Start with Bizman Inventory when evaluating how your pharmacy will track batches, expiry dates and stock exceptions. Ask BriskRetail to demonstrate a complete receipt-to-withdrawal workflow with your responsible pharmacist, rather than selecting software from a feature list alone. The useful question is whether staff can explain which batch arrived, where it went, what remains and who authorised each important change.
If sales must remain connected to those stock records, include Bizman Sales and Inventory in the evaluation. A correct financial total does not necessarily establish correct batch traceability. Both sides need to agree, especially when one product has several batches, packaging levels or storage locations.
This guide is for pharmacy owners and operations teams evaluating records and controls. It provides no prescribing, substitution or dispensing instructions. The fictitious product used below has no clinical meaning; the exercise tests inventory records only.
Commercial disclosure: BriskRetail supplies Bizman solutions and benefits when customers choose its services. Bizman Inventory is our primary recommendation for a scoped stock-management evaluation. We have not performed the demonstrations below or verified a pharmacy-specific certification. Batch tracking, expiry restrictions, permissions and recovery behaviour must be confirmed in the proposed configuration.
Research checked: 23 October 2026. Regulatory references are identified by document and date. The responsible pharmacist and qualified advisers should review applicability to your premises and activities before implementation. No software purchase, including Bizman, establishes permission to operate a pharmacy.
1. Define the pharmacy workflow before the software scope
Write down the activities the system will support: purchasing, receiving, stock counts, transfers, expiry review, sales records, supplier returns and recall follow-up. Identify which professional records or specialist functions must remain elsewhere. An inventory package should not be assumed to replace every pharmacy record simply because it can print a receipt.
The Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (Establishment) Act 2022 addresses registration, premises and professional practice. Its framework makes the distinction between a software tool and the authority to conduct pharmacy activities important. Confirm your applicable category and requirements through PCN rather than relying on a vendor's description. Source: PCN Act 2022.
PCN's version 02 registration guidelines, effective 27 January 2025, separately address registration and licensing of pharmacists and pharmaceutical premises, including premises inspection. They are a relevant starting reference for those processes, not a software approval list. Source: PCN registration guidelines.
Agree the evaluation with the responsible pharmacist. For each requirement, name the workflow owner, evidence needed and what happens if the software cannot support it. Do not quietly replace a required record with a spreadsheet whose ownership and reconciliation are undefined.
2. Make product and batch identity precise
Product identity, batch identity and physical location answer different questions. A product record identifies the exact item and pack configuration. A batch record identifies a particular group of that product. A location record shows where its units are held. Combining these into a single product-level stock number hides information needed during an investigation.
Capture the identity from approved source records and packaging. Do not merge different presentations because their names look similar. The responsible pharmacist should validate the product master; software operators should not infer clinical equivalence from a search result or barcode match.
| Record | Information to demonstrate | Error to test |
|---|---|---|
| Product | Exact item identity, pack description and base stock unit | Similar names or different pack sizes incorrectly merged |
| Batch | Manufacturer/supplier batch reference linked to the product | Same batch text attached to the wrong product |
| Dates | Actual labelled expiry and any internal review/withdrawal date | Receipt date used as an invented expiry |
| Receipt | Supplier, document, date, quantity and unit | One receipt contains two batches but only one is recorded |
| Location/status | Branch, shelf/store and available or held state | Quarantined stock included in saleable quantity |
| Movement | From/to location, quantity, batch, user and reference | Transfer changes the batch identity or counts stock twice |
Odoo's version 19 documentation describes lot tracking across receipts and outgoing movements, with a traceability report showing stock moves. This illustrates the level of evidence a buyer can request; it does not establish the same functionality in Bizman or pharmaceutical suitability for either product. Source: Odoo lot-number documentation.
For Bizman Inventory, ask the presenter to receive two batches of one product and then locate each independently. Check how leading zeroes, letters and supplier references survive import and export. A batch identifier must not be silently converted into a number that loses part of its meaning.
3. Test units without turning a stock rule into dispensing advice
Purchasing and inventory reporting may use different packaging units. Define the base unit and exact conversion for each product before importing opening balances. A generic “pack” field is insufficient if staff use it to mean a carton, box or another presentation in different screens.
For a fictitious inventory-only example, one outer carton contains 10 sealed packs of training product DEMO-P. Receiving three cartons therefore adds 3 × 10 = 30 packs. Moving one carton to another branch transfers 10 packs; it does not create a further 10 packs across the business.
Demonstrate a receipt, transfer and correction using that conversion. Print or export the unit beside every quantity. Keep unit cost and total valuation consistent with the unit being displayed. If an imported cost is per carton while the stock quantity is in packs, the valuation can be wrong even when the physical count is right.
This example does not authorise opening, repackaging or supplying a medicine in a different unit. Actual permitted operations and professional checks must be defined by the responsible pharmacist and applicable requirements. A conversion feature is an accounting and stock capability, not clinical or legal permission.
When conversion rules change, inspect existing movements and balances. Avoid editing a master value in a way that silently reinterprets historical transactions. Require a reviewed correction process and a reproducible before-and-after stock position.
4. Distinguish expiry alerts from effective restrictions
An alert can mean a dashboard colour, a notification, a warning that can be dismissed or a transaction block. Those are materially different controls. Ask the presenter to demonstrate the exact behaviour for approaching expiry, expired stock, missing dates and a batch deliberately placed on hold.
Separate the manufacturer's date from the pharmacy's internal review or withdrawal threshold. Do not infer a batch's expiry by adding a standard number of days to receipt. Capture the actual packaging information and make unresolved dates visible to the reviewer.
NAFDAC's Good Storage and Distribution Practices Guidelines for Pharmaceutical Products, effective 26 November 2024, address stock rotation, removal of expired stock and documented stock reconciliation. They also cover complaints and recalls. Confirm the relevant provisions for your activities with the responsible professional; a warning icon alone does not implement them. Source: NAFDAC GSDP guidance.
For an expiry demonstration, enter two eligible batches with different dates and show which is selected first. Then physically identify the packs being used in the test. A system may allocate the earliest batch while staff take another, leaving the report detached from the shelf. Decide how picking, scanning and checking will maintain the link.
Storage conditions remain a separate responsibility. An in-date label does not establish that an item remains suitable after a temperature excursion or other incident. Record the affected stock and hold decision under the approved procedure; do not let software automatically release it merely because the incident screen was closed.
5. Run a fictitious batch-recall exercise
Use a training environment and a clearly fictitious notice. Do not create a real public recall, contact patients or alter live stock merely to test a demonstration. The exercise below concerns one batch, DEMO-B1, of the fictitious training product DEMO-P. All quantities are sealed packs.
| Movement or position | Packs | Evidence to locate |
|---|---|---|
| Received at branch A | 120 | Supplier receipt linked to DEMO-B1 |
| Recorded as supplied from A | 35 | Outgoing references for that batch |
| Transferred from A to B | 25 | Matching dispatch and receipt; internal movement |
| Recorded as supplied from B | 8 | Outgoing references at B |
| Still at A | 60 | Physical count and location record |
| Still at B | 17 | Physical count and location record |
| Total accounted for | 120 | 43 previously supplied + 77 still held |
The reconciliation is 120 − 35 − 25 = 60 at A and 25 − 8 = 17 at B. Across the business, 35 + 8 + 60 + 17 = 120. The transfer is not another purchase or another external supply.
First identify every location and relevant outgoing reference for DEMO-B1. Then place the 77 remaining packs on hold in the test records and verify the corresponding physical segregation procedure. Try an ordinary sale and a transfer of held stock; record whether the proposed controls prevent an unauthorised movement or merely display a warning.
The 43 previously supplied packs require traceability and follow-up under the approved recall procedure. A report identifying transactions does not prove that all recipients have been reached or that all stock has returned. If a transaction lacks the necessary batch or recipient linkage, show that limitation honestly and assign an escalation path rather than inventing traceability.
Suppose four of those packs later return during the exercise. Held stock becomes 77 + 4 = 81, while the previously supplied quantity not physically returned becomes 43 − 4 = 39. The balance remains 81 + 39 = 120. Record the return against the original batch and reference; do not create a new clean batch or automatically make the returned items available.
NAFDAC's guidance calls for a recall system with a written procedure and designated responsibility. Your approved procedure must determine actual notification, communication, recovery and disposition steps. This numerical exercise tests record completeness; it is not the complete recall procedure or evidence that a real recall is closed.
6. Give each user only the access their work needs
Shared administrator accounts make it difficult to establish who changed a date, released a hold or exported records. Use individual accounts and define permissions around actual responsibilities. A system role name does not grant professional authority; the pharmacy must decide who is authorised to perform each activity.
| Proposed responsibility | Access to evaluate | Restriction to test |
|---|---|---|
| Receiving staff | Enter receipt and batch information | Cannot independently release held stock or alter approved master data |
| Authorised stock reviewer | Review exceptions, corrections and counts | Changes retain reason and identifiable approval |
| Sales-record operator | Record permitted transactions | Cannot override withdrawal or quarantine controls without the approved process |
| Finance reviewer | Review relevant values, payments and credits | No unnecessary access to confidential professional records |
| Technical administrator | Manage accounts and recovery | Technical access does not silently approve professional stock decisions |
This is a proposed evaluation matrix, not a statutory staffing model. Adjust it to your premises, staffing and professional responsibilities. Where one person performs several tasks, define a practical independent review rather than pretending the duties are separated.
Test denied actions as well as successful ones. Try changing an expiry date, deleting a movement, releasing a hold, exporting records and using an account that has been disabled. Inspect the resulting audit evidence. A log that shows only the current value may not explain the original entry, correction and reason.
Ask how permissions behave during connectivity interruptions and after synchronisation. If an offline device has not received a new hold instruction, agree the operating restriction and communication procedure. Do not assume an old local stock view knows about a recall entered elsewhere.
7. Protect records and prove recovery
Use synthetic records during vendor demonstrations. Where the live implementation stores patient or other personal information, identify the minimum fields needed, who may see them, where they are hosted and how authorised exports and support access work. Keep confidential information out of screenshots, general staff chats and unrestricted spreadsheet copies.
Have a qualified privacy adviser and the responsible pharmacist determine applicable processing, retention and disclosure requirements. Do not assume that one retention period covers invoices, clinical records, stock investigations and backup copies. This guide does not prescribe a lawful basis or retention schedule.
Require a recovery demonstration, not just a screenshot saying “backup completed”. Restore a protected test copy into an isolated environment and check batches, quantities, movement history, permissions and attachments. Reconcile it to the recorded backup point. Prevent the test environment from sending live notifications or writing back into production.
The FBI's cyber-resilience guidance recommends protected, isolated backups and testing restoration. That is a general security principle, not Nigerian pharmacy law or proof of a vendor's backup quality. Source: FBI cyber-resilience guidance.
For a hypothetical recovery test, the last usable backup is 10:00 and the incident occurs at 12:00. Records created during those two hours may need recovery from another reliable source. Define that process, how duplicates are prevented and who verifies the reconstructed stock. A system coming back online does not by itself establish that its records are complete.
8. Use a demo checklist that exposes gaps
Give BriskRetail the same test script you would give another shortlisted supplier. Ask for pass, fail or unverified against each requirement, with the configuration and evidence recorded. Do not treat a planned feature as a completed demonstration.
- Receive two batches of one product, including a missing-date exception.
- Move a defined packaging quantity between locations without changing the business total.
- Show the actual expiry warning, restriction and authorised exception process.
- Reconcile DEMO-B1 through both branches and the simulated return.
- Show the effect of quarantine on sales, availability and transfers.
- Demonstrate a denied permission and a reviewed correction with movement history.
- Export the records needed for the agreed operational review, with quantities and units intact.
- Restore an isolated backup and explain any transactions outside its recovery point.
Ask whether each control is included, requires configuration, depends on another component or remains a manual procedure. Record support responsibilities and response arrangements in the proposal. A manual step can be workable, but it needs an owner and a reliable review; it should not be hidden behind the word “integrated”.
Make essential failures a rollout decision. If the required batch trace cannot be produced or held stock can be supplied outside the agreed control, do not average that gap away with a strong score for receipt appearance. Resolve it or limit the deployment to a scope the responsible pharmacist has reviewed.
9. Scope the Bizman proposal around evidence
Choose a Bizman Inventory evaluation that follows the batch through its full stock history. Bring sample packaging information, receipt formats, location structure, unit definitions and the records your responsible pharmacist needs. Explain existing systems and the boundaries they must retain.
Where transaction records must connect to that history, evaluate Bizman Sales and Inventory using the same fictitious batches. Confirm the connection in the proposed setup instead of assuming that a correct sales total proves a correct batch balance.
Explore Bizman or request a Bizman Inventory pharmacy-workflow demonstration. Ask for the completed checklist, unresolved gaps, configuration scope and support responsibilities before making the implementation decision.
