Software design for computerizing blood bank management using CASE tools

A summary description of a software for computerized management of blood banks is presented. This development is one of the results of a broader research effort, aiming at a complete analysis of the system of blood banks in the metropolitan region in Chile. A centralized solution is proposed, that involves starting a regional blood bank, that would be in charge of recollecting, processing and distributing blood products to to hospitals; at the hospital level, the actual blood banks would operate simply as transfusion centers. The software that is presented computerizes the operation of both organizational instances. The centralized solution also incorporates optimization models for blood processing and for blood distribution to transfusion centers. This software was built using CASE software engineering tools. The advantage of such tools is commented upon, from the point of view of an adequate definition of user’s requirement and of development effort.