Summary

This article covers the teamwork functionality which allows multiple designers to work concurrently on a single trial design. 

Table of Contents


Teamwork functionality allows multiple designers to work concurrently on a single trial design. The primary trial record is considered the Master Trial. Each designer can work in an individual Sandbox Trial, which is linked to the Master. This provides each designer the ability to work and test in their own environment until they are ready to make their configuration available to the Master.

Teamwork Master Trial

The Teamwork Master Trial is the primary trial record for the study. It will contain the merged configuration from all Sandbox Trials, and will ultimately be loaded to Production when the study is deployed.

The Teamwork Master Trial contains a Teamwork Master form that summarizes all Sandbox activity.




The Teamwork Master form identifies the names of all Sandbox trials and the current version number of the Master, and the Starting Point Sandbox (if applicable). The table includes the following columns:

Sandbox Name

This column gives the name of the Sandbox Trial, linked to the Teamwork Sandbox (link) form for that trial record.

Recommendation

This column provides one of the following recommendations:

None (blank): the Sandbox version is up to date with the Master version
Pull: The Sandbox version is based on a previous Master version, therefore the latest Master version should be pulled to the Sandbox.
Push: The Sandbox version contains changes that were built upon the latest Master version. Therefore the Sandbox changes are ready to be pushed to the Master.
Pull and Push: The Sandbox version contains changes that were built on a previous Master version. Therefore, the latest Master version should be pulled and merged with the Sandbox version so that conflicts can be addressed before pushing the merged version back to the Master.

Pulled Master Version

This column indicates the Master version that was last pulled to the Sandbox.

Date of Pull

The date and time of the last pull to the Sandbox.

Current Sandbox Version

The number of the latest committed version in the Sandbox.

Pushed Sandbox Version

The last Sandbox version number that was pushed to the Master.

Date of Push

The date and time of the last push from the Sandbox to the Master.

Push Comment

The commit message used when the version was pushed from the Sandbox to the Master.

Creating a Teamwork Master Trial

Prior to using Teamwork functionality, a Teamwork Master Trial must be created. Any standard trial (one that is not already part of another Teamwork relationship) can be converted to a Teamwork Master.

Note: The Copy Study (link) function cannot be used on a Teamwork Master trial. If you wish to start with a copy of another study, use the Copy Study function prior to converting the standard trial to a Teamwork Master.

Use the Configurator or Teamwork Configurator roles to convert an existing trial to a Teamwork Master.

  1. Navigate to the Setup page for the trial in Trial Manager.
  2. From the Actions Menu, select the option to Convert to Teamwork Master



Note: This option is only available from the Setup page for the trial. 
  1. Click OK to Confirm.When the conversion is complete, the Teamwork Master page will display.

Teamwork Sandbox Trial

Once a trial has been converted to a Teamwork Master, Teamwork Sandbox trials should be created for each designer who will be working on a trial. It is recommended that all design activity should occur in a Sandbox trial to most effectively manage and merge changes made by multiple designers.

Sandbox Trials operate just like Standard and Master trials with one major difference: Sandbox trials do not include the ability to Load to Production (link). They are intended only to support the design and deployment of the connected Master Trial.

All Sandbox trials contain a Teamwork Sandbox form. The form links to the connected Master Trial and identifies the current Master version, the latest Master version pulled, the current Sandbox version, and the last version pushed to the Master. If applicable, a recommendation to Push, Pull, or Pull and Push will be provided.




Creating a Teamwork Sandbox

There are two methods for creating Teamwork Sandbox Trials. Both methods require Configurator or Teamwork Configurator access to Trial Manager.

Create a Sandbox from within a Teamwork Master Trial

  1. Navigate to the Teamwork Master form within the Master Trial.
  2. From the Actions Menu, select the option to Create Sandbox.

Note: This option is only available from the Teamwork Master page. 


  1. In the Create Sandbox dialog, select the Trial Manager for the new Sandbox. The list will include all Trial Manager tools to which you have access. The Sandbox does not need to be in the same Trial Manager as the Master trial.

  2. If the Master trial has no committed versions, one Sandbox must be designated as the Starting Point Sandbox – the only Sandbox permitted to push the initial committed version to the Master Trial. If the Sandbox you are creating will be Starting Point for design of the trial, click the box in the confirmation dialog.

Note: The Copy Study function is only available in the Starting Point Sandbox trial.


  1. Click OK to Confirm.

  2. A blank Setup page for the Sandbox trial will display. Complete the necessary fields and save to complete the setup of the Sandbox. Once Saved, the Design, Test, and Approve folders will be added to the navigation tree.

Convert a Standard Trial to a Sandbox

Any Standard trial can be converted to a Sandbox.

  1. Navigate to Setup form of the Standard trial.
  2. From the Actions menu, select the option to Convert to Teamwork Sandbox.
  3. The Convert to Teamwork Sandbox dialog will appear. Select the Master Trial to connect to, and click Ok.
  4. If the selected Master has no committed version and no designated Starting Point Sandbox, the following confirmation dialog will appear. Click Yes to set this trial as the Starting Point Sandbox. Click No if another Sandbox will be created and designated as the Starting Point.
  5. Click OK in the final confirmation dialog to complete the conversion
    Once converted, the Production folder will be removed from the tree and the Teamwork Sandbox form will be added.

Organizing Teamwork Master and Sandbox Trials

All Standard, Master, and Sandbox trials will be listed in Trial Manager on the Trials tab. Utilize the Trial Status column and filter to quickly differentiate between them.




All Trials are listed using the Protocol field as the Primary Identifier and Internal Identifier field as the Secondary Identifier. However, in Enterprise Manager where user access is managed, trial records are displayed by Primary Identifier only. Therefore, for clarity and organization consider using a naming convention for Sandbox trials that reflects both the Master Trial protocol and a Sandbox label.

Example Trial Manager view:




Example Enterprise Manager view:



Additionally, any comments left in the Description field in Trial Manager will appear as a tool tip in Enterprise Manager:








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