Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy MFC Inventory Tracking

Rebuilding Inventory Infrastructure for a Regulated Supply Chain

To comply with the FDA’s Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA), I redesigned a 20+ year-old, analog inventory system into a modern mobile experience.

Company

Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy (Pharmtech)

Role

End-to-end design ownership, UX and UI design, systems thinking

Team

Engineers, business analyst

Deliverables

Web-app for Zebra barcode scanner

Overview

Turning Operational Complexity into Guided Mobile Workflows

To comply with the FDA's Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA), I redesigned a 20+ year-old, analog inventory system into a modern mobile experience. It gives warehouse staff real-time inventory visibility, improves accuracy, and keeps the supply chain aligned with regulations that exist to keep unsafe drugs out of circulation.


As the sole designer on a lean team, I worked side by side with engineering so I understood the regulatory and operational logic firsthand, instead of designing around it secondhand.

Key Impact

Improving Efficiency, Accuracy, and Traceability in Real Time

The new app improves core warehouse workflows and adds the capabilities DSCSA compliance requires. It helps staff identify and remove unsafe drugs quickly, which protects patients and keeps the supply chain intact.


  • Brought a legacy system into compliance with DSCSA, aligning it with FDA mandates for traceability and safety.

  • Modernized slow, manual workflows into guided, mobile-first experiences, cutting operational friction.

  • Designed for how operators actually work on the floor, so tasks finish faster and more accurately.

  • Added system-level validations and guardrails that catch errors and keep the process compliant.

  • Built a UI foundation flexible enough to grow as regulations and operations change.


Note: This project is ongoing and we are still gathering impact data.

"I'm getting through tasks faster because I'm not stopping to think about the next step. It's just right there."

"Receiving new inventory used to take forever because I had to scan every item. Now scanning is just faster and more accurate."

"It didn't take long to get used to. Once you do it a couple times, it just makes sense."

"The old system was slow and kind of clunky. This is just… easier. Especially when you're busy and trying to get through a lot quickly."

Approach

Deep Collaboration, Not Handoffs

We designed alongside live operations, pairing closely with engineering and grounding every decision in real user behavior, so the experience held up when it was actually pressure-tested.


Closely partnered with:

  • A tech leader (30+ years of experience) with deep operational expertise and knowledge of Walgreens-specific fulfillment operations

  • A very skilled contract full-stack engineer who moved quickly from building back-end logic to high-quality UI implementation

  • A systems engineer embedded in micro-fulfillment centers, providing real-time user feedback and validation


This tight collaboration meant we could move fast without guessing. Every decision was grounded in what we were actually seeing on the floor.

Core Features

  • Receiving

Reimagined intake workflows with real-time validation and traceability at the package level.

  • Putaway



Designed guided placement logic across standard storage and quarantine states, organizing the operator's route automatically once Receiving is complete.

  • Intracompany Transfer (ICT)



Enabled trackable, low-friction movement of inventory between distribution centers.

  • Quarantine



Introduced clear system states and controls for isolating and managing at-risk inventory.

Summary

This project took a 20+ year-old, analog system and rebuilt it for a regulated, fast-moving warehouse environment. DSCSA compliance was the mandate. The harder work was making all that complexity invisible for the operators using the system every day.