Here’s a summary of what you need to undertake, to evaluate, choose, plan, deploy, train and successfully use Open mSupply:

Background reading

Global Fund’s 2023-2025 Information Note Resilient and Sustainable Systems for Health
USAID’s Digital Supply Chain Strategy and Architecture
Global Fund’s 2023-2025 Technical Brief Procurement & Supply Chain Management
Open LMIS’ Getting Started materials guide

You may also wish to use the services of our DTAC: Data & Technical Assistance Centre to help with evaluation, planning and deployment.

Collect data on the current state of your system, what users need to do their jobs, infrastructure, people skills and more

Analyse your data to decide if Open mSupply will provide a real benefit. There are lots of reasons why it may not.

The mSupply Foundation can help you perform a cost-benefit analysis, and help you understand what assumptions are robust, and which need treating with caution.

Build stakeholder confidence

When we’re asked what the primary factor for success is, we usually say management commitment. If health management is committed, and they’re doing a good job of recruiting a health work force, they’ll be able to work with their staff to listen, engage, train, implement and support. If management aren’t committed to a new system, it’s likely to fail.

Make a high level plan

1. Decide on the size and location of a pilot
2. Decide what KPIs you’ll use to determine if a pilot is successful.
3. Ensure your users are notified, and that there is staff cover so they can attend trainings.
4. Plan training and deployment schedules.
5. Plan for expansion provided the pilot meets KPI targets.
6. Decide if any integrations or customisations are needed.
   • This includes data visualisation needs and dashboards.
   • Allow time for the Open mSupply team make requested software changes.
   • Do you need to integrate with other systems?
   • Decide if any custom reports are needed.

Plan your implementation

1. User Acceptance Testing (UAT): Test that any changes or integrations work as specified.
2. Training of users.
3. Implementation at a site.
4. Project management of the rollout as it progresses.
5. Support to existing sites during rollout.
6. Configuration of central dashboards, notifications and more.
7. Write SOPs for operations that keep the system running and data safe.

Deploy and Manage

1. Conduct Training of users.
2. Conduct deployments.
3. Conduct project management.
4. Run reviews every (say) two weeks to apply changes to improve deployment outcomes, balance resources, cope with unexpected events.
5. Conduct configuration of central dashboards, notifications and more.

Maintain

1. Develop in-country capacity for support, hardware maintenance & replacement, and for software development.
2. Maintain your system.
3. Financial budgets.

You will need a regular annual budget for the items below to be provided:

1. Ongoing support.
   You’ll need to decide how you’ll support users to keep the system running. The mSupply Foundation can be involved as little or as much as you like. If your country has more than a million people, you should be looking to have full time first-line support provided in-country.
2. Training of new users.
3. Refresher training.
4. Master data management.
5. Upgrade planning for new versions (including training needs).
6. Define how and who can update SOPs.
7. Plan to collect data on user satisfaction after 1 year, and then on a cycle depending on the results of the first survey.
   • Take actions based on user surveys and KPI performance.