Traceability

Want to know what traceability means in computing?

An explanation with practical examples:

Discount Prescription: agreements with doctors or medical centers signed by one of the big chains. Under this scheme, the doctor prescribes a product and sends the patient to buy it at the stores of a specific chain, since there the patient will get a discount on the purchase.

The doctor, or the health center, whose barcode is printed on the prescription, receives a commission when that recommendation turns into a sale.

[…] the laboratories give doctors a list of medicines, reminding them of the international conferences available and that by prescribing certain drugs they can earn points toward travel.

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After that, the doctors give patients discount cards that are valid at certain pharmacies, which use the barcode to report to the laboratories that the discount was applied.

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“The doctor has lost the freedom to prescribe other medications, and the other laboratories also face barriers to entry, because the doctors are taking care of keeping competing medicines out,” he said.

More details at El Francotirador. (This is also part of a field known as Business Intelligence)