Last Meeting’s Minutes

Institutional Updates:

Louisiana Clinical & Translational Science Center: 

11/5/2025

• Created a new branch for application warning fix (tagged for 3.14 release).

  • Needs to add a story in Jira; Brigette provided guidance and dashboard link.

• Will be absent from the next meeting.

11/19/2025

• Not in attendance

MUSC:

Links are accessible by Open-Source Members

11/19/2025

• Jira SPARCOS Dev Project dashboard link shared for release tracking and ease in locating and reporting work items.

• SPARC v3.14.0 Release Notes - reviewed release items

  • Major Features:

    • Bulk Status Updates:

      • Designed for service providers managing multiple service requests.

      • Permission-based at service provider level; super users have full access.

      • Initial phase supports organizations using default statuses only.

      • Allows selecting multiple service requests and applying one status change.

    • Administrative-Only Services:

      • Internal use services, active in SPARC but hidden from general users.

      • Applies to non-clinical, no-cost services.

      • Controlled via use_admin_services setting (default = false).

      • Service providers can add via SPARC cart or admin edit.

      • Suppresses emails when admin-only service is the sole request.

      • Visible in reports and fulfillment tracking with “Admin Service” tag.

  • Other Updates:

    • Search filters updated: “Pro Number” → “IRB Number”; added NCT number search.

    • MUSC-specific text changes and department name updates.

    • Protocol reports: Added ability to include additional authorized user roles, additional funding sources & external organizations.

    • GitHub migration (Travis sunset), depreciation warnings resolved.

    • Bug fix: Service request ordering corrected; delay job monitoring enhanced.

  • Highlighted feature - demo walk through of the Admin Service

Open

• SPARC and Fulfillment Release Schedule:

  • SPARC v3.14.0 Release - Jira info; Release Notes (draft) - targeting release for next week, but short holiday week may delay to 1st week in Dec 2025

  • SPARCFulfillment v.3.7.0 Release - Ruby/Rails upgrade; likely Jan 2026

  • RMID v1.9.0 Release - Late Winter 2026

  • SPARCFulfillment v.3.8.0 Release to include timekeeping functionality (currently exploring requirements) - Late Spring 2026

• Reporting Tools Discussion

  • Solicited members' experience in using Power BI as MUSC moves from Tableau to Power BI

    • Morehouse uses Power BI, as it comes with Microsoft suite, considered cost and licensing

      • Limitations: Refresh frequency constraints similar to Tableau.

    • Tableau still in use at Case since institutional licensing reduced cost.

      • Power BI may be considered more user-friendly and intuitive with familiarity as a Microsoft product

Oregon Health & Science University:

11/5/2025

• Still on SPARC version 3.12.1; upgrade delayed due to other priorities. Reviewed release notes but unsure if upgrade will happen by year-end.

11/19/2025

• Hours reduced so may not be a frequent participant on OS calls; upgrade to v3.13 remains on roadmap but delayed.

Iowa

11/5/2025

• Not in attendance

11/19/2025

• Not in attendance

Case Western

11/5/2025

• Working on upgrade to SPARC version 3.12.1.

  • Incorporating customizations and aligning with new core features (e.g., impact areas on project info page).

  • Aiming for production deployment by end of November.

  • Open to contributing customizations back to SPARC group if beneficial.

• 11/19/2025

  • Will review admin services changes at tomorrow’s internal meetings.

  • Near completion of upgrade to v3.12.1; migrating customizations to core features (able to eliminate customizations of Other Details section).

  • Current SPARC version stable.

Children’s National

11/5/2025

• Not in attendance

11/19/2025

• Not in attendance

Stony Brook:

11/5/2025

• Not in attendance

11/19/2025

• Not in attendance

Morehouse:

11/5/2025

• Building production environment; aiming for quick implementation to retain training momentum.

• RE single sign-on for fulfillment email reply from Prathik - will follow up with Sam and respond to Pratik’s email about a resolution.

11/19/2025

• Final checks before going live.

• Working on pricing configuration for industry vs non-industry categories. Will follow up for catalog setup guidance.