IMS Bulletin #97 (21 May 2010)

Index

For all CRGs

1. Files folder in Archie
2. Warning: Use Internet Explorer or FireFox if you want to access the Help file in Archie
3. Update on the workflow pilot
4. Recording of splitting and merging of reviews

For Stage 3 workflow pilot Groups
5. Warning against deleting aborted workflows
6. Using workflows to communicate with the Cochrane Diagnostic Test Accuracy Review (DTA) Unit
7. Tip: Notifications about workflow tasks
8. Question of the week: Is there a way of changing the named person for a particular Workflow Role halfway through a workflow so that it changes from that point on only?

For all CRGs

1. Files folder in Archie

In addition to documents, such as reviews or entity Module text, you can use Archie to store other files of any type. These are stored in your entity's Files folder. Similar to review documents, you can store and read all versions of a document in the History section of the document’s Properties but only if you have enabled the versioning system.

You can enable versioning of a file by checking the ‘Enable versioning’ box when first adding the file to Archie, or later, from the file’s Properties. When checking a versioned file back into Archie, you can choose between updating the primary or the secondary version number. By choosing to change the primary version number, you will update to the next ‘full number’ (e.g., from 1.6 to 2.0). For more details about file management in Archie, go to Help > Help Topics > Documents > Files.

2. Warning: Use Internet Explorer or FireFox if you want to access the Help file in Archie

It is only recently that Archie has been opened to all browsers, such as Safari and Chrome, so problems with browsers other than the main platforms (i.e., Internet Explorer and Firefox) may be identified as people start to use these other browsers. One recently identified problem relates to accessing the Help file in Archie: it is only possible to do so at the moment using Internet Explorer or FireFox. When this has been fixed, we will let you know.

3. Update on the workflow pilot

Stage 3 of the workflow pilot, the last stage planned before the workflow system is rolled out to all CRGs, officially began in March 2010. It has not yet been determined when the pilot period will end, but the expectation is to run a full evaluation around August 2010 with all the existing pilot groups. The result of this survey will help to determine whether the system has met the Collaboration’s requirements. Because we are still in the pilot phase, we continue to seek your feedback. Please also pass on to your IMS Support person any tips or tricks you have found helpful when using the system, and we will share them via the Bulletin and, where appropriate, add them to the final User Guide, which will be released when the system is rolled out to all CRGs.

If you wish to join the workflow pilot in its final stage, please remember to contact your IMS Support person. For details of the Groups currently involved in the pilot, please go to http://ims.cochrane.org/archie/workflows. We also plan to contact all workflow pilot MEs over the next month to find out how they are getting on with the system in Stage 3 and to provide further one-to-one training if required. Pilot Groups can contact us now rather than wait for us to contact you.

4. Recording of splitting and merging of reviews

It is now possible, on the Advanced tab of a review’s Properties, to record if a review is split into multiple reviews or multiple reviews are merged (or lumped) into one review. In the long term this information will be used in The Cochrane Library to allow jumping between related reviews, but recording of the information in Archie may start now.

For Stage 3 workflow pilot Groups

5. Warning against deleting aborted workflows

When you abort a workflow, you may be tempted to delete it in order to clean up the Workflows folder. However, we recommend that you keep all workflows that somehow reflect progress being made on a review – i.e., contain completed tasks. The reason for this is that if the IMS team is asked to develop statistics on review group performance, we want to make sure that we can include ALL the work done for a review, to avoid generating skewed data.

Please know that we are very aware that the data currently in Archie’s workflow system, for several important reasons, cannot be used for generating CRG performance metrics.

6. Using workflows to communicate with the Cochrane Diagnostic Test Accuracy Review (DTAR) Unit

Please note that you can use the workflow Ticketing system to communicate with the Cochrane DTAR Unit via Susi Wisniewski, Programme Manager, when you have a draft ready for the DTAR Unit to comment on. To give the Unit access, assign Susi the Workflow Role ‘External Referee’ and use the Ticketing email to inform her that the draft is ready for her to view and put through the DTA Unit’s system. Please also remember to give Susi the Document Role ‘Referee’ for the draft under review so she can read the file in Archie and prepare a PDF or HTML file of the review if necessary for comment by others in the DTA Unit.

7. Tip: Notifications about workflow tasks

We suggest that you always review the task-specific notifications available on the Advanced tab of a workflow task’s Properties and mark those you think you will find helpful.

i. Unless you check the box ‘Notify Manager when a task is complete’ when sending a Ticketing email to a person for a task that is followed by a task not assigned to the Workflow Manager, the Workflow Manager will not know if and when the task has been completed without opening the workflow Properties and viewing the Tasks list or History. 

ii. If you check the task-specific notification box ‘Notify the Workflow Manager if the task becomes overdue’ (Advanced tab of the task’s Properties) and you are the Workflow Manager and have already elected to receive a more general notification (Settings tab of your personal Properties) whenever ‘A task of a workflow managed by [yourself] is overdue’, you will receive two email notifications. You may therefore decide not to check the task-specific workflow notification box but just the more general notification in your personal Properties or vice versa. For details, see pages 22-4 of the Stage 3 User Guide (http://www.ims.cochrane.org/archie/workflows/Stage_3_User_Guide_to_Workflows.pdf).

8.  Question of the week

Question: Is there a way of changing the named person for a particular Workflow Role halfway through a workflow so that it changes from that point on only?

Answer: Yes. If you change the name of the person assigned a specific Workflow Role (e.g., Contact Editor) on the People tab of the workflow, it will change the name of the person for tasks assigned to this Workflow Role for tasks In Progress and Not started but will retain the name of the person who has completed previous tasks assigned to this Workflow