Five leading NHS Foundation Trusts choose HL-hybris for their electronic Catalogue and Contract data

Published 28th November 2008

600 leading suppliers to the NHS
1,000,000 validated and approved items

London – 27 November 2008: hybris (www.hybris.com), a leading multi-channel commerce and communication software vendor, today announced that Basingstoke & North Hampshire, Chelsea and Westminster, King’s College Hospital, Royal Berkshire and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trusts have selected the HL-hybris e-product information management business platform, developed by hybris’ Premium Partner, Healthlogistics, to support their electronic catalogue and contract requirements.

The HL-hybris system will bring validated electronic catalogue, contract and price data from leading NHS suppliers into each Trust’s purchasing system in exactly the format required. In total more than 600 suppliers of all types will be providing data on more than 1,000,000 items using HL-hybris. There is no requirement for any supplier membership and no charge to suppliers, so HL-hybris Trusts are not limited in their selection of them. This is a major and ground-breaking project for the NHS and its supplier community, and use of the system will start in December. Suppliers recognise that Healthlogistics’ approach has been proven in many other leading industries, and their level of support has been excellent: already 250 leading multinational and other suppliers have provided data on 750,000 items.

The benefits for HL-hybris Trusts will be:
• use of accurate supplier item codes, descriptions and net prices in purchase orders
• validation of data against NHS Trusts’ requirements, including the standards of the NHS Procurement eEnablement Programme (NPEP)
• clear visibility of all contracts, agreements and net prices
• an encouragement of contract creation and adherence
• visibility of all common e-catalogue data in HL-hybris, with list prices
• inclusion in purchase order systems of only those items covered by a relevant contract or agreement
• the ability to select any items for inclusion in new Trust-supplier contracts
• continuous and direct maintenance by suppliers of their data in HL-hybris
• ease of invoice reconciliation by using correct descriptions, codes and net prices.

Suppliers will benefit from:
• the presentation of all common e-catalogue data to every HL-hybris Trust
• accuracy of approved descriptions and contract prices in purchase orders
• the provision of common e-catalogue data as a “once-only” operation
• easy and direct maintenance of data in HL-hybris without the need for an intermediary
• clear, secure visibility of contracts together with their items, net prices and validity
• a reduction in invoice queries by using correct descriptions, codes and net prices
• support from Healthlogistics where necessary.

From January, every NHS Trust in the UK will be able to subscribe to HL-hybris, which will give each one access to all of the common e-catalogue data in HL-hybris – plus its own contract and net price data which Healthlogistics will obtain from suppliers.

Peter Elwin, Director of Healthlogistics.co.uk Ltd, said: “HL-hybris perfectly meets NHS Trusts’ requirement to have approved and filtered product, contract and net price data in the heart of their purchasing systems. Data security is a key element of the solution which is why this world-class enterprise software has been selected. This was reflected in the selection of Tier 2 Consulting and Rackspace, hybris UK’s Premium and Technology partners.”

Andrew Piscina, UK Country Manager for hybris, said; “NHS Trusts increasingly require product data accuracy across their entire supply chain, from identification of patient requirement through to treatment, and a world-class system that is able to deliver this. Hybris is delighted to be providing the core software for this project and technical support to Healthlogistics and Tier 2.”