Your Subject Database is yours to design: the sections, the questions, what a subject answers when they register, and what your staff see at a glance. This article takes you through building it, testing it, and giving your users access to the right centers.
Open the Database Form Builder
🛠️ Step by step guide
Log in with an account that has the permissions to build the database.
Open the Subject Database module.
Select Settings.
Click Database Form Builder.
Start creating your structure.
Build your sections and subsections
The structure you build here is the structure of every subject's full profile, so it is how your data ends up organized by category.
🛠️ Step by step guide
Click Add New Section and name it.
Inside the new section, click Add Subsection and name it.
Add as many sections and subsections as you need.
Click Save.
💡 Tip: two things that save real time.
Write your ideal structure and question list in a document before you touch the builder.
Build one form, then test it, before building the rest. Building the whole database first and discovering a problem at the end is the expensive way round.
Add questions
Questions live inside subsections. They appear in the subject's profile, and they become filters you can use on your contact list.
🛠️ Step by step guide
Find and open the subsection you want to add to.
Click Add Question.
Select a question type.
Complete the fields: Title, Description (optional), Image (optional), Variable (a short, unique identifier), and the question options for that type.
Set the visibility: Show in Survey means the subject must answer it at their first login; Show in Quick View means your staff see it in the right-hand panel without opening the full profile.
Save.
Question types
Type | What it accepts |
Text | Free text, up to 2000 characters. |
Radio Buttons | Up to 50 options, each with a label and a value. One answer. |
Checkbox | One or several options. |
Date/Time | A date, a time, or both. |
Number | Integers and decimals. |
Rating | A scale from 0 to 10. |
File Upload | Up to 5 files. |
Dropdown | A list, one answer selected. |
Slider | A value between a minimum and a maximum you set. |
Calcul | Calculates from other answers, displays other answers, or displays system variables. |
Static content
These three display something rather than collecting an answer: Instruction for text instructions, Header for a title, and Image for an image the reader can zoom into.
Add visibility conditions
Visibility conditions hide what is not relevant, based on answers already given. If the answer to a question is Female, for example, you can show the questions that only apply then.
You can apply a condition at three levels:
A question
A subsection, in other words a form
A whole section
Test it as a center user
See the result the way your own staff will, logged in to the platform with access to subject details.
🛠️ Step by step guide
Navigate to the Subject Database.
Select + Add Subject and complete the subject's information.
In the table, click the row for that subject. A panel opens on the right.
Check what is visible under Quick View.
Use Full Profile View to go further.
Complete the subject's details, checking the forms, the questions and the visibility conditions as you go.
💡 Tip: keep two browser tabs open, one on the Database Form Builder and one on a test subject. Change something in the builder, reload the other tab, and you see the effect immediately. The same trick works for the online view in the next section, with a test subject's own account in the second tab.
Test it as a subject
Now see it from the subject's side, by going through the first registration survey yourself.
🛠️ Step by step guide
Navigate to the Subject Database.
Select Settings, then Public Registration.
Copy the center URL.
Open an incognito window, so you are not signed in as yourself.
Create and validate a subject account.
Open the registration survey and check everything displays as you expect.
Give users access to your centers' subjects
Two separate things control who can see subject information. First, the role: review and customize your roles and permissions so they match your organization's rules. See Roles and Permissions Management. Second, the centers each user is attached to, which is what the procedure below sets.
🔑 Prerequisite: at least one center already configured on the platform.
The Subject Database is built to hold several centers in one platform, so this has to be done for each user.
🛠️ Step by step guide
Open Platform Settings.
Open the Users page.
Search for the user.
Edit the user's platform center access, using the icon shown below.
Select the centers whose subject information the user may see.
💡 Tip: three things worth knowing about this setting.
It affects the CTMS Subject Database and Recruitment modules.
The option only appears if the Subject Database module is activated on your platform.
It does not govern EDC studies. Center access there is set per study, which gives you finer control.