ICON’s system-driven data validation tool delivers deeper regulatory publishing insights to sponsors

This project began in 2024 as a new engagement with a top 10 global pharmaceutical company. ICON provides regulatory publishing and related services with a project team including almost 30 members across different time zones handling more than 800 publishing requests for this sponsor each month.

Given the large scale of activity and the unit-based billing structure, precise tracking of all delivery information is essential. To this end, the team captures all relevant data in a shared Tracker. This includes regulatory publishing services and publishing-related data, such as regional urgent requests and rework cases which are not fully reflected in the client’s system.

As the Tracker supports collaboration across time zones and feeds directly into client reporting, metrics, billing and audit records, it is important that the records on it stay aligned with the client’s source system. Regular crosschecks are therefore needed to keep the data timely and accurate.

ICON created a custom centralised tracking mechanism to automate cross-checks to ensure data accuracy, completeness and alignment across systems with a significant efficiency gain—a 90% reduction in time spent on cross-checks.

Upon project initiation, the team was required to expand their initial scope of work by approximately 36% to include the types of publishing tasks the sponsor required. This also led to an increase in business volume of 22% through 2025, which increased the amount of data requiring entry and verification in the Tracker.

The Tracker records all key details, including request ID, type, region, publisher, HA date, unit count, status and other relevant fields for all requests. Manually crosschecking each record in the Tracker against the client’s source data became increasingly time-consuming, tied up significant human resources and increased the risk of data errors. This situation had the potential to impact the PM’s overall project oversight and the team’s ability to submit regular client reports on schedule.

ICON optimised resource allocation with a bespoke automation tool. ICON developed a Visual Basic macro-based automation tool to perform the repetitive crosscheck process and automatically generate discrepancy reports to improve efficiency. This new tool was tested collaboratively with the PM and then deployed for operational use. 

The tool’s main features include:

• Correcting request IDs with formatting errors and flagging the incorrect entries
• Automatically cross-checking records in the Tracker against the client’s source data, including missing requests, information not updated in time and mismatched records
• Generating structured reports that include request IDs, the corresponding publisher and data requiring verification or correction
• Compiling incomplete requests for further review and summarisation

The automation crosscheck tool expanded the verification scope from a limited set of manually prioritised fields to a comprehensive, system-driven validation across a broader range of data points, further improving data quality and reliability. At the same time, it significantly increased efficiency, reduced team time dedicated to repetitive tasks and lowered the risk of data errors. 

This efficiency allows human experts to focus on where they add the most value. Project Managers can dedicate more time to quality client and internal communications and the publishers can correct and update records faster than ever. This rapid data reconciliation also improves the team's flexibility in responding to client data requests. 

The automation tool built for this project is scalable and adaptable for future projects with similar requirements. Future applications of this automation will ensure that projects are more efficient and that they benefit from the richer data recording it enables, increasing opportunities to deliver deeper insights to sponsors.