Assisting a midsize biotech company seeking to realize operational excellence in medical affairs, our team developed a medical affairs operational plan and user-friendly dashboard with activity-tracking functionality and performance metrics.

Situation

With a wide-ranging and complex portfolio spanning a multitude of diseases and therapeutic areas, the client company’s medical affairs group was large and had a broad diversity of target customers. The leadership team identified the need to streamline medical affairs operations and establish key performance indicators (KPIs) for monitoring the group’s performance to more effectively provide transparency to functional peers and company leaders in support of medical affairs operational excellence. 

SciVida’s Approach

We began by conducting individual working sessions with each functional leader within the medical affairs unit to gain insight into their existing three-year strategy and supporting operational plan to lay the groundwork for the new plan. Taking all input into account and collaborating with the client, we developed a storyboard for the plan and outlined initial plan content.

We then worked closely with medical affairs stakeholders to develop plans for each functional group. Upon completion of all function-specific plans, we reviewed the overall plan with the medical affairs leadership team and finalized it, with their input, for the next phase.

Leveraging the new operational plan, we then worked with the client to define, align on, and prioritize key inputs and metrics to track performance, and then we identified and collected appropriate data sources for the metrics. In the next step, we developed an easy-to-use, intuitive dashboard. Lastly, we established a quality assurance procedure to test the functionality and usability of the dashboard prior to rollout.

In the final phase of the engagement, we established the rollout plan requirements and helped the client prepare for implementation of the new medical affairs operational plan and metric-tracking tool. Specifically, we confirmed the tool was finalized and ready for rollout, defined implementation timing, established the update frequency and plan, and identified accountable parties within each medical affairs function for updates and questions.

Through internal analysis, a competitive benchmarking study, and development of a strategic roadmap, our team supported an oncology-focused global biopharma company on an operational excellence initiative to increase the value its medical affairs organization delivers to its customers.

Situation

After successfully launching its first oncology product, our client wanted to increase the value its medical affairs group delivered both internally and externally to help support the organization’s growth goals and deliver on its customers’ heightened expectations of medical affairs. The client sought our team’s help in defining an effective approach and strategy for achieving medical affairs operational excellence.

SciVida’s Approach

We began by proposing a three-pronged approach entailing (1) a comprehensive situation assessment with desk research, cross-functional internal primary research, and a competitive benchmarking study, (2) a multiple-day strategy workshop, and (3) development of strategic recommendations and detailed action plans. 

Our team conducted primary research with internal stakeholders across all relevant functions as well as external stakeholders at competitor companies in a double-blinded benchmarking format. The benchmarking study focused on identifying and elucidating best practices across the industry. Combining the primary research insights from thousands of data points with internal client documentation and findings from our desk research, our team developed an in-depth assessment of the situation.

From the assessment, we identified the strengths of the client’s existing medical affairs organization and more importantly the opportunities for enhancement and the focus areas for the upcoming strategic workshop. During the workshop, we facilitated several interactive exercises, including multiple brainstorming and prioritizing sessions, and held in-depth group discussions to generate the overall vision for the medical affairs function, strategic imperatives necessary for achieving the vision, and high-level action plans for each.

Armed with the insights and output from the strategic workshop, our team then developed a roadmap—as well as detailed action plans for each strategic imperative—for achieving excellence in medical affairs. We also laid out near-term, mid-range, and long-term priorities for the medical affairs group. Finally, we defined a clear and actionable path forward for the client.