Situation

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Our client's GTN forecasting processes were managed completely in Excel. Every quarter, users would:

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• Gather demand forecast (separate files)

• Gather WAC price forecast by brand (separate files)

• Collect actual transactions (millions of lines)

• Load data to Excel

• Review actuals, update projections by contract

• Consolidate results

• Prepare summary presentations

• Provide data to downstream processes (e.g., Finance)

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This process involved 68 separate workbooks, 1,127 worksheets and more than 5,000 manual interventions performed per forecast across all workbooks, leaving them exposed to multiple risks:

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• Limited visibility to the effects of pricing actions (price protection penalties, Medicaid liability implications, PHS price changes, ASP-based reimbursement impacts, etc.)

• Long turnaround times for what-if analyses

• Excel scalability, integration and reporting constraints

• High risk of manual error

• Lack of visibility to previous data overrides and assumptions

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Proving out the Platform

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After determining that package-based solutions were neither viable nor market-proven, the manufacturer decided to build the GTN capability on Anaplan. Since Anaplan was a new platform for the company, the team executed a Proof-of-Concept that was meant to confirm Anaplan's ability to model complex contract structures (including Price Protection), model impacts to Medicaid liability, and consume transactional data. Specifically, the POC was scoped around:

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• Price Protection calculations for the big PBMs

• URA calculations 

• 12-months of actuals for 1 brand, 3 contracts

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In addition to proving out the platform, the POC work highlighted important change management elements to be addressed during implementation.

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Implementation Phase

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After the successful POC, Pharosity led the full implementation of Anaplan to build the manufacturer’s GTN forecasting capability. The primary objectives of the project included:

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• Eliminate Excel while maintaining flexibility and improving forecasting precision

• Increase efficiency, reduce turnaround times and improve scalability

• Prevent disruption to upstream and downstream activities

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The project was a partnership between:

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• Manufacturer

• Pharosity Consulting

• Third-party Anaplan development group

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The effort was conducted over a 16-week timeline and achieved the following:

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• Bottom-up model across all contracts and terms, by brand

• Clear visibility to the impacts of pricing actions, adjusted contract terms, new strategies (rebates, price protection, fees, URA, PHS, etc.)

• Forecast and scenario turnaround time reduced from weeks to days

• Fully integrated load of actuals from Model N Flex

• No disruption to upstream or downstream partner interactions

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The Pharosity Consulting team served as the overall program lead and filled several key roles on the project:

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• Defined overall solution architecture across GTN policies, processes and methodologies

• Served as an extension of manufacturer team, acting as an advocate, process expert, data expert, and supplemental model builder

• Acted as overall program management lead and facilitated relationship between manufacturer and third-party implementation partner

• Served as test lead, developed test strategy and plans, facilitated execution of system test and UAT phases while providing issue resolution support

• Developed interfaces for actuals from Model N Flex

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If you'd like to learn more about how Pharosity Consulting can help you decide if an EPM platform is right for your GTN processes; or if you are looking to implement EPM as your solution, please get in touch. We're always willing to share and look for ways to collaborate.