The traditional order and delivery activities have been characterized by manual routines and paper based workflow management. Problems such as the time-consuming processes in which a laboratory service order is created or that of getting the laboratory service report with results from the requested investigations from the laboratories and the entry of the same information by different persons at different points in the workflow with the possibilities of transfer errors are well known. The development of modern information technology, along with the development of standards for communication protocols and the message structure for the electronic interchange of information (EDI) gives us the tools to change the way we work and manage workflow. An important input to the business process reengineering process is a thorough knowledge of the context within which the order/delivery activities exist. One has to take into account that the activities are:
i. Heavily integrated into the whole treatment and care process,
ii. together with routines and the taking of samples and related requests, many times are a part of the daily work of award, and
iii. various decisions about the treatment of a patient are based on the results in the laboratory service report from the laboratories.
