IBM RFID Information Center

IBM RFID Information Center

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IBM RFID Information Center

RFID Information Center system

IBM RFID Information Center (RFIDIC) is based on EPCglobal's Electronic Product Code Information Services (EPCIS) standard specification. RFID Information Center enables tracking of uniquley identifiable (serialized) product throughout the supply chain. Despite the name, the RFID Information Center is sensor agnostic, meaning it recognizes product serialized with either RFID, barcode and/or 2D barcode. This IBM WebSphere middleware offering is a software product that falls within IBM's broader IBM Information Management Software line.

History
Shipment Verification Feature
ePedigree Feature
Alerts
Leadership
Related Products
References
External links

History

RFIDIC V1.0 December 2006
Shipment Verification Feature December 2006
RFIDIC V1.1 August 2007
ePedigree Feature August 2007
EPCglobal Certified October 2007 ? EPCIS Standard
EPCglobal Certified January 2008 ? Drug Pedigree Standard

Shipment Verification Feature

Shipment Verification model: Example with a retail distribution center as the shipper and a retail pharmacy as the receiver

RFIDIC Shipment Verification feature provides an automated means to track shipments and confirm receipts. Automating these processes can reduce both product losses and the labor that is required to resolve discrepancies when errors in the shipment or receipt processes occur.

The following steps demonstrate the Shipment Verification model:^[1]

The retail distribution center ships totes to the retail pharmacy. Object events with a business step of shipping are sent to the RFID Information Center for the retail distribution center.
The retail distribution center responds to the subscription query from the retail pharmacy by sending a list of the totes that were shipped. These Advanced Shipping Notices (ASNs) provide advanced visibility of shipments in the form of Dashboards (management information systems). The receiver's Expected Receipts dashboard highlights all in-transit totes so that labor can be scheduled for expected receipts. The shipper's Shipment Verification dashboard highlights all shipped totes that are eventually received to provide visibility of the downstream inventory. Electronic Product Codes (EPCs) in the delayed status (those that were not received in the expected time frame) can be investigated and the problems resolved.
The retail pharmacy receives the totes. Object events with a business step of receiving are sent to the RFID Information Center for the retail pharmacy.
The retail pharmacy responds to the subscription query from the retail distribution center by sending a list of the totes that were received.

ePedigree Feature

RFIDIC ePedigree feature is an optional add-on componant that that enables manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers to generate an electronic pedigree, or life history, of a pharmaceutical product as it moves through the supply chain. Securing the supply chain has become an important consideration in improving patient safety in light of a mounting counterfeit drug problem.^[2]

Alerts

Complex alerting capabilities are the key to a proactive event management system. The ability to quickly alert the right people of the occurrence of significant events enables rapid targeted responses to those events. The extensible RFIDIC framework allows the setup of complex alerts for response notification with multiple customizable delivery methods, including the following:

E-mail
Escalation
File
Java Message Service (JMS) destination
Schedule
Pager
Phone call
Text message (short message service)

In addition, accessing and analyzing trading partner data using enhanced Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools (BIRT Project) can be automated (i.e. subscriptions), leading to fuller supply chain visibility and lending to faster, better decision making. ^[3]

Leadership

Janet Perna was General Manager of IBM Software Group's Information Management division until her retirement from IBM in July, 2005. She was replaced by Ambuj Goyal.^[4]