McKesson’s Physician Rounding applications are used by doctors in hospitals to review patient records, replacing the old model of paper files attached to clipboards. But computers on trolleys in the hallways are cumbersome: the applications needed to be “mobilized” to be effective. The problem was, McKesson had acquired many of these applications through acquisition, and there were problems with the underlying code. An earlier porting attempt had already failed, and the VP was at the end of his patience, not to mention budget and professional reputation.
When I won the contract I promised to complete the port within a fixed budget, and to quality standards set by McKesson’s QA organization. I recruited a talented 9-person Java/mobile development team, and we provided user experience design, information architecture, Java engineering, QA, and ultra-thin-client micro-browser UI development for a mobile deployment on platforms that included Blackberry, iPhone, Palm, and Windows Mobile devices.
We delivered a system supporting over 25 of the most popular mobile devices on 10 different browsers across Verizon, ATT, and Sprint networks, providing Fortune 20 giant McKesson with significant competitive market advantage. The system passed pilot acceptance by two of McKesson’s key client hospitals, and successfully went GA within budget and in time for a major conference announcement.
Engineering Manager: Larry Hale
Information Architect: Brad Parker