Status updates

Update December 2010

Workflows task force established

At its meeting in Keystone, the Steering Group reaffirmed its previous decision that use of the workflow system in Archie should be made mandatory for all Cochrane Review Groups (CRGs), but acknowledged that there was some uncertainty about precisely how and when this should happen. The Cochrane Editorial Unit (CEU) agreed to work with the Information Management System (IMS) team and other relevant groups to resolve this uncertainty and take this initiative forward.

The CEU has now convened a ‘workflows task force’ consisting of David Tovey (Editor in Chief), two CEU Editors (Toby Lasserson and John Hilton), Becky Gray (IMS Support), and Monica Kjeldstrøm (Director of the IMS). This task force will work closely with the Archie Development Advisory Committee (ADAC) and will seek additional input as needed from CRG staff (primarily through the various CRG Execs) to accomplish its objectives, which are to:

• Evaluate feedback received through the survey of pilot MEs, the Keystone Colloquium, and the Archie wish list and decide on future technical developments;
• Agree on changes to the workflow templates in line with ‘best practice’ for Cochrane editorial processes;
• Establish the data needs of central entities with permission to access and use data from the workflow system (e.g., the Monitoring and Registration Committee [MaRC]) and ensure the transparency of such central data use;
• Agree on mandatory versus optional components of the workflow system; and
• Develop a Collaboration-wide rollout strategy and training plan. 

Becky Gray will lead this project on behalf of the CEU. The task force held its first teleconference on Monday 29 November.  Once a more detailed list of tasks and provisional timelines have been agreed by the task force, these will be shared with the Steering Group, the Executive Groups of the Co-Eds, MEs, TSCs, and other interested parties in the Collaboration. In the meantime, if you have questions or concerns about the task force, please contact Becky at becky@ims.cochrane.org. 

Results of survey

The raw survey results, collated and anonymised:  

• Survey of MEs
• Survey of non-MEs

Update August 2010

End of Workflow pilot and evaluation of Stage 3

Archie 3.3 is scheduled for release at the beginning of September. Among other things, it includes new or improved workflow functionality that has been implemented in response to recent feedback received from Stage 3 pilot users. With these latest additions, the IMS Team thinks that the workflow system now meets the requirements of the Collaboration as an integral and fully functional part of the IMS and considers that the objectives of the workflow pilot have been met. They will submit a report to this effect to the CCSG in October confirming the end of the workflow pilot.

In addition, the IMS Team plans to fully evaluate the workflow system by surveying all workflow pilot CRGs to identify the extent to which the system now meets their needs, with results to be submitted to the CCSG as part of the IMS Team's report. The results will also be made available at the Colloquium, where there will be plenty of opportunities to discuss these at CRG-specific meetings (such as the ME and TSC meetings), at the Cochrane Exchange (which will include the IMS booth) and in other forums. The results of the evaluation will also be published on the IMS website.

The workflow survey is currently scheduled to run between 20 September and 1 October. This allows participants in Stage 3 to experience the Archie 3.3 features before they evaluate the system. The Director of the IMS, Monica Kjeldstrøm, will be contacting MEs of workflow pilot CRGs nearer the time with information on how the survey will be conducted. In brief, we are planning two electronic surveys; one for MEs, who are the principal users of the system, and one for other people who have been involved in the workflow pilot. It will be the responsibility of the ME of the pilot CRG to decide whom they wish to include in the second survey.

It is important that all pilot MEs, as a minimum, complete the survey to provide the CCSG with as much information as possible before they decide if the system should become mandatory.

Update March 2010:

Stage 3 of the Workflow pilot

The workflow functionality planned for Stage 3 of the Workflow pilot was released as part of Archie 3.0 (in December 2009). The new or revised functionality was developed on the basis of feedback from Stage 2 pilot groups. Feedback on the workflow templates have taken longer to convert into actual changes, but the revised templates have now been deployed to Archie, see Template page.

With the release of the revised templates, the Workflow pilot is now officially in Stage 3.

The following 34 Review Groups are participating in Stage 3 of the workflows pilot:
Acute Respiratory Infections Group; Airways Group; Back Group; Bone, Joint and Muscle Trauma Group; Breast Cancer Group; Childhood Cancer Group; Consumers and Communication Group; Cystic Fibrosis and Genetic Disorders Group; Dementia and Cognitive Improvement Group; Depression Anxiety and Neurosis Group; Developmental, Psychosocial and Learning Problems Group; Drugs and Alcohol Group; Ear Nose and Throat Disorders Group; Effective Practice and Organisation of Care Group; Epilepsy Group; Haematological Malignancies Group; Hypertension Group; Incontinence Group; Infectious Diseases Group; Lung Cancer Group; Menstrual Disorders and Subfertility Group; Metabolic and Endocrine Disorders Group; Multiple Sclerosis Group; Musculoskeletal Group; Neonatal Group; Oral Health Group; Pain, Palliative and Supportive Care Group; Peripheral Vascular Diseases Group; Pregnancy and Childbirth Group; Public Health Group; Renal Group; Tobacco Addiction Group; Upper Gastrointestinal and Pancreatic Diseases Group.  

Update September 2009:

Delay in start of Stage 3

Stage 3 of the Workflow pilot, which will be open to all interested groups, was scheduled to begin during September. We can now see that we are unable to meet this target - there is too much that needs to be fixed first.

Any delay is regrettable, but this one especially so because it would have been very useful for Stage 3 to begin before the Colloquium in Singapore. This would have allowed many more people to have tried the system, and participate in advanced discussion with us at the Colloquium.

Survey of pilot groups

All Stage 2 pilot groups were invited to participate in a survey towards the end of August to assess how close we are to meeting the objectives of the workflow system. An initial glance at the results (the deadline for completing the survey was 7 September) shows that the majority of the pilot groups appreciate the potential of the workflow system, but that there is room for improvement. It also looks as though most groups are hoping for more flexibility in adapting the workflow templates to better suit the editorial processes of their CRG.

Further changes to workflow templates will be made in consultation with the Editor in Chief.

No more tracking!

When planning the Workflow system, we listened to what Review Groups already had in their own systems, which they referred to as 'tracking systems'. This terminology was incorporated in our proposal for a 'Workflow and tracking system'. But since recording what has happened is an implicit function of any workflow system, the old name was a bit like saying your kitchen had an 'oven and baking system'. So the word 'tracking' is officially gone from the system title, but the functionality is of course still there.

Update August 2009:

The following 26 Review Groups and three satellites are participating in Stage 2b of the workflows pilot, and we expect to roll out to a few more before the Colloquium:

Acute Respiratory Infections Group, Airways Group, Back Group, Cochrane Bone, Joint & Muscle Trauma Group, Consumers and Communication Group, Dementia and Cognitive Improvement Group, Developmental, Psychosocial and Learning Problems Group, Drugs and Alcohol Group, EPOC Group (and the Australian and Norwegian Satellites of the Cochrane EPOC Group), Gynaecological Cancer Group, Haematological Malignancies Group, Hypertension Group, Incontinence Group, Multiple Sclerosis Group, Musculoskeletal Group (and the Australian Satellite of Musculoskeletal Group), Neonatal Group, Oral Health Group, PAPAS Group, Peripheral Vascular Diseases, Pregnancy and Childbirth, Renal Group, Tobacco Addiction Group, Upper Gastrointestinal and Pancreatic Diseases Group Satellite (functioning as parent CRG), Wounds Group

Update May 2009:

Nineteen CRGs and three CRG satellites have joined Stage 2a of the Workflow pilot: Acute Respiratory Infections; Airways; Back; Bone, Joint and Muscle Trauma; Consumers and Communication; Dementia; Drugs and Alcohol; EPOC; EPOC Satellites; Hypertension; Incontinence; Musculoskeletal; Musculoskeletal Satellite; MS; Neonatal; Oral Health; Pregnancy and Childbirth; Peripheral Vascular Diseases; Renal; and Tobacco Addiction. Eight other CRGs and one other CRG Satellite will join Stage 2b: Childhood Cancer; Haematological Malignancies; Lung Cancer; Menstrual Disorders and Subfertility; PAPAS; Public Health; Wounds; and UGPD.

Update February 2009:

By 9 January 2009, a total of 336 workflows had been initiated as part of Stage 1 of the pilot. The RGCs involved in the pilot were asked to prioritise three items that they would like the system to be able to do or do better. Their responses to this direct request, in addition to the feedback they submitted during the pilot, were discussed at a meeting of the IMS Developers and the IMS Support team on 11-13 December 2008. During this meeting it was decided to progress to Stage 2 of the workflow pilot once a number of agreed improvements had been made to the system... [read more]

Update October 2008:

After testing some of the workflow definitions on the test server in August, where we received good and helpful feedback, we have standardised the task names and descriptions used in the Title Registration and Protocol Development workflows. The main change is to use a more active tone.

We have also identified the first eight workflow pilot groups that will participate in stage 1 of the workflow pilot. These groups were chosen on the basis of how many reviews they expect to have in the editorial process for the rest of the year. Stage 2 of the workflow pilot is scheduled to start in January 2009 where the remaining CRGs that have expressed an interest to become a workflow pilot group will be invited to join.

On 30 September, the pilot groups were given access to the workflow functionality on the live server and we have deployed the first two workflows: Title Registration and Protocol Development.

Update August 2008: Workflow and tracking component functionality

The main purpose with the workflow and tracking (WT) component is to assist CRGs with keeping track of where each review is in the editorial process and to remind people when they need to take action. In addition, with a sufficient amount of data stored in the system, various reports can be made available for Collaboration-wide monitoring purposes. For more information about the functionality of the new component, see Workflow and tracking component in Archie.