Why SCA has been a great idea that never achieved its promise, until now.

On the surface, structured component authoring (SCA) is a concept that makes sense in theory but has been hard to implement for many organizations. Much of the medical authoring and documentation done today is accomplished through standard desktop publishing programs like Microsoft Word — but these programs are not designed with Life Sciences authors in mind.

What is structured component authoring?

SCA enables the creation and maintenance of documentation by reusing core component content to build and update documentation. For example, an approved dosage table can be reused from a label document into a medical response document, such that, any changes to the dosage table efficiently propagate to downstream documents.  By leveraging component reuse, SCA helps authors to efficiently author, review, approve, translate, and publish clinical,regulatory, CMC, PV and other documents.

The unique challenges of medical authoring

When you look at documentation through the lens of a Life Sciences organization, you’re looking at a process that can include hundreds of authors and reviewers, span multiple years and endure countless rounds of revisions and updates. For those using a program like Microsoft Word, this means copying and pasting (and sorting) through thousands of paragraphs, wasting time and resources to update and maintain compliant documents.

To streamline the authoring process, writers and reviewers need a solution that allows them to assemble a document from approved components of content, as well as efficiently update relevant portions of a document — in a platform that’s intuitive and simple to use.

Though SCA is not a new idea, it’s encountered the one roadblock to adoption that affects early adopter products: traditional SCA products are built for highly technical users that think more like software developers versus medical authors. While IT and other technical workers might enjoy all the bells and whistles of these solutions, a typical medical writer needs something that can work without extensive training or specialized knowledge.

How Docuvera’s SCA solution is designed with Life Sciences authors in mind

Instead of a complicated program that requires fluency in coding or technical language, Docuvera has created a solution that borrows from what people like about traditional desktop publishing platforms – it’s easy to adopt, has intuitive functionality and has low barriers to start using — and improved upon for the authoring experience.

Docuvera also understands nuances that affect the drug development lifecycle, and how component authoring can improve the documentation process. To achieve productivity, authors need a solution that can efficiently make updates across a project, offer visibility into workflows, and assist to keep everything compliant and accurate.

Docuvera’s SCA enables a smoother implementation for Life Sciences organizations through:

• A single platform that promotes ease of use and promotes quicker adoption
• A simple interface that uses familiar cues so authors can easily start writing
• A proven organizational change management process to help with the implementation process
• Configuration flexibility and integration support to ensure successful implementation

So, while SCA has been around for a while, Docuvera has zeroed in on what medical authors need instead of creating an overly complex program that requires too much training and IT maintenance or troubleshooting to use. This results in a connected SCA product specifically designed for the Life Sciences industry where authors and reviewers can collaborate throughout the entire authoring process.

In one easy-to-use platform, you can streamline authoring, reviewing and publishing with a solution that’s straightforward to implement and start using. And, leveraging the power of the cloud, IT can ensure your organization has everything up and running quickly.

Ready to learn more about Docuvera’s SCA solution and see how it can enable collaboration, efficiency and productivity for your organization? Schedule a demo with us today.