Getting started
What PharmAutomate is
PharmAutomate is a desktop automation agent for long-term-care pharmacies. It runs on a pharmacy workstation alongside DocuTrack and QS1/PrimeCare and processes prescription documents — starting with Cancel RX (discontinuation) messages — so your technicians spend less time on repetitive data entry.
A complete setup has two halves:
- The Merchant Portal — a website where you manage your pharmacy locations (branches), register the computers that run automation (devices), set run schedules, read transactions, choose who gets alerted when something goes wrong, and invite staff.
- The PharmAutomate agent — a Windows application installed on each pharmacy workstation. It connects to your account using an activation key you generate in the Merchant Portal.
This guide walks a pharmacy administrator through the whole flow: setting up the portal account, generating the activation key, installing the agent, starting automation, and knowing when it needs a hand.
| Component | Where it runs | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Merchant Portal | Web browser — merchant.pharmalytics.skypondtech.com | Manage branches, devices, schedules, users; read transactions; configure alerts and reports |
| Branch Portal | Web browser — branch.pharmalytics.skypondtech.com | Read-only dashboard for a single branch (sign in with the device activation key) |
| PharmAutomate agent | Windows PC at the pharmacy | Reads the DocuTrack queue and completes documents in DocuTrack + QS1/PrimeCare |
| This guide | Web browser — docs.pharmalytics.skypondtech.com | Always the current version; also downloadable as PDF or Word |
How a document gets processed
- A technician (or an interface) drops Cancel RX documents into a DocuTrack folder — by default Triage.
- Someone opens DocuTrack and QS1/PrimeCare on the automation workstation and signs in to both. The agent never signs in for you.
- Someone clicks Start in the PharmAutomate control window.
- The agent works the queue the way a technician would: it reads each document on screen, decides what type it is, and completes the Cancel RX in QS1.
- When the queue is empty the agent sleeps and re-checks itself on the schedule you set in the Merchant Portal — it does not stop.
- Every document it touches shows up in the Merchant Portal under Transactions, with its outcome.
Important: The agent only completes documents it reads with high confidence. Anything it is unsure about is routed for manual review and left for your team — it is never guessed.
What the agent will not do
These are deliberate design limits, not gaps:
- It never signs in to DocuTrack or QS1. It does not want, store, or ask for those passwords.
- It never closes, kills, or restarts QS1. Doing so would drop your signed-in session. If QS1 disappears the agent pauses with the document untouched and resumes on its own once QS1 is back.
- It never installs anything into DocuTrack or QS1.
- It never sends your activation key anywhere except the PharmAutomate service over HTTPS.