Hello to 2021

Well, 2021 has arrived and it is a year that is going to bring a lot of exciting changes in the world of EDGE. As you all know, we are in the process of building the next version of EDGE, (version 3!!!) and we aim to have this completed, tested and ready to release at the end of this year. We cannot be too specific with dates at the moment, however as soon as we are able to we will be let you know.

It’s important that we release the new version, both for an update to the user interface to keep pace with modern technology, but also to allow us to update the back end of the system, the part which none of you will see, but the part which is critical to integrating to other systems and becoming part of a bigger ecosystem.

We will certainly try and pack in as many new functions as possible before release, however we won’t delay the release to put in new features, it makes more sense to release a new version with all the core functions of EDGE 2, and then build upon those with the new technologies we have available. There’s no point in us keeping the shiny new version under wraps for longer than we need to, we want to get it out there for everyone to use!

New functions in a system are always good, but whilst we wait for EDGE 3 to be built, I often ask myself the question ‘what more can we do with what we already have?’. I think the answer is a lot, and so I want to spend a good part of the next few months looking at those opportunities like remote monitoring, e-TMF and e-ISF, expanded use of electronic delegation logs and more. There is a huge opportunity in these areas, and to be able to use something you’ve already got makes a lot of sense, so watch this space.

I’d like to take the opportunity to congratulate a colleague that we know well here in Southampton, Dr Matt Westmore, who is moving from his role as the Director of the Wessex Institute to become the Chief Executive of the HRA. We’ve worked with Matt closely over the years and know that he will be a huge success in his new role.

Lastly, I want to thank the whole team here at CIRU for their continued dedication to delivering EDGE globally and genuinely striving to make a difference in research. A well-deserved thanks to all of our EDGE users is also due, especially now EDGE has over 6 million patients recorded on the system and that doesn’t happen overnight or by accident. It’s been nearly 2 decades of hard work and I think that deserves some recognition.

To everyone reading this, and even those that aren’t, I hope you have a great start to 2021.

What the EDGE team are up to

It’s been 2 months in lockdown now and our entire department is working from home, so I thought I’d take some time to bring everyone up to speed on what the EDGE team are up to.

Firstly, it hasn’t quite been the start that we hoped for our new developer Grant, a Doctor by training, which is a unique skill set that I am sure will be very valuable. He officially started with us whilst in lockdown, so although we’ve virtually met him, many of us haven’t yet met him in person. Although in the world of remote working and geographically diverse companies, perhaps it isn’t unusual for colleagues to have never met in person?

Our team have daily meetings, and in fact these often becomes multiple daily meetings between sub-groups of us as we work on different projects. Our concentration is heavily EDGE 3 development, using this time to concentrate on designing new specifications for functionality, as well as enhancements for the current functions EDGE 2 already provides. Functions are great, however a system is not built simply on functions. Usability is a very important aspect of systems and a functionally rich application is of little use if nobody can work out how to use it, or find it so confusing or complex that they end up looking for workarounds.

Our team are doing a lot of engaging with many of you to find out how you use the system and gather as much feedback as possible, as well as using the skills and knowledge of our departmental Psychologist Kenny. He is, at this moment, integrating data analysis around how users navigate throughout the system, which functions are most used, and how users navigate to those functions. There are a multitude of different types of people who use EDGE, each with different job roles, so although the search for absolute perfection may end up being fruitless, there are certainly a lot of improvements we already have lined up.

There is currently no fixed release date for EDGE 3, although we are aiming for sometime late in 2021. As we approach that time we can start to be more specific, however until then we have a lot of problems to solve, challenges to overcome, cans of worms to open, ducks to line up and all other types of analogy. However I am confident that EDGE 3 will be the product that we all are hoping for, both in terms of functions available to users, integration possibilities to other systems, and also importantly, a technologically up-to-date framework that allows our developers to continue building new and exciting functions at speed, something which is more difficult currently in EDGE 2.

Now for the sad news. The event of the year for many people, the eminent social and educational soiree that is the yearly EDGE conference is diverging from its usually perennial perpetualness. Or in other words, we’re moving it. Whilst we are in the throws of designing and building EDGE 3, it is perhaps better that we continue to concentrate on this, and when ready, create a conference specifically around the launch of the new version. Our marcoms team, Beth, Gela and Kenny will as always keep you all informed well before the event so that you can book your tickets before they sell out.

Be sure to visit the CIRU website for more information on other work taking place in our department, to keep up to date with what we are up to, or even to browse out staff pictures and put faces to the names of people you often speak with.