Case study · Medical devices
Every device traceable to the hospital that has it
Medical device distributors must know which serial number went to which hospital, and be able to act on a safety notice within hours. This is how we built that into Business Central alongside the stock, loan kits and service work the business runs every day.
Project overview
Business Central with device-level traceability.
- Industry
- Medical devices
- Client
- Confidential
- Solution
- Traceable distribution
- Platform
- Business Central
- Timeline
- 14–20 weeks
- Team
- 4 people
- Tracking
- Serials, lots, expiry
- Regulation
- Supports audit and recall duties
- Deployment
- Business Central online
Expected business outcomes
What the client set out to achieve
Mostly speed and certainty when something goes wrong, and fewer losses on loan kits and expired stock.
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Hours
To act on a field safety notice
Affected serial numbers and the customers holding them listed from one report.
Instead of days of searching delivery notes
-
20–35%
Fewer lost or late loan kits
Kits tracked out and back with due dates and reminders.
Target range; depends on kit volume
-
15–30%
Less expired stock
Expiry dates drive picking and early warnings for slow lines.
Target range for consumables with short shelf life
Business challenges
How it worked before
Traceability is possible today, but only by searching paperwork.
Serials
Serial numbers are written on delivery notes, not recorded against the sale.
Loan kits
Instrument kits sent for procedures are tracked on a whiteboard or spreadsheet.
Expiry
Sterile consumables are checked for expiry by walking the shelves.
Service
Maintenance history for installed equipment sits in engineers' notebooks.
Safety notices
A manufacturer's notice means days of searching to find affected customers.
Proposed solution
What the Business Central build covers
Standard item tracking and service features, extended for loan kits and safety notices.
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Serial and lot tracking
Every device and consumable tracked from receipt to the customer that received it.
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Expiry management
Expiry-driven picking and warnings for stock approaching its date.
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Loan kits
Kits as assemblies with contents, loaned against procedures and checked back in.
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Service history
Installed equipment with service contracts, visits and parts used.
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Safety notice report
Affected serials and customers listed from a manufacturer's notice in one step.
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Scanning
Scanning at goods-in and dispatch so serials are recorded, not typed.
Project requirements
What the client asked us for
The request was traceability for compliance. The same data also solves daily problems: lost loan kits, expired stock and engineers without equipment history.
We model loan kits carefully, because a kit is both stock and a returnable asset, and getting it wrong breaks either the stock figure or the kit tracking.
What the project had to deliver
- 01Serial-level traceability to the customer
- 02Loan kits tracked out and back
- 03Expiry-aware picking
- 04Service history per installed device
Key challenges & considerations
What made it harder, and what we did
-
Manufacturers with different serial and lot formats
What we did
Barcode parsing rules were written per manufacturer, so every serial and lot format scanned into the same fields.
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Kits with consumable and reusable contents
What we did
Kits were modelled as assets with their own contents list, tracking consumables and reusable instruments separately.
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Consignment stock held at hospitals
What we did
Consignment stock at hospitals was held as its own locations and counted on site on a schedule.
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Customers who return items without paperwork
What we did
A returns process identified items by scanning the device itself, so paperwork was no longer needed.
What we watched for
- Model kits as both stock and assets
- Scan at goods-in or traceability fails later
- Rehearse a safety notice before go-live
- Count consignment stock at hospitals too
Development process
Traceability first, then everything built on it
Once serials and lots are captured reliably, loan kits, service and safety notices follow.
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Tracking design
Item tracking rules per product family agreed with quality and operations.
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Scanning
Goods-in and dispatch scanning piloted until it is faster than writing.
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Loan kits and consignment
Kit assemblies, loan orders and consignment locations configured and tested.
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Service and safety notices
Installed base, service contracts and the safety notice report built and rehearsed.
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Go-live and handover
Stock count by serial and lot at cut-over, then training for warehouse, sales and service teams.
Technology stack
Business Central with tracking at its core
Standard item tracking and service management, with an extension for kits and safety notices.
ERP
- Business Central
- Item tracking
- Service management
- AL extensions
Scanning
- Handheld scanners
- Warehouse app
Compliance
- Trace reports
- Audit trail
Reporting
- Power BI
- Kit utilisation reports
Quality assurance & deployment
Proved on the client's own data before go-live
An ERP is trusted when the numbers agree. Configuration and extensions were tested in a sandbox on the client's own data, and finance signed off the figures before cut-over.
- Sandbox testing of every process on the client's own data
- User acceptance testing with key users, by scenario
- Migration rehearsals, reconciled to the old system
- Automated tests for extensions, run before each release
- Permission sets checked role by role
Deployment
- 01Service and safety noticesInstalled base, service contracts and the safety notice report built and rehearsed.
- 02Go-live and handoverStock count by serial and lot at cut-over, then training for warehouse, sales and service teams.
- 03Cut-over planA rehearsed cut-over with a checklist, opening balances signed off by finance, and a rollback point.
- 04Hypercare and warrantyConsultants on hand through the first month-end, and six months of free bug fixing.
Final deliverables
Confident when a notice arrives
Every device can be traced to the customer that holds it, and a safety notice becomes a list of customers to contact within hours.
Day to day, loan kits come back on time, expired stock drops and engineers arrive knowing the service history of the equipment they are working on.
- Serial and lot trace to the customer
- Loan kits with due dates
- Less expired stock
- Service history per device
Handed over to the client
- 01Configured Business CentralProduction and sandbox environments
- 02ExtensionsSource code and documentation
- 03Migrated dataReconciled and signed off
- 04Key-user trainingWith process guides
- 05Six-month warrantyFree bug fixing after delivery
Success metrics
How success is measured
| Measure | Outcome | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|
| To act on a field safety notice | Hours | Instead of days of searching delivery notes |
| Fewer lost or late loan kits | 20–35% | Target range; depends on kit volume |
| Less expired stock | 15–30% | Target range for consumables with short shelf life |
Verified reviews
What clients say about our Dynamics work
Verified reviews from our clients on the same kind of work, published on Clutch.
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