Yale Study Support Suite (YES3): Dashboard and Web Portal Software Supporting Research Workflow through integrated, customizable REDCap External Modules
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The Yale Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center (OAIC) has been continuously funded since 1992 to support the investigation of multifactorial geriatric conditions. The Operations Core (OC), one of two OAIC resource cores, uses Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) to provide informatics services and to conduct innovative development projects. REDCap is a data management tool developed by Vanderbilt through the NIH/NCATS Clinical and Translational Science Award. In 2011, the OC introduced REDCap to Yale because of its open architecture and ubiquitous use. REDCap is used by over 1.7 million worldwide users and allows software designers to install custom-developed software extensions, known as External Modules (EMs), for research projects. The OC has been using REDCap for over a decade and has developed several popular, high-utility EMs known collectively as the Yale Study Support Suite (YES3). Because YES3 has been (1) vetted on high-profile NIH-funded research studies such as D-Care, STRIDE and SILVER-AMI, (2) showcased in national venues, and (3) shown to streamline work, requests for these custom EMs are predictable, frequent, and recurring. However, our software developers are directed by individual investigators following grant specifications that operate under strict timelines. Although YES3 improves with each iteration, the EMs are study-specific and not primed for open access and general dissemination. This squanders scarce commodities: specialized programming skills and development time. There is a better alternative. We propose to repackage the highest-utility YES3 EM's by incorporating open-source standards to make them suitable for dissemination, and to refactor and refine the code for maintainability and generalization across study designs. This will allow the code to be accessible to software developers and the YES3 EMs to be used by any researcher (regardless of access to a software developer), which will ensure the continued evolution of the software. YES3 includes a Web Portal and Dashboard EMs that are useful for all types of clinical research operations. The purpose of the Web Portal EM is to provide researchers with an intranet platform to release customized group communications, study documents, announcements, and real-time performance reports. The purpose of the Dashboard EM is to provide a feature-rich control panel used to view, filter, and manage participant status; communicate with study staff, track visit windows, manage workflow and monitor outcomes. Our aim is to ensure the future of the re-useable, interoperable, and configurable YES3 Web Portal and Dashboard EMs that were critical to the launch and successful implementation of our most prominent NIH- funded clinical research studies. Once we have incorporated the necessary refinements and software engineering best practices for open source, YES3 will be disseminated to the 14 other Pepper Centers and NIA Research Centers Collaborative Network (RCCN) and shared with the REDCap consortium through the global EM Repository maintained at Vanderbilt University.
