CQMS Update (October 2007)

As part of the TROG NHMRC Enabling Grant project, the TROG Central Operations Office (TCOO) has been designing and developing a new QA and research management system called CQMS (Central Quality Management System). CQMS is a broad operational system for enhancing the ongoing management and administration of TROG’s trial portfolio and includes substantial functions relating to the TCOO facility for provision of centralised trial QA reviews and reporting.

Early stages of the project focussed on process mapping, data capture, tracking and monitoring functions. The system is now entering the final phase of development which will focus on the design and testing of automated reports, security and personalised user desktop functions. An automated QA case review report has been produced, enabling the report to be created at the click of a button rather than the time-consuming process currently in place where QA review databases must be reconciled with audit forms and manual calculations of variations performed. The production of this report generated much excitement within the COO QA office as it demonstrated that the effort invested into this project will be time well spent.

Internal testing of the CQMS trial QA data and research management functions has begun, providing an opportunity for the TROG COO to assess the use of the system in our daily central management workload. A key focus in the coming months will be the development of an e-learning training package to educate all users on the capabilities and functions of CQMS, with the first priority the training of QA reviewers. CQMS has been designed to operate in conjunction with the SWAN 3-D radiotherapy treatment plan review software, which is currently undergoing internal acceptance testing before release for use in TROG trials. 

It is intended that all TROG trial reviewers will have remote access to CQMS and will be able to log on to view case documentation for centralised QA reviews and to enter the required audit data. Subsequently it is planned that all TROG members will have access to CQMS, with the extent of access defined by their roles, eg. Trial Co-ordinator, Trial Management Committee member, participating site. The system will therefore play in integral role in maintaining communication between the TCOO and TROG membership.