A new hospital supply model built on existing systems.

A new operating model depended on existing systems.

The new Campbell River and Comox Valley hospitals prioritized clinical space over local storage, relying on timely replenishment from Fraser Health Authority's warehouse in Langley. Hospital ordering, procurement and warehouse applications needed to coordinate across organizational boundaries. A stalled electronic order could become a supply problem for staff.

The participating organizations used different applications, interfaces and data formats. Existing connections were difficult to monitor and troubleshoot. The task was to make the shared process work while the systems already supporting operations continued to do their jobs.

A shared process across independently managed systems.

BC Clinical and Support Services worked with Island Health and Fraser Health to establish a common orchestration platform. Avato Systems, then named World West Technologies Inc., delivered the project using its Mobius platform, subsequently renamed Avato.

Separate platform instances coordinated work across organizational boundaries. Each organization retained its enterprise applications and operational responsibilities. Configuration-driven orchestration placed the exchange rules and shared workflow in a layer designed for that purpose, without requiring wholesale replacement of the underlying applications.

From a replenishment need to a tracked order.

When inventory fell below configured thresholds, MEDITECH's periodic automated replenishment (PAR) process generated purchase orders. Avato detected those orders, validated information against receiving-system requirements, transformed formats, coordinated stock requisitions and tracked fulfilment.

Purchasing and shipment information returned to the originating applications, giving the process a traceable path. The project also introduced iPeople as an alternative way to interact with legacy MEDITECH systems, with Avato coordinating those interactions within the wider workflow.

Bring exceptions to attention. Preserve the context.

Persistent queues allowed transactions to wait through temporary delays or interruptions in connected applications. Validation, fulfilment tracking, configured retries and exception visibility supported investigation, correction and resubmission. Monitoring also helped identify unexpected interruptions in message traffic.

PHSA's team built its own email notifications using Avato's underlying Mailer. These bring data mismatches, such as an inactive stock record or an invalid unit of measure, to the team's attention.

“I love the visibility of what is going on. If there's an issue with a connected system, we know before it becomes an issue in operations.”

Kanwar Hayer, BC Provincial Health Services Authority

Routine purchasing with little manual intervention.

The initial implementation took approximately 16 elapsed weeks. Additional production deployment work followed with support through Canada's Build in Canada Innovation Program.

The reported historical production figures show the scale of activity and the level of automation:

Routine purchasing and fulfilment could proceed across organizational boundaries with very little manual intervention, allowing staff to focus on the exceptions that required attention.

“Avato enabled us to align the outcomes we wanted to achieve in the time frame and price point we were targeting.”

Gustavo Estrada, then Acting Provincial Director, Performance & Transformation, BC Provincial Health Services Authority

The customer keeps building.

The platform's value extends beyond keeping the original workflow running. PHSA's own team has continued developing new functionality and capabilities on Avato without Avato's assistance.

Interfaces, business rules and operational controls established through the original work became assets the customer could extend as requirements changed.

The lasting result is a foundation for continued change, while participating organizations retain responsibility for their own systems.