Data integration along the healthcare supply chain: the pharmaceutical extranet gateway project

The evidence suggests that information systems in most organisations are poorly integrated. We might therefore expect that inter-organisational e-commerce applications will only aggravate this situation. Here, we report on an Australian e-commerce project designed to improve pharmaceutical supply chain efficiency within the healthcare sector. One interesting outcome was that the standards that underpinned the project seem to have resulted in improved levels of data and systems integration-both within and between partner organisations.