Archive/unarchive a participant, survey or repeating data in CDMS

Once the study is live, it is no longer possible to delete a participant/survey/repeating data.

The only way to remove it from the current overview is to archive it. 

Archiving in Castor behaves almost in the same way as deleting - archived instances do not get exported with the data and do not influence the results of the study.

The difference between deletion and archival is that you can always retrieve an archived instance by unarchiving it. This is necessary for GCP regulations that require full traceability of the study.

Archiving participants

1. Select a participant (or several participants) you would like to archive
2. Click on the Actions button
3. Select the Archive selected option
4. Provide the reason for archiving
5. Confirm the request with the dedicated button

It will still be possible to access archived participants, surveys, or repeating data by checking the filter for Archived instances in the relevant overview.

To see archived participants in the Participants page:

1. Click on the Filters button
2. Go to the Set Participant progress
3. Select the Archived option by checking the box
4. Apply to view the participants 

By default, archiving a participant will not release the ID, thereby preventing its reuse. An error message will be displayed when trying to create a participant with the same ID:

However, there is the possibility of reusing a participant ID, but you will need to request the activation by reaching out to Castor Support (use the form on the website)

When this setting is enabled within the study, archiving a participant assigns the prefix 'ARCHIVED-' to the participant ID, so if you create a participant immediately after archiving the previous one, the same participant ID will be used.

If you archive older participants, the participant IDs will not be reused.
 

Archiving surveys or repeating data

To archive a survey or repeating data:

1. Open a participant
2. Navigate to the tab Surveys, or Repeating Data accordingly.
3. Alternatively, open the global Surveys or Repeating Data pages.
4. Click on the three dots next to a survey or repeating data
5. Select the option Archive survey or Archive repeating data
6. Provide a reason, which will be documented in the Audit Trail
7. Click Archive to finish the process

To see archived surveys (or repeating data) in the Surveys tab:

1. Click on the Actions menu
2. Check the box: Show archived
3. Apply

Castor EDC/CDMS also allows to un-archive participants, repeating data or surveys. It means that once they are un-archived, they will be moved to an overview of the participants, repeating data or surveys again.

To un-archive repeating data or survey, select the dedicated option from the 3 dot menu

Unarchiving a participant

To unarchive a participant, follow the steps below:

1. Click on the Filters at the top right
2. Select Archived (An overview of archived participants will be shown.)
3. Apply
4. Click the 3 dot menu to the right of the participant you would like to un-archive
5. Select Un-archive

The participant will be unarchived and will be visible in the list of all active participants.

If the participant ID of the archived already exists in the Participants list, upon un-archiving suffix corresponding to an incremental number will be added depending on the number of participants with the same ID.

For example, if there is an archived participant ARCHIVED-110003 and there is an active participant 110003, upon unarchiving the archived participants will appear as 110003-1 in the list of active Participants.

To un-archive participants in bulk:

1. Select participants you would like to un-archive
2. Click on the Actions button and choose the option to Un-archive selected.