An important part of our approach is to help sites and study users with self-sufficiency in user support issues. Traditional ways of providing support with a centralized helpdesk are known to be cumbersome when it comes to trying to solve minor technical issues quickly. This is due to centralized helpdesks often lacking specific knowledge of study protocols and relationships with a particular site. The result is complex and time-consuming workflows—especially if the helpdesk is in a different time zone.
Viedoc's response was to simplify support processes with the Viedoc Admin application. This allowed a more flexible approach for site and user management, enabling users already connected to the site to resolve common issues quickly. The system role of Site Manager meant that instead of waiting for a helpdesk, users could add new users, reset a password, or reject user access directly. In practice, this means that a monitor can be a self-sufficient manager for all of their sites, with control over each user's status and activity. Thus, our clients can appoint one or several study and site managers to each project with direct access to Viedoc Admin. Other advantages are instant access to someone with expert knowledge of the study protocol who speaks the local language and has a personal relationship with a site.
Since the launch of Viedoc Admin, we have implemented continual improvements and added more new features designed to empower users to help themselves. Some of these features would otherwise require support from the helpdesk in other systems, for example, anonymizing privacy data in the audit trail, generating logs of users, and generating other documents. So, we are continuously making a central helpdesk even less relevant.
With this in mind, we plan to introduce yet another feature to improve support - Communication logs. Three different Communication logs are available to download for SMS and emails in Excel file format. They are available in Viedoc Admin for SMS and email communication related to a study or a user or in Viedoc Clinic for SMS and email communication related to a subject (via Viedoc Me).
The Communication logs are designed to help system and clinic users easily find relevant information and quickly understand the status of communications at the click of a button. This means minor issues can be investigated and resolved efficiently by users.
Study/Site Managers will be able to download an Excel file showing the complete user-specific Communication log for that user. The Viedoc system also displays the latest 20 rows of the log for an instant overview. This log provides insights into email/SMS information to study users unrelated to a study, such as resetting a password, verification and notification, and two-factor authentication. Study/Site Managers will also access and download study-specific Communication logs, such as alerts, invitations to a specific role within a study, and notifications (study access deletion).
In Viedoc Clinic, the subject-related Communication log will be introduced. For subjects with a Viedoc Me account, this log contains information relating to all emails/SMS sent to the subject, such as Viedoc user name, type of communication, and message type.
Another component of our overall support success story is Viedoc's eLearning user documentation, which provides direct access to in-depth information about every aspect of the system. The eLearning documentation and video tutorials are updated with every release and are synchronized with the software releases. The eLearning documentation is also translated into Japanese and Simplified Chinese.
Our vision for support is confirmed by our metrics; for comparison, previously, only 9% of customer queries were genuine system-related questions. All other queries were related to issues with administration that the users would have preferred to resolve themselves but had no means of doing so. These numbers are now completely reversed. Viedoc now has embedded support within the system for 91% of all issues. And a superior, more user-friendly system with better documentation leads to fewer general questions about the system.
Furthermore, recent feedback from one of our customers, Duda Marcovic, Director of Clinical Affairs at Polares Medical in California, confirms our approach to user support;
- Managing invites in the eClinical Suite directly is easy, timely, and predictable. Having full control and not having to do this without auxiliary staff is hugely beneficial for performing this task.
As a site manager, Duda has a lot of experience with the eLearning materials as well.
- eLearning short videos are appreciated by all users. If you have a program that has been designed well and people who know what they are doing, a lot can be accomplished with a few people, and for a small company to manage studies, this is a big benefit.
As a result of our support strategy, we can focus on the advanced technical issues of our customers. This, in turn, helps us achieve our mission to accelerate clinical trials and empower greater discoveries.
To read more about the Viedoc solution, click here.
"The system is incredibly robust and is very user friendly, both to sponsor level satff, as well as site staff who remotely enter data."