With last week’s release of Feature Package 01 for Advanced Track and Trace for Pharmaceuticals (ATTP) 2.0, SAP® has provided users with a range of features and updates that will not only enhance user experience but allow for even more impactful functionality. I’ve partnered with some of our serialization experts to take a deeper look at the changes SAP has made and how they provide a broader range of capabilities to meet both regulatory expectations and enable greater efficiencies.

Perhaps most notably, changes to the European Union Hub interfaces have driven updates in ATTP to fully accommodate the product and support services defined in the European Medicines Verification System (EMVS) message requirements. Aside from that, SAP has implemented a number of enhancements across several areas:

Web User Interface (UI)

The web-based UI has been enhanced to allow for additional reporting flexibility (e.g., displaying historical hierarchies) and the ability to perform warehouse-based transactions. For those looking for warehouse or rework capabilities directly in a local instance of ATTP, this update includes those abilities.

Multiple Instances of ATTP

To better manage distributed landscapes using multiple instances of ATTP, SAP has added queuing, alerting, and additional control logic to assist in managing data across multiple environments. A web service and Remote Function Call (RFC) have been provided to allow external systems to request EPCIS messages.

Batch Decommissioning

A nice feature (that hopefully isn’t used terribly often) is the ability to decommission an entire batch based on a scanned serial number. Of course, you also have the ability to unpack and decommission a single serial number or leave the serial numbers packed to decommission all children of the scanned label.

Data Cockpit

Some minor data cockpit enhancements were made to improve extensibility of customer-specific selection criteria and define user-specific default queries. While change logs are currently in place for master data elements, SAP has now implemented the same concept for change logs to the serial number management portion of the solution. Also, a report is now available for maintaining those tricky master data attributes that cannot be exchanged when a trade item is active.

Country-Specific Reporting Attributes

The ability has been provided to configure a check on the additional country-specific trade item attributes when setting up master data. For example, the Drug Supply Chain and Security Act (DSCSA) compliance report out of SAP ATTP requires that additional attributes be setup in order to generate the appropriate supply chain report.

Trade Item and Range Automation

A personal favorite for me is the ability to automate range creation for externally managed trade items, meaning ATTP is requesting numbers from an external system. SAP has also provided the ability to automatically perform serial number requests for externally managed ranges after the threshold of serial numbers available in the system is met.

Additional Enhancements

The latest update also brought the ability to archive objects which have not been shipped. Furthermore, additional enhancements to the SAP ECC add-on have been made to make the location and business partner integration more seamless while requiring less user input.

Without a doubt, the upgrades that SAP has provided will continue to improve the experience and functionality for the ATTP user. For any SAP environment, ATTP is undoubtedly the most comprehensive and efficient traceability solution. For more information on serialization best practices, be sure to check out the rest of our serialization pieces, including:

Serialization Challenges and Solutions: Integrating CMOs

So, You’re in Danger of Missing the DSCSA Serialization Deadline…

DSCSA Enforcement Delay – What It Means for You

Co-author and contributions by Seth Andrews