Mobile clinical research associate framework for offline capability

Abstract

Systems and methods are described herein that provide a system associated with a CRA application framework with offline capability. In one example embodiment a trip report skeleton allows trip report data about clinical research to be stored on a mobile device. The mobile device sends a trip report skeleton creation request to a server side logic using the CRA application framework. The activities related to the trip report are performed asynchronously. Therefore, when a fetch request for the trip report skeleton is issued, it is determined if the trip report skeleton is ready. When the trip report skeleton is ready, a trip report skeleton in a Self Describing Object (SDO) format is received.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method, the method comprising:
 from a mobile device, sending a trip report skeleton creation request, where a trip report skeleton allows trip report data about clinical research to be stored on a mobile device;   issuing a fetch request for the trip report skeleton;   determining if the trip report skeleton is ready;   when the trip report skeleton is ready, receiving a trip report skeleton in a Self Describing Object (SDO) format.   
     
     
         2 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , where the instructions further comprise allowing the fetch request to time out, and issuing a subsequent fetch request when the trip report skeleton is not ready. 
     
     
         3 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 2 , where the subsequent fetch request is sent according to one of, a predetermined schedule, immediately following the fetch request timing out, or after a predetermined amount of time has elapsed after the fetch request timed out. 
     
     
         4 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , where the instructions further comprise rendering the trip report skeleton on the mobile device using metadata embedded in the trip report skeleton. 
     
     
         5 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , where the instructions further comprise entering trip report data using the mobile device to create a trip report. 
     
     
         6 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 5 , where the instructions further comprise sending the trip report to a server side logic by establishing a network link with a server side logic in a clinical research associate (CRA) application framework. 
     
     
         7 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 5 , further comprising sending the trip report to a server side logic upon determining that a predetermined percentage of trip report data has been entered in the trip report skeleton. 
     
     
         8 . The computing computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , where a trip report skeleton is generated by combining metadata for rendering a trip report skeleton and a canonical trip report. 
     
     
         9 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , where data is entered by the mobile device into the skeleton trip report regardless of the accessibility of the data from a server. 
     
     
         10 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , where the trip report creation request is sent from the mobile device in a first thread and the trip report skeleton is sent to the mobile device in a second thread. 
     
     
         11 . A computing system, comprising:
 a database configured to store a canonical trip report and metadata;   a sever side logic configured to receive a trip report skeleton creation request from a mobile device;   a Self Describing Object (SDO) transformer configured to combine the canonical trip report and the metadata to create a trip report skeleton in an SDO format.   
     
     
         12 . The computing system of  claim 11 , where the metadata facilitates rendering of the trip report skeleton. 
     
     
         13 . The computing system of  claim 11 , where the canonical trip report is generalized so that the canonical trip report can be distributed to a number of users employing different mobile devices. 
     
     
         14 . The computing system of  claim 11 , where the trip report creation request is sent from a mobile device in a first thread and the trip report skeleton is sent to the mobile device in a second thread. 
     
     
         15 . The computing system of  claim 11 , where the server side logic is further configured to provide application programming interfaces for a mobile device to facilitate loading and synchronizing the trip report skeleton. 
     
     
         16 . A computing system, comprising:
 a trip report skeleton in a Self Describing Object (SDO) format configured to store trip report data associated with clinical research a rendering logic configured to render the trip report skeleton using metadata embedded in the trip report skeleton; and   a persistence stack configured to track changes occurring in the trip report skeleton and update the trip report skeleton when the trip report data is entered in the trip report skeleton,   
     
     
         17 . The computing system of  claim 16 , where the persistence stack includes a persistence context, a persistence model, and persistence store. 
     
     
         18 . The computing system of  claim 17 , where the persistence context is configured to track changes occurring in the trip report skeleton by assessing the trip report skeleton to be in a dirty state when the persistence stack detects that the trip report data has been changed. 
     
     
         19 . The computing system of  claim 17 , where the persistence model is configured to provide in memory collection of the trip report data. 
     
     
         20 . The computing system of  claim 17 , where the persistence store is configured to save the trip report skeleton.