The EDC Support service helps coordinate, lead and support faculty and research study staff in their electronic data capture (EDC), web-based survey and application needs for research studies. EDC Support will help identify the optimal study tool given the investigator’s requirements and facilitate the training of personnel in its uses and functions.
In collaboration with the Harvard Catalyst | The Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center, REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture) is a free, secure, HIPAA compliant web-based application hosted by Partners HealthCare Research Computing, Enterprise Research Infrastructure & Services (ERIS). Vanderbilt University, with collaboration from a consortium of academic and non-profit institutional partners, develops this software application for electronic collection and management of research and clinical study data. Data collection is customized for each study or clinical trial by the research team with guidance from ERIS REDCap administrators.
REDCap is built around HIPAA guidelines but is not yet 21 CFR Part 11 compliant. Please see our knowledge base article on compliance for more information.
Getting Started:
REDCap Getting Started knowledge base has video tutorials and guidelines on how to access REDCap, request, design and maintain your projects.
New! REDCap: RPDR Data Import Assistant
Partners Enterprise Research IS and EDC Support have developed a tool to allow users who have access to RPDR (Research Patient Data Registry) to more easily import that data into REDCap.
In this first release, the following RPDR domains and associated fields are supported:
-Medical Record Numbers (EMPI & MRNs)
-Contact
-Demographics
-Providers
The tool and more information is available on every REDCap project's Application List as "RPDR Data Import Assistant". Review the FAQ
Do you have RPDR or EPIC Integration Needs? We are gathering requirements for future initiatives. Please complete this survey to help guide our development.
Data Management
REDCap's stream-lined process for rapidly developing databases, requires little database design experience. REDCap provides a user-friendly interface to program web-based case report forms with real-time data entry validation (e.g. for data types and range checks).
Survey Feature
Advantages of REDCap over MS Excel, Access and some other online survey tools:
- Secure and web-based - Input data from anywhere in the world with secure web authentication, data logging, and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption.
- Hosted at Partners DIPR Datacenter - No need to worry about security issues regarding third party websites hosting your private data.
- Fast and flexible - Conception to production-level database timeline determined by study team.
- Multi-site access - Projects can be used by researchers from multiple sites and institutions.
- Fully customizable - You are in total control of shaping your database or survey.
- Advanced question features - Auto-validation, branching logic, piping, and stop actions.
- Mid-study modifications - You may modify the database or survey at any time during the course of your study.
- Data import functions - Data may be imported from external data sources to begin a study or to provide mid-study data uploads.
- Data comparison functions - Double data entry / Blinded data entry.
- Export results to common data analysis packages: Microsoft Excel, SAS, Stata, R, or SPSS for analysis.
- Save your survey or forms as PDFs - Generate a PDF version for printing in order to collect responses offline.
REDCap Core Services
Need additional support?
ERIS Research Core offers supplemental services for REDCap:
- Review data collection forms to support efficient data entry
- Make recommendations on data modeling and data entry screens
- Program and test data entry screens to yield appropriate data sets for planned statistical analyses
- Plan patient tracking and scheduling systems
- Program feature extensions: plugins and hooks
REDCap Metrics FY15
Key Innovation:
An EDC system (studies, surveys, patient registries) built completely around helping investigators generate output (e.g., manuscripts).
Survey and Study EDC:
Deliver dramatic productivity gains via work-flow innovation, top-notch engineering, and intuitive design.
Getting Started:
StudyTrax is hosted by Partners Research Computing and is available to all researchers with a licensing agreement from ScienceTRAX. Request additional information from ScienceTRAX or EDC Support.
Student License $99
Pilot Data Grant Program $99
Advantages of StudyTRAX versus other EDC
Features:
- The StudyTRAX feature set is much more mature, better designed, easier to implement and in-depth as compared to other tools, and StudyTRAX is loaded with a numerous time-saving features simply NOT found anywhere else (e.g., integration of manuscript generation process).
User Experience:
- Immediately apparent upon comparison, the StudyTRAX user-interface is exceptionally polished, intuitive and easy-to-use.
Support:
- Customer support is responsive, helpful and overall second-to-none. Much could be said about support, but said best by asking any StudyTRAX user.
Streamlined Data Analysis And Academic Output Process:
Complete integration of manuscript / report generation process, dynamically linked to data!!
- Across study reporting without programming, point-and-click interface
- Build tables and charts that are dynamically updated on demand
- File management
- Organize all academic output and reports within or across studies, surveys, or patient registries.
- Flexible data set layout and export options
- Include raw, re-coded, transformed, and calculated variables
- Integrated automated dose equivalency calculation
- Numerous data consolidation methods, query and filter options
- Organize data clean/scrubbing process
- Descriptive statistics
- Visualize variable value distributions
- Numerous validation routines
Dynamic Subject Portal / Survey Management:
Full integration of study and survey functionality.
- Subjects can enter data AND automatically receive powerful, multimedia reports and educational materials dynamically linked and customized to their data.
- Completely define your own subject website (e.g., layout, look and feel, content) for what subjects see before AND after they login.
- Automated email communication and reminders.
- Broad range of enrollment options (e.g., subjects register and create their own accounts versus research staff create accounts).
Methodological Tools
Flexible configuration for a broad range of study designs, surveys and patient registries.
- Integrated randomization, ID generation.
- Screening visits.
- Centralized calendar across studies.
- Automated subject reports with conditional and logic-driven text (e.g., AE reports, clinic notes)
- Complete integration of query process.
- Central list of medications, automated dose equivalency scales, all woven into data sets.
- Data import wizard from Excel.
Integrated User Portals And Study Website(s)
- Complete integration and management study website(s), determine what users see both before and after login.
- Design, create and manage user portals (e.g., study safety monitoring board, randomization).
Forms
No limits on layout design, content or use of multimedia tools, images, sound, etc.
- Forms look exactly like paper CRF.
- Computer validated, opposed to manual, completion status.
- Within and across form validation and skip logic.
- Double Data Entry with multiple roles, reports and link to data set options.
- Form versioning capability.
- Sophisticated data entry concurrency management (i.e., two users entering data at the same time).
LimeSurvey at Partners:
LimeSurvey is a free, secure, HIPAA compliant web-based application hosted by Partners HealthCare Research Computing, Enterprise Research Infrastructure & Services (ERIS). It is an open source software package Copyright © 2003 onwards by Carsten Schmitz with portions contributed/copyrighted by many others and all of it is provided under the terms of the General Public License GPL. LimeSurvey may be used for research, clinical, academic, and operational data collection. Data collection is customized for each study or clinical trial by the research team.
Getting Started:
Access will be granted by EDC Support and restricted to various components and features of the system using role-based authorization.
Advantages of LimeSurvey:
- Secure and web-based - Input data from anywhere in the world with secure web authentication and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption.
- Hosted at Partners DIPR Datacenter - No need to worry about security issues regarding third party websites hosting your private data.
- Fully customizable - You are in total control of shaping your survey.
- Advanced question features – Auto-validation, conditional logic, and assessment tools.
- Export survey results to common data analysis packages - Microsoft Excel (csv), R, or SPSS for analysis.
- Create a printable version of your survey in order to collect responses on paper.
Advantages of using LimeSurvey versus REDCap
REDCap is much more user friendly and simplistic. LimeSurvey may not be as intuitive to use at first, but has most of the advanced features available in commercial options (like SurveyMonkey and Gizmo). Features such as: array question types, the ability to score responses to provide conditional feedback to the participant, and customizable survey templates.
With LimeSurvey, there's no administrative overhead so you are free to build and launch surveys as needed once you have access to the system. For REDCap, we need to track usage and report stats; therefore, there's an administrative component that may present a practical limitation for surveys that require quick implementations and/or frequent edits with very little advanced notice.
Starting October 1, 2016: Enterprise Research Infrastructure & Services, ERIS, manages an enterprise license for LabArchives.
LabArchives is a web-based application designed for scientists to organize and share laboratory data within their study team, department, or external collaborators. A LabArchives Notebook may be shared among any number of users; access rights are controlled by the notebook owner and can be easily modified to suit the individual needs of each researcher, educator, or contributor.
LabArchives Knowledgebase: Search general, getting started, and feature specific information.
Need a different ELN solution?
Replacing paper lab notebooks with ELNs has many advantages: ELNs streamline the documentation and protection of intellectual property, help scientists collaborate, and make scientific data and observations associated with experiments easier to search, find and use. There are many Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN) solutions that researchers are using that meet the security requirements for Partners Healthcare workforce members focused on scientific laboratory research. Your business needs and requirements may vary. Please login to review our ELN Solutions Comparison page.