General Beginner

Track vs Trace in pharmaceuticals

Track: Monitoring the current location of products in real-time. Trace: Retrieving the full movement history of a product.

Ahmed Dawood January 04, 2026 Updated Jan 08, 2026 36 views

Track and Trace usually address 5 W

(What,Who,Where,When,Why)

1️⃣ WHERE the physical or logical location of the event.

(GLN of the sender and receiver)

2️⃣ WHEN the exact date and time when the event took place.

(time stamp of the event)

3️⃣ WHY the business reason for the event.(type of transaction, receiving, dispatching, commissioning)

4️⃣ WHAT the product identifiers and quantities involved.

(GTINs,Batchs,serials,expire date,SSCC,parent child relationship)

5️⃣ WHO (Responsible Party) The legal entity responsible for the event.

GLN of the (MAH, authority)