
Software Development Case Studies
	Biomedical Synergies

	Unyson Logistics

	Chronimed

	Berger Transfer

	ATM Network

	US Bank

	State Human Resource Department

Chronimed Inc.

Company Profile

Chronimed Inc. distributes pharmaceuticals and provides specialized patient management services nationwide for people with long-term chronic conditions, including HIV/AIDS, organ transplants and diseases treated with injectable medications.

Critical Issue

Chronimed Inc. was presented with both a challenge and opportunity from a key vendor: a greater volume of business if they were able to handle Electronic Document Interchange (EDI) transactions. This was the perfect opportunity to justify Chronimed's first foray into EDI-based transaction processing.

Alto’s Solution

Chronimed selected Microsoft's BizTalk Server for the base platform and Alto for solution design, implementation and training. Alto designed and implemented a solution that draws data from multiple enterprise relational database sources and coordinates the exchange of X12 4010 standards-based transactions. The solution involves fully-automated procedures for extracting, correlating and formatting data to send to the vendor, along with processes that convert vendor responses back into records in Chronimed's database systems. In addition to the EDI document processing, Alto designed and implemented numerous administrative and development tools that make it possible for Chronimed to quickly and efficiently test, tune and maintain the process. Key staff members were trained on BizTalk Server operations in general along with the specifics of the solution, setting the stage for additional EDI opportunities that are already being planned. "We are thrilled to be able to go from zero to EDI-enabled in less than one month." – Steve Squires, Director of Application Development.

Resulting Benefits

New sources of revenue
Expanded business opportunities
Greater efficiency through elimination of manual, paper-based processing

Technologies Used

BizTalk Server 2002
XML, XSL and related technologies
SQL Server 2000 Data Transformation Services (DTS)
Windows 2000 Server
Visual Studio.NET