Pulse

Pulse is a life-critical national core system which went fully operational on time and within budget - an achievement that Savant are justifiably proud of.

Pulse is in daily use by the English National Blood Service (NBS) and by the Northern Ireland, States of Jersey and Isle of Man blood services. Savant provide 24 hours a day, 365 days a year support for Pulse to ensure the safety and availability of blood and tissue supplies.

A Bit of History

Savant has been developing blood product control software since 1982, when a contract was awarded by Brentwood Blood Centre for the development of a blood laboratory testing system. In 1985 the same system was implemented at Tooting Blood Centre, the largest in Europe.

In 1996, we were awarded a contract for the whole of the English National Blood Service. Over the next two years, after a lot of late nights and much dedication, all fourteen blood centres were converted to the new Pulse system.

Pulse Today

Currently, Pulse has thousands of users and is responsible for donor record management, donation session planning, laboratory testing, stock management and the safe, efficient processing of all donated products (both blood and tissue) from the point of donation to issue for transfusion or transplant.

Savant work daily with the NBS to develop and enhance Pulse to meet the ever changing functional and legislative requirements of the NBS. Since late 2004, the specialised Hematos blood testing system has been integrated with the Pulse system, extending the capability of Pulse to include accurate blood product cross-matching.

Customer Relationships

Pulse is an example of the long-term customer-supplier relationships that we actively develop with all clients and users of our software products. In a Tescom report commissioned by the NBS, the following observations were recorded regarding the excellence of the customer/supplier relationship enjoyed by Savant and the NBS.

"The NBS has one of the best client supplier relationships that Tescom has seen in recent years in the UK. The relationship is open, with full access given to the NBS to the Savant development lifecycle."

"For critical systems an open honest relationship between supplier and client is a major component of success."

"The fact that Savant is also owned by its employees and that the NBS is its largest customer also means that the success of the relationship, affects the companys performance and thereby impacts on its employees."

"Tescom strongly advocates risk reward scenarios between client and supplier where success and failure alike are shared. Tescom think this relationship is one of the key success factors of the Pulse program."