A medicine can reach its destination while the information describing it is incomplete and the financial transaction is still being reconciled.
The drug
Where is the product? Who has custody? Who owns it? Who is responsible for its condition?
The data
Purchase orders, acknowledgements, shipment notices, EPCIS events, receipts, and invoices each answer different questions. No single record describes the entire transaction.
The dollar
Payment, reimbursement, contract adjustments, chargebacks, rebates, credits, and return economics move on yet another clock.