SPARCRequest Wiki
SPARCRequest Version 3.2.0 & SPARCFulfillment Version 2.7.5
MUSC Release Date: April 2, 2018 OS Release Date: April 17, 2018 Finished
SPARCRequest Version 3.2.0 New Features
1. (SPARC Scripts) Update All Protocols That Have Been Pushed to Epic
In this production, a script (update_protocol_info_pushed_to_epic.rake) was developed to update the protocol information from SPARCRequest to Epic, through the interface, for protocols that have been previously pushed to Epic.
2. (SPARC Gem) Paperclip Version Update
The version of Paperclip gem has been updated to 5.2.1 to prevent potential security vulnerability.
3. (GitHub) Update Deployment Instructions Document
Deployment instructions have been updated on GitHub, and the corresponding Wiki page can be found here (Capistrano Deployment Instructions Page).
4. (SPARC Codes) Upgrade to Ruby on Rails 5.1.5
In our latest production, the framework has been updated to Ruby on Rails 5.1.5, for maintenance and better performance.
5. (SPARC Codes) Copyright Year Update
The copyright year for the code base has been updated to "Copyright © 2011-2018 MUSC Foundation for Research Development".
6. (SPARC Gem) Use Yarn to Manage our Front-end Assets
In this production, Yarn has been added to manage our front-end asset dependency (i.e. Bootstrap, jQuery).
7. (Configurations Generalization) Extract epic.yml and ldap.yml to Database
As a final step to generalize the application configurations, the previous contents in epic.yml and ldap.yml files have been extracted into the settings table in the SPARCRequest database.
8. (SPARCRequest) PiWik Key Update for Metric Consistency
To avoid accidental collection of other institution's website metric data for sparc instances, a new instance of PiWik has been set up and used at MUSC with a different key/token.
9. (SPARCRequest) Habitat Build (Iowa Contribution)
Habitat is a tool for building and deploying cloud-based applications. The University of Iowa SPARC team has taken the initiative to create a habitat package based off the previous SPARC release (v3.1.0) and include the build into the SPARC code branch. Collaboratively, Iowa, MUSC, and Utah will continue to explore a sustainable way to include the installable file for the cloud with each SPARC release.
10. (SPARCRequest) SPARCInfo Added on the Navigation Bar
There is now a SPARCInfo button on the navigation bar which directs to the SPARC Confluence wiki homepage, for all the documentation related to SPARC project.
11. (SPARCRequest) Service Request Unable to Add New Service Bug Fix
A previous bug occurred when a user was trying to add a new service to an existing protocol that had a line item with bad audit entry. This bug has since been fixed.
12. (SPARCRequest) Step 6: Table Display Adjustment
The sequence of table contents displayed on Step 6 (Review Your Request) are now adjusted to be in the same sequence of SPARCRequest system steps.
In addition, a Forms table is now present for users to review the form when form functionality has been activated for the selected service(s). Since Step 6 is the review page, only "View" option is provided for the answers filled in the form(s).
13. (SPARCRequest) Step 6: Line Item Notes Bug Fixed
There was a previous bug on Step 6 (Review Your Request) that allowed users to still add line-item-level notes on the clinical and non-clinical services. The "Add a Note" button has since been removed to make the notes view-only.
14. (SPARCDashboard) Super User and Service Provider Access Bug Fix
Previously, there was a bug causing the logged in user only seeing the list of protocols that he/she has access to as a super user, if that user has both a service provider and super user roles. The bug is fixed in this release.
15. (SPARCDashboard) User Access to Archive Button Adjusted
In this release, user access to the "Archive Study/Project" button on the SPARCDashboard protocol page has been adjusted. Please see the SPARC User Right document for more details about other user rights.
Study Team User/ Super User/ Overlords | Service Providers |
|---|---|
| |
16. (SPARCDashboard) New Type Column on Epic Queue Page
A new "Type" column has been added to the "Past" Tab of the Epic Queue page. Epic record pushes can now be identified in the system ("Overlord Push", "Authorized User Update", "Admin Push", "Submission Push") by the specific type of push.
17. (SPARCDashboard) Protocol Page Hide Calendar Structure If No Clinical Services
On the SPARCDashboard protocol page, the Calendar Structure Table previously displayed if a protocol had clinical services selected or not. This has since been improved, and now only displays when clinical services are chosen.
With No Clinical Services | With Clinical Services |
|---|---|
| |
18. (SPARCDashboard) Export Consolidated Request Report Revamp For Industry Funded Trials
The Consolidated Request Report has been revised to assist in building a more complete trial budget for industry funded studies. See sample report here (SPARCDashboard Consolidated Request Excel Report). This report will continue to be improved in the upcoming releases to better assist building template(s) for federal funded studies.
19. (SPARCDashboard) Coverage Analysis Report Cost Column Removal
The cost-related columns (i.e., "Your Cost", "Total Per Patient", "Total Per Study" columns) have been removed from the Coverage Analysis Report generated from SPARCDashboard Protocol page, to fit the needs of coverage analysis process. An example of the new format can be found here.
Coverage Analysis Report | Removed Cost Columns |
|---|---|
| |
20. (SPARCDashboard) Admin Edit Section Export to Excel Report Current Cost Removal
The duplicative "Current Cost" column has been removed from the report generated by clicking the "Export to Excel" button on the "Request Details" tab in SPARCDashboard Admin Edit section. The report now displays consistent cost columns as SPARCDashboard. Also, a previous problem with the alignment of "Total Cost" row has been fixed.
21. (SPARCDashboard) Allow Admin Users to Switch Among Finished Statuses
Admin users (service providers and super users) now have the ability to switch between finished statuses (i.e., Complete→Invoiced, or Withdrawn→Invoiced) on SPARCDashboard based on their specific workflow. Only finished statuses selected for the organization in SPARCCatalog will show up on the drop-down status list. Please see more details about definitions and functionalities about statuses on our Status Definitions Page.
22. (SPARCDashboard) Required Field(s) Validation Added in Admin Edit Section for Non-clinical Services
In the SPARCDashboard Admin Edit section, admin users are no longer able to add/edit Non-clinical services with a blank "Quantity Requested" field. This validation was added for consistency. In addition, the “required” fields (i.e. Service and Quantity Requested) are now indicated with an asterisk sign (shown below).
23. (SPARCDashboard) Admin Edit Non-clinical Service Rate Display and Editable Admin Rate
Inside the SPARCDashboard Admin Edit Non-Clinical Services tab, the "Service Rate" column has been added for non-clinical services. Secondly, admin users can now easily edit the admin rate from the "Your Cost" column. This change was made to stay consistent with the functionalities between Clinical and Non-clinical services.
24. (SPARCDashboard) Broken layout (Iowa Contribution)
The SPARCDashboard layout in the previous release (v3.1.0) was still referencing the removed piwik_tracking partial, but has since been corrected.
25. (SPARCRequest & SPARCDashboard) Optional Information Label Change
The "Optional Information" label on both SPARCRequest Step 2 Page (Services and Protocol Information) and SPARCDashboard "Study Details" view, has been replaced with "Financial Information" for a more accurate definition.
26. (SPARCRequest & SPARCDashboard) Milestone Section Fields Added for Protocols
New fields have been added in SPARCRequest Step 3 (Milestones and Calendar Structure) and SPARCDashboard to collect the following metrics related to budget negotiation process: initial budget sponsor received date, initial amount per patient, initial site level amount offered, etc. These fields only show for Industry-funded studies as non-required. The dollar amount fields are logic-driven and only displays when the corresponding date field is filled out.
27. (SPARCRequest & SPARCDashboard) Document Types Limitation Added for Upload
To mitigate potential security risks, the document types that are allowed for uploading onto SPARCRequest Step 5 (Documents, Notes & Forms) and SPARCDashboard Documents Table have been limited to the following permitted file types: pdf, doc, docx, rtf, txt, xls, xlsx, csv, ppt, pptx, msg, eml (for emails), jpeg, gif, png, tiff (and other graph formats).
Exe File | ICS File |
|---|---|
| |
28. (SPARCDashboard) RMID Automatic Removal When a Study is Converted to a Project
When a study is converted to a project on SPARCDashboard, if there was a RMID associated with the study, the RMID along with the RMID validation flag will be removed automatically. This validation change was made because projects do not have a RMID field and should not keep a RMID number, or validation flag.
29. (SPARCCatalog & SPARCDashboard) Configurable Funding Module: SPARCFunding (LA CaTS Contribution)
To suit the growing needs for pilot funding application tracking and admin processing workflow, LA CaTS created a new funding module - SPARCFunding. Please refer to the SPARCFunding Technical Guide (v.3.14.0) for detailed description. This module and its related contents are configurable and can be turned on/off using settings in SPARC.
30. (SPARCCatalog) Form Builder and Survey Builder Merge
The form builder with SPARCCatalog Form Functionality was designed for service providers and catalog managers to build forms to collect additional information, and can be associated with services and organizations. The survey builder (previously available on SPARCDashboard for site admin users) also have the same functions to design survey forms, with more features such as logic-drive questions, and sub-sections.
In this release, the two pieces have been merged together for combining merits and ease future maintenance. The merged survey/form builder can be accessed in SPARCCatalog via "My Forms and Surveys" button.
The survey builder (shown in System Surveys section below) is available to site admin users; The form builder (shown in My Forms section below) is available to site admins, catalog managers, super users, and service providers.
For the survey builder section, all existing functionalities are preserved;
For the form builder section, the association to a service or organization can be done using the search box when creating/editing a form, and new features such as logic-driven questions, section labels, and various question types have been added.
Detailed description for this new feature will be added into the Form Functionality documentation page.
31. (SPARCCatalog) Related Services Search Only Return Active Services
When using the search box in the SPARCCatalog "Related Services" tab on a service form, only active services are now being returned. Inactive services are hidden from the search results to avoid confusion and conflicting data.
32. (SPARCCatalog) Duplicated User Bug Fix
A previous bug allowed the same user to be added more than once (in Supers User, Catalog Managers, and Service Providers sub-sections) in SPARCCatalog. This bug has since been fixed.
33. (SPARCCatalog) System Status Bug Fix
A previous bug caused the system statuses (Draft, Get Cost Estimate, Submitted) seems to be selected and greyed out when they are not actually tagged in the backend or upon refreshing the SPARCCatalog page. This bug has since been fixed.
34. (SPARCReport) Protocols Report: Include Epic Option and Report Columns
The Protocols report in SPARCReport module now has the option to include Epic-related information.
If the user selects the "Include Epic Interface Columns" checkbox (shown above), the generate protocols report, the now includes the following columns: "Selected For Epic", "Last Epic Push Date", as well as the "Last Epic Push Status." This new feature is tied with the Epic configuration and can be easily turned on/off.
35. (SPARCForms) Module Framework for Admin to Access Survey and Form Responses
Previously, responses to surveys could only be viewed from the canned Survey Report on SPARCReport module, and responses to forms were only accessible via links from SPARCCatalog on each existing form. A better and more centralized way was needed for easier access with more interactive functionalities.
The new SPARCForm module has the following functions:
1). Using the same framework of SPARC modules, users are now able to filter by the type of form, or sort by the SRID, Short Title, Primary PI, Survey/Form Title, Completion and Date.
2). Survey Responses can be viewed/edited by site admins; Form responses can be viewed/edited by super users and service providers, if there are forms associated to their organizations (or services).
3). Ability to search by keyword(s) from search bar, and preview and/or edit responses to an individual form (see below).
36. (Survey User Display) Default Text Box Height Increase
When a user fills out a survey, a feedback link is sent to the designated personnel. The default length of the text box has been increased, so that two or more lines of text will show up.
Copyright © 2011-2026 MUSC Foundation for Research Development