPM segments. This segmentation provides much more detailed data than the RPM method. Using these key figures, companies in the pharmaceuticals industry can create regional profiles that reflect the prescription-related behavior of physicians according to field of study.

Qualification/Occupation

Field of Study

The field of study characterizes the qualifications or specialist area of the business partner. As a rule, this corresponds to the degree qualification obtained, but may also include several qualifications in different areas.

A field of study always relates to a person or job title.

Additional Qualification

The additional qualification characterizes the business partner’s additional skills that go beyond the actual specialist qualification. It is often related to the organization that the business partner works for.

An additional qualification always relates to a person or job title.

Position

A position typically refers not to a physician but to other contact people that work in hospitals, for example those in administrative or technical areas. Typical positions include:

·        Administration manager

·        Hospital manager

·        Purchasing manager

A position always relates to a person or job title.

Function

The function typically relates to physicians or contact persons who work in hospitals and have a particular function there. It describes an activity within an area, and therefore depends on the group and subgroup. Typical functions include:

·        Chief physician

·        Ward physician

·        Junior doctor

A function always relates to a person or job title.

Not all companies in the pharmaceuticals industry differentiate between function and position.

Before you can use the fields Field of Study, Additional Qualification, Position and Function, you must activate them in Customizing. To do this, in the Implementation Guide of Customer Relationship Management, choose Industry Solutions ® Pharma ® Master Data ® Business Partners and enter the groups and subgroups in the activity Determine Professional/Organizational Grouping. Under Qualification/Activity, enter the field of study, additional qualification, position and function in the relevant activities.

If you activate these fields on the CRM server and want to make them available on the mobile client as well, you must install the Mobile CRM pharmaceuticals template on the mobile client.

DEA Schedules

In the USA, the Prescription Drug Marketing Act (PDMA) was put in force to ensure that hospitals and physicians only receive samples that they are licensed to receive. Every physician is registered with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The DEA schedule states which pharmaceutical products a physician is permitted to dispense, prescribe and administer. You can enter DEA schedules in Customizing for Customer Relationship Management under Industry-Specific Solutions ®Pharmaceuticals ® Sample Management ® Enter DEA Schedules. For more information, see Pharma-Specific Checks for Business Partners and Products.

Special Features for CRM Enterprise

You will find the identification numbers for pharmaceuticals (DEA number, health industry number) on the Identification tab page and the DEA schedules on the Pharmaceuticals tab page. You can flag a person’s address as a registered DEA address on the Address Overview tab page. This address will then be used to send drug samples to the physician.

Special Features for CRM Mobile

You can assign the DEA identification number and the DEA schedule to a physician under Business Partner ® Identification and under Contact Person ® Identification. You can display the addresses with the DEA Address flag under Contact ® Addresses.

Integration

You must make the necessary settings under Making Customizing Settings for DEA Addresses.

Special Features for CRM Mobile

You must have actively set the application parameter PDMACHECK so that the system displays the DEA schedule and address flag. For this, choose Cross-Component Settings ® Application Parameters in the Mobile System Maintenance.