New Year Update from Marcomms

New Year

Update from Marcomms

Its January 24th as I write this, 3 months until the EDGE 3 Conference which just seems crazy as I remember this time last year planning had begun, and we were all thinking “ohhh well there’s loads of time!” But, as we all know time flies! I suppose it would make sense before I go on further to do a quick introduction. I am Beth Mathis and I have worked at the Clinical Informatics Research Unit since 2015, first joining as a Knowledge Support Analyst where I worked closely with the Knowledge Officers, covering support and EDGE implementations. I picked up on some extra responsibility in EDGE communications which began with sending emails out to our users to let them know of releases, downtime and so on. This naturally led to me taking on a new role as EDGE Knowledge Marketing Specialist where I was responsible of a variety of different things such as branding for EDGE, promoting of EDGE, increasing our user communication channels through a Marketing Plan and of course organizing the EDGE Conference! Just last year I became CIRU Marketing Manager as I now have a more varied role and responsibility, not just focuses on EDGE but our entire unit.

Fergus Walsh, BBC Medical Editor

Anyway, that’s enough of that. Back to the conference. The 2024 event EVOLVE is our first event back since the pandemic and it follows the global rollout of EDGE version 3. Being over 97% fully booked, it is by far the most in-demand conference we have put on and we are delighted about that. We have chosen to return to the Vox Conference Centre in Birmingham this April 24-25th due to its flexible and modern space, and of course its location which seems to work well for our UK userbase and overseas attendees. We are extremely excited to announce that Fergus Walsh, BBC Medical Editor, will be returning for his third EDGE Conference as host. We have also been successful in obtaining CPD (Continue Professional Development) for the EVOLVE conference so delegates can expect to be awarded CPD points for their attendance. If you haven’t booked your spot or want to know more, just click here.

The conference is of course a really big and important Community based activity, but we do understand that not all of our users are able to attend due to various reasons such as budget restrictions and time away from work. We totally get that, so this year we are working on increasing what we offer our users in terms of more support material and collaboration/networking opportunities. One of the first new additions to our community offerings is an in-depth EDGE Finance training video by the one and only Stevie Barre (CIRU Programme Manager and ex-end User). Finance is certainly a hot topic at this year’s conference, and it seems to be what our users want to learn about, so it only made sense we would start with this area for our first EDGE 3 training video. We are also working on an online community forum which will be accessible to all Users to encourage the sharing of EDGE best practice and provide an environment to ‘work together’ online. More information on these new additions will be in our monthly Admin Newsletter Knowedge. If you wish to be added in to receive this communication, just drop us an email. Oh and do also use this email, if you want to get involved in featuring your organisations work with EDGE within a futures newsletter which is sent to our global userbase, we would love to hear from you. Well, I am sure I will be back here soon with another EDGE update! Thanks for reading.

End of Year Round-Up for EDGE

End of Year

Round-Up for EDGE

As we are well into December and approach the end of 2023 there is a huge amount to reflect upon after a year that saw the biggest leap forward in EDGE in its 23-year history. The launch of EDGE version 3 was a huge personal milestone for our team, and seeing the culmination of our collective investments go live was a real triumph.

Since the UK launch in May, our dedicated Knowledge Team has been hard at work building on the success with a continuous series of releases to optimise performance and bring further enhancements, ensuring that you have the tools you need to stay ahead in an ever-evolving research landscape.

The entire CIRU team extends their thanks to all of you in fostering and growing our community which has been a driving force behind our accomplishments. All of you who reviewed, tested, tweaked, documented, trained, and contributed to launching EDGE 3 played a big part in our year.

As we reflect, we are excited about the opportunities that lie ahead. In 2024, we will continue to innovate and adapt to meet the evolving needs of our community. Some new API functions are already in testing and our Marcomms Team will be announcing an exciting tool in the new year to help us all collaborate. We also are really looking forward to the return of the EDGE Conference next year which will highlight many EDGE 3 user success stories and is on track to be our biggest event so far.

So, from everyone here at EDGE and from all of us at CIRU, we extend our warmest wishes to you and your team for the festive season, and we hope everyone gets time for a well-deserved break and we look forward to supporting your success in the coming year and beyond.

EDGE is certified in Cyber Essentials

EDGE

is certified in Cyber Essentials

The CIRU are pleased to announce we have been successful in attaining our Cyber Essentials Certification.

The Cyber Essentials Certification programme was launched by the UK government in 2014 as part of its National Cyber Security Strategy. The primary goal of Cyber Essentials is to improve the cybersecurity posture of small to medium sized enterprises (SME’s) to establish a baseline of cybersecurity hygiene. Cyber Essentials is a certification that is a requirement for organisations bidding on government contracts in the UK, especially those involving the handling of sensitive information.

Our certification demonstrates the CIRU’s commitment and responsibility in managing the security controls of how EDGE is designed, developed, delivered, and maintained. In implementing these security controls, we reduce the risk of vulnerability through common cyber threats and protect organisations’ data from being breached.

Cyber Essentials aligns with the CIRU process of continual improvement, as cyber-threats evolve Cyber Essentials enables us to continually assess and improve our cyber security posture. CIRU continually review the five control areas of Secure Configuration, Boundary Firewalls and Internet Gateways, Access Control and Administrative Privileges, Patch Management, and Malware Protection.

For more information on Cyber Essentials, click here.

EDGE 3 launched in Canada!

EDGE 3

launched in Canada!

We are very excited to share that EDGE 3 has been launched in Canada to Users at the Canadian Cancer Clinical Trials Network (3CTN), Alberta Innovates, and University of Saskatchewan. This follows successful rollouts which have taken place this year to South Africa, New Zealand, and the UK. We recently caught up with 3CTN’s Super User and Portfolio and Informatics Manager, Rebecca Xu, to see how things have gone for them since the launch of EDGE 3. We are delighted to share that Rebecca felt that the transition from EDGE version 2 to EDGE version 3 was overall a smooth process. She also noted that her Users adapted quickly to the change. Regarding 3CTN, Rebecca provided the following comments:

“The launch of EDGE 3 went smoothly. Leading up to the launch, our team communicated about the change, providing everyone with a heads-up and ensuring preparedness by updating our version 3 training documents. Lead Admin Users were given a preview of the changes. On launch day, September 20th, 2023, everyone transitioned to the new EDGE 3 successfully.”

During our interview, we also asked about any hurdles the sites had to overcome. The response was again very positive. Rebecca and her team confirmed that overall, it went well, but there were some minor issues that were sent to our development team to fix. However, these were addressed promptly by our team here and Rebecca informed us how both Nicky Morris, EDGE Product Manager, and Jen Peach, EDGE Knowledge Team Manager, were extremely accessible and responded very quickly to their queries.

“Some EDGE Users felt overwhelmed by the anticipated changes. To ease Users into the transition, 3CTN modified the V2 training manual to reflect the new changes with User Acceptance Test (UAT) platform screenshots, clearly indicating the key changes. The updated training manual was divided into 18 training modules for Users to engage in, either through self-learning or in virtual seminars hosted by the 3CTN team. These sessions focused on addressing key changes in navigation, reporting, and finance. Ten online training sessions were provided to approximately 90 Admin Users across 60 different Cancer Centres prior to the launch and continue post-launch. In addition, familiarization videos developed by the UK EDGE team were made available to all Users. As the time between version 3’s announcement and its launch were not long, we appreciate our Admin Users dedicating time to review upcoming changes over the summer and provide feedback.”

This naturally followed the question ‘How have your Users handled the change?’:

“Since the interface and layout of EDGE 3 are different from previous versions, Users took the time to familiarize themselves with the new layout. Most of our Users felt ready to try out the new features, and many are eager to explore the finance features further.”

To help other countries who are yet to receive EDGE 3, Rebecca also offered some valuable advice for other EDGE Regional Leads yet to experience the EDGE 3 rollout:

“I would suggest reviewing your existing EDGE V2 training materials and determining if you can follow along using the EDGE 3 User Acceptance Testing platform, then updating them with EDGE V3 screenshots. I would also suggest practicing all the tasks you normally do in EDGE, as this is the quickest way to notice changes right away and update training materials for Users.”

EDGEY's Trip to South Africa

EDGEY’s Trip

to South Africa

EDGEY and CIRU Head of Trading Services, Tim Gibbons landed in Cape Town, South Africa in early September to visit the University of Cape Town (UCT) Clinical Research Centre and his long-standing friend, Annemie Stewart.

University of Cape Town were the first group to convert from EDGE 2 to EDGE 3 in February this year. Since February Annemie has been working with her Data Manager, Lwazi Mhlanti to transition some of the spreadsheet trial trackers from Excel to EDGE. They’re now planning to get stuck in with using some of the Finance recording, apportioning and invoices tools over the coming months. As of September, UCT have 43 trials and trial sites across the African continent under one single system, (EDGE), for the first time.

While EDGEY was in town he met a newcomer to EDGE, Linda Mbuthini, Clinical Trials Data Manager for the University of Cape Town’s Lung Institute. The Lung Institute are working to develop their use of EDGE providing support to an established data capture team and interacting with field Nurses and Senior Researchers across the continent. They’ll be using the newly developed EDGE processes for their Tuberculosis study opening in South Africa, Zanzibar, and Zimbabwe this winter.

We are looking forward to welcoming the University of Cape town team to our EDGE conference in March 2024.

CIRU’s Tim Gibbons with UCT EDGE users

Taking Research to New Heights

Taking Research to New Heights

Learn, Share and Aspire.

If I were being really honest, I never expected to be working in the healthcare sector and even more so for the CIRU team. I had initially anticipated working for around 18 months as a Consultant Project Manager for Greater Glasgow and Clyde working with the infrastructure team to aid in the deployment of new hardware and software way back in the ‘Windows 7’ days. I met so many fantastic people, cleaners, porters, nurses, and consultants all with one aim: improving the lives and care of patients. Working for the finance sector across London and Europe, I was accustomed to having all the resources and funding I needed. This was not to be said for the NHS and I felt guilty. I decided then and there I was going to change careers, join the NHS, and make change. Maybe it was fate, but two weeks before I was due to leave, I was asked to apply for a role within the Clinical Trials Unit and so my journey with EDGE and the NHS began.

There I was, zero experience of trials, in fact on my first day I heard the nurses discussing blind trials. Let’s just say I thought they were discussing ophthalmology and that remained a joke for some time. I was tasked with migrating all the patient and trials management information for the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre from the in-house system to EDGE 2, and that’s when clinical trials and all the complexities began to make sense to me. Within 12 months I felt I had never known anything else, and soon thereafter I transferred to the Glasgow CRF to carry out another EDGE implementation and data migration.

The EDGE Aspire Conference 2018 provided the catalyst that propelled my EDGE journey. I listened with enthusiasm to the breakout session by Tracey Hole "Finance- Getting the basics right" and thought we should be doing this. Here I was, back in the office with an old-style costing spreadsheet staring at the ceiling thinking of how to get this square peg into a round hole. I remained undeterred and so the ‘Import Tool‘ was born. That year was amazing, the late nights and long weekends developing, culminated in speaking at the EDGE Connected Conference 2019 and by then I had connected with so many from the EDGE community who saw merit in the work I had completed.

I had not long started working with NHS Lothian when COVID-19 came along, a dreadful time for so many but the research community rallied together to achieve great things. This is when my journey with Mat Davis from UH Dorset NHS Trust began, and having already began work on the new format, I joined forces with Mat. Albeit we were 446 miles apart, it quickly became apparent we had similar life backgrounds and ambitions to help the NHS. In that first 6 months I think we spent more time together than we did with our families and we are both very proud of all we achieved since: the new ICT Tool, the EDGE Assistant, Tracker, and Apportionment Module. He is now someone I consider as a great friend and it’s just a pity we are so far apart, but we do keep each other going. I should also mention a huge thanks to the finance team at Lothian, especially Hugh and Neil and for Monica who works alongside Mat who have been instrumental in the design and features of the tools.

And now to the Clinical Informatics Unit and EDGE. COVID-19 brought a whole new way of remote working and when the opportunity to work with a team I had long admired it was never in doubt. To be honest I have always been part of the team in spirit. I was literally thrown in at the deep end with the launch of EDGE 3 days after joining. It’s been challenging and eventful and there is never a dull moment. My aim here as the Programme Manager is assist the current EDGE user base and attract new Trusts and Networks with a focus on managing their finance. A new area of interest is that of Cybersecurity and maintaining the integrity of the data and improving the process and procedures within the department.

My new role does differ from that of a Lead Admin, but at its core my role still remains the same: to improve patient care and be part of a team where that ethos is already embedded in everything that they do.