Reminders bring participants back to a questionnaire they have not completed. Occurrences let the same form be answered several times by the same participant, either on demand or on a schedule.
Both are configured per form, from the ePRO form settings.
🔑 Prerequisite: ePRO Builder permission on the study.
Which one do you need?
You want to | Use |
Collect the same form at regular intervals, for example a weekly symptom diary | Occurrences. Set how many times the form can be completed, then schedule them so that each new one is generated and sent automatically after the first. |
Increase your response rate | Reminders. Up to five per form, by email, by SMS, or both, depending on the contact details you collected from the participant. |
💡 Tip: SMS carries a small additional cost. Contact your local administrator or your sales contact if you need details.
Set up reminders
You can configure up to five automatic reminders per ePRO form, sent by email or by SMS. Each form has its own reminder settings.
🛠️ Step by step guide
Navigate to ePRO Forms
On the form you want, open the options menu (3 dots) and select Settings
Go to the Reminder tab
Activate Email ePRO reminder or Activate SMS reminder
Compose the standard message for your reminder
For each reminder you want to add: scroll down and select + New Reminder, choose a sending option (on specific UTC date or Time after sending), then configure the date or the time period
Save
Allow a form to be completed several times
By default, an ePRO form generates one occurrence per participant. If your protocol requires the same form to be completed several times by a single subject, raise the maximum number of occurrences.
🔍 Example: if your protocol allows up to 5 completions, set the maximum to 5. This sets a ceiling. You can still generate fewer records for a given participant.
🛠️ Step by step guide
Navigate to ePRO Forms
On the form you want, open the options menu (3 dots) and select Settings
Go to the Occurrences tab
Select Set occurrences
Declare the maximum number of occurrences allowed
Save
Send occurrences automatically on a schedule
To send a form at regular intervals without doing it by hand, enable Schedule ePRO occurrences. Once the first occurrence has been sent, the following ones are generated and sent automatically.
Every planned occurrence appears immediately in the records list with the status Scheduled, and a progress indicator shows how far the participant has got, for example 3 / 10.
⚠️ Warning: scheduled occurrences work by email only. They are not sent by SMS.
A workaround consist in setting up SMS reminders so the participants can receive their questionnaire by SMS.
Before you change occurrence settings
Three behaviours to know. They are the most common source of confusion on this feature.
Changing the settings only affects new sequences. Participants whose sequence has already started keep the settings that applied when it was created. Adjusting the maximum, the interval or the schedule will not alter a sequence already running.
To restart a sequence for a participant who already has one, archive the remaining occurrences first.
Ending a form archives its remaining occurrences automatically. Only that form is affected. Other forms assigned to the same participant carry on as scheduled.
💡 Tip: before changing an interval mid-study, filter the records list on the status Scheduled. Anything already scheduled will follow the old settings.