The 7 DSCSA Questions You Should Be Able to Answer in 30 Seconds
If your pharmacy must search, guess, or call one person to answer these questions, your DSCSA process may need attention.
DSCSA readiness is not only tested by complex legal questions. Sometimes it is tested by simple operational questions.
Where are the records? Who supplied the product? Was the transaction data received? What happens when something is missing? Can your team answer quickly?
A pharmacy does not need every DSCSA answer memorized.
But it should know where the answer lives before the question is asked.
Does your process depend on searching emails, logging into supplier portals, checking downloads, opening spreadsheets, and hoping the right person is available?
If so, the process may be more fragile than it appears.
Here are seven practical DSCSA questions your pharmacy should be able to answer in about 30 seconds.
Organized suppliers. Organized records. Repeatable workflows.
The 30-second test is not about rushing. It is about whether your team knows where to look and what to do.
Supplier visibility
Know who your active suppliers are, which accounts and locations are connected, and who maintains the information.
Record visibility
Know where transaction data and related documentation are stored and how to connect them to a shipment.
Workflow visibility
More than one trained person should understand how to respond when data is missing or product looks suspect.
Can your pharmacy answer these in about 30 seconds?
Test your current process using real suppliers, real shipments, real records, and the people who actually perform the work.
Who are your active prescription drug suppliers?
Your pharmacy should know who it buys prescription drug product from.
That includes regular suppliers, secondary suppliers, 340B-related accounts, direct manufacturer relationships, and other applicable sources of covered prescription drug product.
- Who are our active suppliers?
- Which accounts and locations are tied to each supplier?
- Who updates supplier information when something changes?
If your team cannot answer that quickly, supplier readiness may be a gap.
Are those suppliers Authorized Trading Partners?
DSCSA expects pharmacies to do business with Authorized Trading Partners.
In plain English: your pharmacy should know whether suppliers are properly licensed or registered for their role in the prescription drug supply chain.
- Have we reviewed supplier status?
- Where is that information documented?
- What happens when a new supplier or account is added?
This should not depend on memory. A pharmacy should have a process for supplier review and documentation.
Where is the transaction data for a shipment?
If someone asks about a specific shipment, your pharmacy should know where to find the related transaction data.
That may include EPCIS records, EDI 856 records, ASN records, supplier portal records, or other transaction documentation.
- Where is the record stored?
- Can we connect it to the supplier and shipment?
- Can more than one trained person retrieve it?
- Can we show it when asked?
“We think the wholesaler has it” is not the same as being able to produce the record.
What happens when transaction data is missing?
Missing or delayed transaction data can happen.
The problem is not always the missing data itself. The problem is failing to document what the pharmacy did about it.
- Who reviews missing-data issues?
- Who contacts the supplier?
- Where is follow-up documented?
- When is the issue escalated?
- How do we show what happened?
A missing-data process should not live in someone's inbox or memory.
How does your pharmacy document reconciliation activity?
Reconciliation helps compare product received against related shipment or transaction data.
That does not mean every pharmacy must scan every package every time. But if reconciliation activity is part of your DSCSA process, your pharmacy should be able to show it.
- When is reconciliation performed?
- Who performs it?
- What shipment or product was checked?
- Was there a match, mismatch, or exception?
- Where is the reconciliation record retained?
If the answer is vague, the process may not be ready.
What do staff do if product looks suspect?
If product appears suspect or potentially illegitimate, staff should know what to do immediately.
- When should staff stop and escalate?
- When should product be quarantined?
- Who reviews the concern?
- What records are checked?
- How is supplier or manufacturer follow-up documented?
- When might reporting be required?
The middle of a product concern is the wrong time to invent the process.
Can you retrieve DSCSA records for six-year retention?
DSCSA record retention is not just about saving files. It is about being able to find and explain records later.
- Where are records retained?
- Who can access them?
- Are records organized by supplier, shipment, location, date, or product?
- Can records survive staff turnover, email cleanup, portal changes, and time?
- Can more than one trained person retrieve them?
If the pharmacy cannot retrieve records, the retention process is not strong enough.
The test is not about rushing. It is about confidence.
If your pharmacy knows where the answer lives, the process is probably organized.
If the team must search five places, call one person, or rebuild the story manually, the process is fragile.
That fragility may not show up on a normal day. It shows up during an inspection, audit, supplier dispute, product concern, recall question, or deadline scramble.
Ask someone on your team without warning.
Not perfectly. Not legally. Practically.
Can they find the supplier list?
Can they find a shipment record?
Can they explain where transaction data lives?
Can they show what happens when data is missing?
Can they explain suspect product escalation?
Can they retrieve records without relying on one person?
If not, your pharmacy has found a gap worth fixing now.
Move from “let me see if we can find that” to “here is the record, and here is what happened.”
Advasur 360 helps pharmacies organize DSCSA records and workflows so key answers are not scattered across portals, inboxes, spreadsheets, and memory.
Transaction data receipt and retention
Support organized receipt, retention, and retrieval of transaction data.
EPCIS and EDI 856 record management
Keep electronic DSCSA records connected to supplier and shipment activity.
Supplier and shipment visibility
See supplier, account, shipment, and record relationships more clearly.
Authorized Trading Partner support
Organize supplier review and supporting ATP information.
Reconciliation activity
Support comparison of product received against related shipment or transaction data.
Missing-data workflows
Document missing or delayed information and how your team responded.
Exception documentation
Preserve the issue, follow-up, resolution, and supporting record.
Suspect product procedures
Support a repeatable response when product raises a concern.
Staff training support
Help more than one person understand and follow the DSCSA workflow.
Six-year record retention
Keep records accessible and explainable despite normal business changes.
Record retrieval when someone asks
Help trained staff produce the answer without rebuilding the story.
Built by pharmacists, for pharmacists: Advasur 360 was shaped by more than a decade of focused DSCSA experience.
If your pharmacy cannot answer these questions quickly and confidently, now is the time to get organized.
In a 30-minute Advasur 360 DSCSA Readiness Review, we can walk through your current process and help identify where records, workflows, and staff training may need attention before the November 27, 2027 deadline.
No pressure. No scare tactics. Just a practical look at whether your pharmacy can answer the questions that matter.
We can review:
- ✓ Supplier setup
- ✓ Transaction data receipt and retention
- ✓ EPCIS and EDI 856 readiness
- ✓ Missing-data workflows
- ✓ Reconciliation activity
- ✓ Exception documentation
- ✓ Suspect product procedures
- ✓ Staff training
- ✓ Six-year record retention
- ✓ Record retrieval
Thirty seconds is enough time to know whether your DSCSA process is organized, or whether it is still hiding in too many places.
Advasur 360 helps pharmacies find the answer before the question becomes urgent.