Merck Vaccines

Vaccine Inventory Management Mobile App

Merck

Slalom

User Experience Design Lead

Ecosystem & Journey Mapping, Actors & Touchpoints, Workflows & Mobile UI

Healthcare Coldchain Logistics Mobile App

Vaccine Supply Chain Organizations & People

Challenge

Identifying the (many) prospective users for the app, across the vaccine supply chain ecosystem

Solution

Capturing and understanding the actors / user segments who will be using the app, at each stage or location of the vaccine cold chain ecosystem

Inventory of all Actors within the vaccine’s cold chain delivery ecosystem. Main groups include the medical professionals at all medical vaccine-distributing organizations, and those found at hospitals or large scale group practices, professional staff at pharmacy distribution sites, the Merck vaccine representative, and the patient.

For professional roles within the medical setting, additional data shows breakout of vaccine orders % of current business, by role, for prioritization purposes - indicating a fairly equal balance of prioritization, for each user segment.

Actors Inventory

Vaccine Cold Chain Ecosystem & Flow

Challenge

Understanding when, where, and how the app can be useful to our prospective users, in contexts and scenarios across the ecosystem and vaccine journey

Solution

Mapping the physical locations and physical and digital flow of product material (vaccine supply) and digital information (vaccine data, commerce, etc.) across the system

Floorplan of medical office showing the vaccine journey. Three primary areas were identified - the main one being the medical doctor’s office, and its typical layout and areas. Secondarily, for hospitals and larger clinics, the additional receiving, distributions, and vaccine contracts management functions, typically sited separately from the medical office or clinic, physical location. Last, community distribution or offsite locations, either administering vaccines directly, or distributing them to providers in the community.

Heavier line shows the flow of the physical vaccine product through receiving, storage / inventory, and administration (shots), along the cold chain network. Dotted lines indicate where data flows back regarding vaccine administrations, inventory management such as vaccine dosage counts and expiration dates, and ordering info and commerce date (financial, contracts, etc.).

Ecosystem Diagram

Vaccine Distribution Network Touchpoints

Challenge

Understanding the physical and digital points of interaction between the user and the vaccine ecosystem / journey, to understand where and how the app should intervene, and what screen or other systems will be involved / used

Solution

Identifying key digital and physical touchpoints, along the journey, within the ecosystem, where the different actors will be situated when using the app

Inventory of physical & digital vaccine touchpoints builds additional specificity to the Ecosystem & Flow, towards understanding user goals, physical context, and usage setting for using the app, at various different points within the flow.

Touchpoint Inventory