About Swisslab
For more than 20 years, Swisslab
has been a leading medical laboratory information system provider in Germany. Since December 2008, they are part of Roche Group.
The Challenge
Partial automatization of Word documents makes our client’s employees happy.
The Roche Diagnostics IT Solutions GmbH places great importance on the safety of its laboratory management software Swisslab LIS. The company applies the same high standards it uses for its medicine development - voluntarily. This means a lot of documentation for software development. As software developers, this is something we love to automatize.
A significant challenge here was the generic quality of the documents. They were intended for use by the whole Roche Group and changed and still are being changed quite frequently.
A partial automatization would already pose a relief to the users.
The Goal
Our goal was to identify the necessary information and its sources, process the information and render the document.
As the Swisslab unit emphasizes agile development, we decided to work iteratively: We started out with a single document, a showcase example. We limited our scope to the low hanging fruits. In subsequent iterations, we went/are going for more documents and more complex automatization.
Hence, we tried to employ generic solutions to document-specific tasks where it makes sense.
We chose to implement this as a separate service with a web front end. The client asked for a solution in the Microsoft ecosystem.
The Solution
Our goal was to identify the necessary information and its sources, process the information and render the document.
As the Swisslab unit emphasizes agile development, we decided to work iteratively: We started out with a single document, a showcase example. We limited our scope to the low hanging fruits. In subsequent iterations, we went/are going for more documents and more complex automatization.
Hence, we tried to employ generic solutions to document-specific tasks where it makes sense. We chose to implement this as a separate service with a web front end. The client asked for a solution in the Microsoft ecosystem.
First, we chose which document to automatize: We interviewed the relevant experts and compared the costs and benefits of implementations.
Second, we checked which of the necessary information is (digitally) accessible. We found that the desired information could be grouped as follows:
- A few parameters need to be set by the user to start the process.
- The majority of the desired information is comprised of references on data in Roche IS.
- Some information could be derived from the first two groups.
Third, the implementation: We chose a web application from the standard Microsoft components (current ASP.NET framework, OWIN pipeline, Linq, Razor Views). This is not a standard PCG solution, which in this case, however, we appreciated for its smoothness.
We separated generic and document-specific components:
- Each document is generated by a controller containing the workflow logic.
- Information is processed in generic function classes where possible.
- Interfaces to other systems are encapsulated and open to new requirements.
Forth, the access to a variety of data sources was not trivial. In a multination enterprise like Roche, the API-access to databases/IS is (for security reasons) very limited. Or not desired by some system vendors (SAP). The former meant convincing the party responsible to grant read-only access. The latter was to overcome with some practical creativity.
Fifth, while building the platform was easy, processing a Word document proved unexpectedly difficult: Microsoft does not offer a suitable tool. We alternated to two third-party libraries with limited success.
Our Contribution
We offered a one-stop project to our client: PCG analyzed the problem, developed a concept and implemented it to the client’s requirements.
Generally speaking, our knowledge with distributed systems and web applications gave us a strong advantage. It’s our daily business.
More specifically, our relation to the client for many years, our experience with Roche structures, conventions and habits was crucial to the solution. Without a certain sensitivity to the needs and requirements of the people in charge of IS, the project wouldn’t have come far.
Results and Benefits
It quickly became clear that we relieved some strain from the users: Everybody asked for some document automatization afterwards.
We rarely see so much impact with so little effort. Sometimes, it needs a third person (outside the operative gravity) to move the obstacles.
About PCG
Public Cloud Group (PCG) supports companies in their digital transformation through the use of public cloud solutions.
With a product portfolio designed to accompany organisations of all sizes in their cloud journey and competence that is a synonym for highly qualified staff that clients and partners like to work with, PCG is positioned as a reliable and trustworthy partner for the hyperscalers, relevant and with repeatedly validated competence and credibility.
We have the highest partnership status with the three relevant hyperscalers: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google, and Microsoft. As experienced providers, we advise our customers independently with cloud implementation, application development, and managed services.