Core Technology Refresh
The Core Technology Refresh (CTR) project is a multiyear programme replacing the NHS Supply Chain’s core order and warehouse management systems.
Why is a refresh needed?
Getting our technology right is a key business priority. The CTR project will replace our technology infrastructure with modern, flexible technology and helps supports our overall strategic priorities to grow savings and revenue and build foundations for future growth.
Robert Houghton, Non Executive Director for Technology and Innovation.
Our new platforms
NHS Supply Chain: Supporting Technologies partner, DXC, is working with us to shape a technology solution that meets the needs of our customers and the business.
We provided our NHS Supply Chain: Supporting Technologies partner, DXC, with a number of requirements for the systems so they can build and configure a technology solution that meets the needs of our customers and the business.
The Core Technology Refresh will deliver:
- A new Product Hub Database
- A new Oracle Order Management Technology
- A new Warehouse Management System.
How is the CTR being delivered?
We are implementing the new systems gradually across the duration of the programme. We will maintain the current systems whilst building and running the new systems in parallel. Extensive testing for each change to the system will be completed before transitioning to the new technologies.
Additionally, the systems will be released one by one to each warehouse. The aim is to minimise any operational impact on the current systems and warehouses as we support the technology transition. The customer facing systems will not change as a result of the CTR.
What are the long-term benefits of the Core Technology Refresh?
CTR will act as a foundation for the wider NHS Supply Chain technology transformation and service improvements to build upon. Some of the benefits are:
• Improved product data– helping you make a more informed choice when ordering
• Improved inventory management – resulting in greater stock status accuracy
However, CTR primarily provides a platform for future change and development of NHS Supply Chain, allowing us to achieve wider improvements.
Platform for future change
The delivery of this new technology is at the heart of our transformation roadmap. The CTR project will replace our legacy systems, enabling us to become more agile, responsive and resilient when it comes to processing our orders, managing our warehouses effectively and being more responsive to our customer’s needs – giving them what they need, when they need it.
Matthew Wynn, Director of Transformation at NHS Supply Chain
The technology improvements that CTR delivers are a mechanism for us to achieve wider eCommerce transformation and service improvements, including improvements to eDirect. Some of these changes will run alongside CTR.
Currently CTR is etablishing a new order management platform, replacing the current system with modern a cloud-based infrastructure. The new order management technology will first be released to the eDirect service over the coming months and in to 2022. See our Useful Links to read the latest on the eDirect order management implementation.
This underpins and enables the ability to optimise our ongoing eCommerce capability. This technology will price at order creation, therefore minimising the possibility that customers will see a price variance between order and invoice.