Introduction

We are happy to announce that v7.0 is ready for download! As always, it has new features, improvements and bug fixes selected based on feedback from many of our current adopters. 

New features highlights:

1. eConsent module
2. Mobile app
3. Email survey forms to participants
4. Bulk operations on participants & specimens via UI
5. Display custom forms based on rules
6. Create derivatives & aliquots in a single workflow
7. Separate access control to visits and specimens
8. REDCap plugin improvements
9. Many bug fixes and usability enhancements

Download

Software/Hardware requirements

Review this page before attempting to upgrade for any changes: Software/Hardware Requirements.

Administrative Enhancements

Separate roles for Visits and Specimens

The visits and specimens resources under roles have been separated out. This will allow users to be given access to visits but not any specimens. This is useful if clinicians are only handling participant and visits. 

Export user roles

This helps in exporting user accounts and their roles to be imported to another server. For e.g. for moving user accounts from test to production server.

Bulk delete admin data

Using bulk operations, admins can now delete users, sites, institute and distribution protocols by setting activity status as 'Disabled'. Previously in this bulk templates, activity status column was missing.

Collection protocol enhancements

• Administrators can now reopen closed events and requirements
• Ability to delete collection protocol group
• Ability to close collection protocol so that new registrations are not allowed
• JSON configuration to overwrite ordering of visits in the visits table. By default visits are ordered by event timepoints but this allows to order by visit date.

Data entry enhancements

Bulk update specimens via UI

Multiple specimens can now be edited at once via user interface. This is now possible for any field of specimen including custom fields using the 'Actions' menu present in multiple places like cart, container specimens view, specimens list within collection protocol, visit overview page etc.

For more details, refer to 'Bulk Operations On Specimens'.

Bulk update and delete participants via UI

Multiple participants can now be updated or deleted via user interface from participants list within a collection protocol. 

For more details, refer to 'Bulk update participants'.

Display forms based on rules

Customs forms can be hidden/shown on the basis of rules defined in the JSON. This is useful to display specific forms for specific use cases.

For example:

• Display "Tissue Review Event" only for tissue specimens

• Display "Pregnancy History" only for female participants

Refer to 'Hide/Show Custom Forms based on Rules (v7.0)' for more details.

Create derivatives along with aliquots 

When creating unplanned specimens, there is now option to create aliquots under the derivatives in a flow.

For more details, refer to 'Create aliquots from derivative page'. 

Other enhancements

• Edit available quantity and freeze-thaw cycles while transferring specimens from one location to another.
• New specimen label token to include current date and time as part of the label
• Set system level visit name format via settings

New Modules

eConsents

OpenSpecimen's eConsents module helps clinical research centers to collect both types of consents - study-specific and broad-based consents. Below are the features of this module:

• Create consent forms in IRB approved format

• eSignature support

• Consent form versioning

• Multiple languages support

• Supported on tablets

• Support "patient mode" data entry
• Email consent forms

• Reporting

For more details, refer to 'eConsents'.

Email consent & survey forms to participants

Forms (like consent forms, surveys, questionnaires, medical history, clinical history, etc.) can be collected directly from participants via email. Data gets recorded in OpenSpecimen once the patient clicks on the link and enters the data. This allows the patients to enter data at their convenience from anywhere.

Refer to 'Survey Links' for more details. 

Mobile app

The new mobile app runs on any portable android devices like tablets to enable easy data entry of participants and specimens. This also enables users to do offline data entry where they do not have access to network. For e.g when the users are on the field collecting specimens. 

For more details, refer to '/wiki/spaces/DEV/pages/649756703' help pages.

REDCap enhancements 

Below are some of the enhancements implemented in v7.0 in REDCap integration plugin:

• Better handling of abortion of REDCap sync due to OpenSpecimen server restart
• Notification to admins if there are errors in REDCap synchronization
• Synchronization errors are reported with counts of failed records and report to indicate the errors
• Synchronize record is available with 3 options to sync data

• Synchronization for all records is much faster since a snapshot of data is exported instead of reading the complete audit log.

All Improvements and bugs

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