The Automation Engine is a relatively new feature that users can use to automate many of their tasks. The Automation Engine is still a beta feature, and thus, to use it, you need to have beta features enabled. You can do this by going to the Settings tab, then going to the Study sub-tab.
In the section 'Other', you should select Enable beta features. To get started, here is a short explanation of the uses of the Automation Engine and some of its features.
When to use the Automation Engine
The Automation Engine allows you to create automations that will be executed throughout your study. By automating some of your tasks, you can avoid tedious manual actions or customize your CRF for different populations. Overall, automations will greatly increase your efficiency. Use automations when a task must be repeatedly done after a certain event occurs.
Commonly used example automations are:
- Hide a visit in your CRF for certain subjects. For example, you want the visit 'Follow-up' to be hidden for subjects that don't require a follow-up, instead of it being visible in the CRF for all subjects.
- Send a survey to subjects once an email has been added to their participant. This can be applied to all subjects or to subjects with a specific data point being entered, e.g., all male subjects. Also, it is possible to create and send a survey invitation based on a field value updated event. For example, schedule a survey for a patient as soon as the field "Is the patient pregnant?" is answered with "Yes".
- Create a query when a certain value limit is exceeded. For example, you want to add a query to the field BMI in case it exceeds a certain value.
The following are the main steps that are required for you to create your automations.
The basics of the Automation Engine
To use the Automation Engine, you need to build automations for your study.
To do that, follow these simple steps:
- Enter the Automation Engine interface and create your automation.
- Give your automation a unique title to easily identify it later on.
- Select an Event that will trigger your automation.
- Add condition(s) that must be true when the Event occurs. When the Event occurs, the resulting Action will only trigger if all of the conditions are met.
- Select the Action you want to be triggered.
- Save your automation using the save button in the Automation Engine user interface.
- Test your automation by monitoring its behavior in test participants. If you want to double-check if your automation was triggered, check the Automation Engine Logger in the Settings tab
- Not happy with your automation? Try editing it.
Note: Currently, an automation (e.g., sending a survey when an email is added to the participant's profile) will only be triggered ONCE PER PARTICIPANT ID. If a participant is deleted or archived and the participant ID is used for a new participant, the automation will NOT be triggered again.
Applicable to studies that have enabled the feature to reuse participant IDs.
The Castor Automation Engine Template
In the image below, the individual steps are outlined to the left, and a 'real-life' example is given to the right.