Clinical Trial Management Systems: Data Import and Visualization

Clinical Trial Management Systems (CTMS) are crucial in managing clinical trials. They help to manage all the aspects of a clinical trial, such as scheduling visits, managing the trial budget, tracking study participants, and monitoring the trial’s progress. With each new release, CTMS providers strive to improve the functionality of their systems in order to better serve their customers. This blog will discuss the new data import and custom views features of TI CTMS 1.3 and 1.4, respectively.

One of the most significant updates brought by CTMS version 1.3 is the ability to import subject data into the system. This feature allows CTMS users to get subject-related data into the system without manual entry, regardless of the source (spreadsheet or multiple EDC/IXRS systems). By importing data instead of entering it manually, users can avoid data quality issues that could result from human re-entry of data.

For instance, let's consider a scenario where data from an EDC system is entered manually into the CTMS system by a user. The manual entry process could lead to errors such as typos, incorrect data formatting, or incomplete data entry. By leveraging the import functionality, the system eliminates the need for manual entry and the potential for human error.

The import functionality is not limited to any particular EDC or source system, meaning users can import data from any EDC or source system into the CTMS, making it a standard import functionality. As the system continues to improve and expand the import functionality, the goal is to review and analyze additional system locations where the need for duplicate data entry can be removed, thereby reducing data quality issues.

In version 1.4, CTMS introduced custom views, which allow users to customize their individual experiences through individual views and filter definitions. This feature helps to streamline clinical processes by creating individual, user-specific views and presenting the relevant data needed to complete a task. By introducing more ways to get data from external systems into the CTMS and allowing users to define views based on tasks, the system helps to keep users in the CTMS and out of external applications like Excel, thereby reducing the need to navigate outside of the CTMS.

Through customization and business process standardization, CTMS customers can make their systems work most powerfully for them. The more that targeted data is in one place, the more efficiently users can work, and the more compliant they can be with business processes. Centralizing information in a single location also allows study teams to answer questions and communicate more quickly. During an audit, there are fewer locations to look for data by having a single, centralized location.

The ability to export data out of the CTMS offers advantages for non-CTMS users as well. Customizing the data viewed allows users to tailor the format of the data exported and shared with non-CTMS user team members. This removes the need to spend additional time and money training study team members to become CTMS users when, from a business perspective, they do not need to be CTMS users. They can simply be given access to pertinent data by CTMS users based on what is needed for their defined role.

In conclusion, the new data import and custom views features of CTMS versions 1.3 and 1.4, respectively, offer significant advantages to CTMS users. The import functionality reduces data quality issues resulting from manual data entry, and custom views help to streamline clinical processes and keep users in the CTMS. These features also offer advantages for non-CTMS users through the customization and export of data, thereby reducing the need for additional training and increasing overall efficiency.