What is SAP ATTP?

SAP ATTP (Advanced Track and Trace for Pharmaceuticals) helps companies in the pharmaceutical industry to serialise products, manage serial numbers and implement seamless track & trace along the supply chain.

The cloud solution can also be used to process official notifications worldwide.

SAP Advanced Track and Trace for Pharmaceuticals (SAP ATTP) is a solution for manufacturers, distributors and suppliers in the pharmaceutical industry.

The software supports

• the labelling and verification of products with serial numbers (serialisation),
• on the other hand, the tracking and tracing of corresponding products (Track & Trace).

SAP ATTP is based on the SAP HANA platform and is closely integrated with other SAP systems, in particular SAP S/4HANA.

It also has interfaces to government systems to enable reporting in accordance with country-specific regulations. This feature is important, among other things, because more and more laws are being introduced worldwide to curb counterfeit medicines.

The serialisation of products in the pharmaceutical industry is a very specific process in which different international legal requirements must be taken into account. The same applies to the tracking and tracing of pharmaceutical products. SAP Advanced Track and Trace for Pharmaceuticals provides the following main functions to support these tasks:

• Serial number management: generation (serialisation), assignment and management of serial numbers for pharmaceutical products
• Data management via object and event repository: robust storage and processing of large volumes of serialisation data on the SAP HANA platform
• Track & Trace functionality: real-time monitoring of product status along the supply chain
• Compliance reporting: automatic generation of regulatory compliance reports
• Integration with authorities and partners: connection to government systems (country-specific reporting) and cross-company systems (supply chain data exchange)
• Data integration: direct data exchange with the SAP S/4HANA ERP system to integrate serialisation into warehouse and logistics processes

The difference between serialisation and Track & Trace lies in their respective focus. Serialisation refers to the assignment of a unique serial number to each individual product in order to make it individually identifiable. Track & Trace, on the other hand, is a collective term for all processes with which a product is tracked through the entire supply chain.

Serialisation creates the technical prerequisite for the traceability of products. Track & Trace, on the other hand, encompasses all measures used to document the movement and management of these products within the supply chain.

In the SAP context, the term ‘trace’ refers to the detailed logging of system or transaction processes. In SAP ATTP, a trace is used to precisely document the movement and management of pharmaceutical products along the supply chain.

This information makes it possible to identify deviations or irregularities in the supply chain and fulfil regulatory requirements (e.g. reporting obligations).

Trace files are technical log files that are generated by SAP systems. They contain detailed information about the processes within a system. Among other things, the following data is stored in trace files:

• Transaction processes
• Error messages and system events
• Data flows and communication processes

In SAP ATTP, trace files can be used to check the data of serialisation processes and ensure that all requirements are met.

The implementation of SAP ATTP brings several advantages for pharmaceutical companies. First and foremost, standardised track & trace processes ensure compliance with international government regulations. The increasing volume of data to be processed is not a problem, as the powerful SAP HANA technology on which it is based enables efficient management of large volumes of data.

Furthermore, SAP ATTP is continuously updated. This facilitates the implementation of new legal requirements. The solution also enables clear identification and traceability of pharmaceuticals. This makes counterfeiting more difficult, improves safety and thus ensures greater customer confidence. GxP compliance is also guaranteed, as the regulatory requirements for the validation of computerised systems are met with ATTP.

Last but not least, SAP ATTP can be easily integrated into existing IT landscapes and SAP-based business processes. Even cross-company networking with suppliers and customers can be realised. This creates a high degree of transparency along the entire supply chain: the status of each serial number can be checked online before the next supply chain operation is carried out.

SAP ATTP is used in various areas of the pharmaceutical industry. Typical use cases are

• Production: Serial number generation (serialisation) and printing (labelling) for packaging units
• Warehousing: Tracking product movements within the company
• Distribution: ensuring traceability to the end customer or pharmacy
• Regulatory reporting obligations: automatic generation and transmission of reports to government agencies

SAP Advanced Track and Trace for Pharmaceuticals is a cloud solution and is provided by SAP as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). This means that no local installation is required, only a configuration of the software based on individual requirements. Specialised SAP partners provide support at this point.

In addition to configuration, SAP ATTP must also be integrated into the existing system landscape. The solution has standard integrations for SAP solutions such as SAP ERP, SAP S/4HANA and SAP EWM, which makes this step much easier. Third-party software such as Oracle, 1C and Microsoft can also be easily connected via SAP ATTP's sophisticated interface concept.

Furthermore, SAP Advanced Track and Trace for Pharmaceuticals is always operated as a stand-alone system. This has the advantage that there is no additional system load for the ERP software. Instead, all serialisation information is stored in ATTP. Changes to the ERP system are not necessary.

SAP Global Batch Traceability (SAP GBT) is a complementary solution to SAP ATTP that enables comprehensive traceability of production batches. While SAP ATTP focuses on the serialisation and tracking of individual packs, SAP GBT is aimed at the comprehensive management of batch data. This is particularly important for quality management and compliance.

The combination of SAP ATTP and SAP GBT ensures that both individual product packs and entire production batches can be tracked efficiently and in compliance with regulations.

SAP Global Batch Traceability makes batch traceability efficient and transparent.

At the touch of a button, companies can recognise which raw materials were used in a batch, where a product is located in the supply chain and which customers have been supplied.

This is particularly important for recalls, quality controls or audits, as faulty products can be specifically identified and measures can be initiated more quickly.