Hamburg, Germany, March 23, 2021 – What was done on paper yesterday is done digitally today. Replacing paper processes, accelerating approval processes, enabling access to IT systems via mobile devices, and offering an excellent user experience (UX) in the process – that is on the corporate wish list of many clinical institutions and universities.

One thing is clear: initiating the digital transformation, providing it with a long-term strategy and building a concrete project roadmap is one of the greatest challenges. To be equipped as best as possible for this task, Charité and Neptune Software, the market-leading low-code, rapid application development platform for SAP use cases, announce their collaboration.

“Determine goals” – Preparing for a unified digitization strategy

“The business-wide implementation of our digitization roadmap is a tremendous task for us, which will challenge us over the next few years. With the selection of the Neptune DX Platform, as the central app development platform for our digitization, we have laid the foundation and found the right tool to solve this task with our internal software development team and our partners,” explains Martina Traub, Head of Department for Clinical Procedures in the IT division at Charité.

The overarching goal is to standardize the development of individual SAP-based applications in a harmonized strategy. These apps are used in the clinical and administrative business areas as well as in research and education. As concrete use cases, the development of SAP Fiori Apps for Human Resources (SAP HCM), SAP for Healthcare (IS-H), Cerner’s HIS i.s.h.med and Student Lifecycle Management are planned in the first step.

The functional gap in the standard SAP ERP software opens up the space for new developments thanks to low code, rapid application development. The main focus is working with mobile devices, but also on convenient user access via the classic PC with an improved UX. Some application examples include the release and digital signature of doctor’s letters, the audit-proof processing of checklists, and the implementation of a central employee portal that meets today’s expectations. Overall, the use of tablets and smartphones should significantly facilitate the work of clinical staff.

Develop, test, improve – “A lean start and fast results”

The rollout of the first apps is happening in early 2021. Since the implementation of smaller subprojects already delivers great added value for users, it is important to implement them quickly. The overarching goals, such as the replacement of all paper processes, are thus approached step by step. This enables an agile project approach in which the requirements are constantly checked and can be readjusted during the implementation phase. Initial results are visible quickly, and users are gradually introduced to the new digital way of working without overburdening them.

The low-code approach makes standard SAP applications user-friendly

In addition to traditional business processes such as application and HR management or warehouse logistics, the highly regulated clinical environment also involves many paper-based documentation and approval processes. Their digitalization holds great potential in terms of process quality and stability as well as shortened processing times. Due to the widespread use of smartphones and tablets and the large number of individual apps that can be implemented, the Neptune DX Platform is the ideal foundation for solving these tasks in an agile approach.

“Due to the broad presence of SAP standard software in hospitals, our app development platform forms the ideal tool to make the complex and not so user-friendly SAP system accessible to the entire staff, with the familiar “look and feel” of common applications on any end device,” says Jan Boecking, Senior Sales Manager at Neptune Software. “This is why we have been experiencing strong support from the healthcare industry for years, as the replacement of paper processes and the development of mobile apps are major challenges here for the coming years. Convincing such a renowned institution as Charité of our technology and product strategy certainly makes us proud and at the same time fuels us to push ahead with our technological innovations.”