FCG’s FirstDoc Enterprise Suite Selected by AstraZeneca to Improve Information Management; Company Extends Relationship with FCG to Implement Solution Globally
First Consulting Group, Inc. (FCG) announced that it has expanded its long-standing relationship with AstraZeneca. FCG will help AstraZeneca deliver a new off-the-shelf document management solution and upgrade its manufacturing site document management system to FirstDoc(TM). FCG will also provide AstraZeneca with consulting, technology, integration, application, and outsourcing services to help the company manage data, documents and images that flow across the enterprise.
For the last several years, AstraZeneca has used FCG’s predecessor product to manage documents within a GMP-compliant environment. With a strategic imperative to renew technologies, lower costs, manage a greater number of documents and improve system performance and functionality, AstraZeneca selected FirstDoc to support its manufacturing operations. Initially, FirstDoc is expected to support thousands of users in the UK, Sweden, France, Italy and Germany. The first application based on FirstDoc went live in May 2004.
“We evaluated the major providers of document management solutions and selected FCG because the company offers a total packaged solution that includes a best-of-breed product in FirstDoc and powerful related services that will help AstraZeneca deliver a large change program,” said Ian A. Cooper, IS Demand Manager, Operations, AstraZeneca. We were impressed with FCG’s expertise in document management, its approach to testing and validation, its proven track record implementing the solution across international markets and various user communities, and its 21 CFR Part 11 knowledge.”
“AstraZeneca wanted a cost-effective solution that would benefit several user communities within the enterprise. On their own, these communities may not have been able to justify the full cost of a document management system,” said Bill Van Nostrand, Senior Vice President and General Manager for FCG’s life sciences practice. “Also recognizing that some of its document management applications in manufacturing were becoming more costly to maintain and were fast becoming outdated, AstraZeneca made the strategic decision to invest in a solution that would provide a common infrastructure and application components for these activities.”
Since FirstDoc is built on Documentum, which is a strategic component of the AstraZeneca architecture, it allows the company to leverage its investment across the enterprise, thereby reducing overall costs in implementation, system management and ongoing support.
“The system also allows AstraZeneca to break down information silos, build a more integrated approach, streamline system processes and enable cross-functional information sharing of document management best practices,” added Van Nostrand.
FCG’s FirstDoc: The Solution for the Enterprise
FCG has a client base that includes most of the industry’s leading global companies and an installed base of more than 56,000 active users across 42 clients. With the addition of the AstraZeneca users and other recent Enterprise contracts, FCG expects to add approximately 30,000 additional seat licenses by the end of this year.
With modules targeted to major functions within the enterprise – R&D, clinical, manufacturing, sales and marketing, and medical information – FirstDoc is highly configurable and scaleable. The product suite is supported by expertise in regulatory compliance.
FCG tailors its products to the enterprise need. For emerging biotechnology companies, the company offers a FirstDoc turnkey product suite, which includes hosting services. For large, multi-national pharmaceutical companies, FirstDoc is offered as a fully configured system that can be adapted to local business practices and processes and multiple languages. FCG solutions are 21CFR Part 11 compliant, and the company provides a wide range of consulting, technology and integration services to power its FirstDoc product suite.
About FCG
FCG is a leading provider of outsourcing, consulting, systems implementation and integration for healthcare, pharmaceutical, and other life sciences organizations throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Through combinations of onsite, off-site and offshore outsourced services, FCG provides low cost, high quality offerings to improve its clients’ performance. The firm’s consulting and integration services increase clients’ operations effectiveness with and through information technology, resulting in reduced costs, improved customer service, enhanced quality of patient care, and more rapid introduction of new pharmaceutical compounds. For more information about FCG, visit www.fcg.com or call 800-345-0957.
