A large bulk pharmaceutical supplier was seeking an automated tracking system for on-site medication dispensing system.

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The tracking system was aimed to monitor and maintain a more accurate count of products at various remote locations where the existing On-Site Medication Dispensing Systems were situated. Technologies like RFID (Radio-frequency identification) offered a way to track products, which were marked with pre-loaded RFID tags, within a defined area in facilities such as warehouses or department stores. Drawing an analogy to warehouse systems, the On-Site Medication Dispensing Systems could be viewed as "compact" warehouses that required inventory tracking and management. This analogous perspective enabled ITG to adapt methods and metrics that furnished a solution for identifying inventory and related information across multiple locations. RFID tags also had the capability to store various essential details, like expiration dates, which could then be reported or acted upon as required.

The expectation was that each movement of a lot would align with an order or be accounted for by related events (like two events indicating a product was moved to a lot IN and subsequently moved to a lot OUT). The tracking system functioned as a passive participant in the process, requiring no interaction from the users. This approach minimized or even eliminated the need for training remote site operators or staff. Users continued their regular activities while the tracking system detected IN/OUT movements of RFID-tagged products within the cabinet's proximity. IN and OUT detections were made through an inventory-check algorithm executed at predetermined intervals, or optionally triggered by the RFID unit.

The system was divided into local and remote components. (NOTE: "Remote" referred to the location at the customer's site where the dispensing unit was situated; "Local" was the central or corporate center where data replication and most reporting took place.)

The system operated on an event-driven basis, akin to industrial production events and warehouse applications. A comparison between current and previous inventory levels triggered the appropriate events for products within a predefined area. Event records were generated, featuring details like event and product identification, LOT movement indicators, time stamps, and other relevant attributes. Checks were also conducted for previous movements in cases where the same product was removed and later reintroduced.

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Development efforts for the tracking system were designed to facilitate the future integration of an Automated Delivery System. At the core of the tracking system was a SQL Server database engine, which securely enabled replication, access, and management of information from existing systems through SQL-compliant requests. An application or driver provided interface options for tracking inventory in "live" or "real-time" scenarios and was specific to the RFID reader used.