Live Casebook Updates Are Game-changing for UAT

Ami Dudzinski Mehr, vice president CDMS strategy, describes how UAT meetings with live updates cut weeks from a traditional UAT timeline while producing higher quality results.

1. How would you describe an interactive UAT meeting?

Interactive User Acceptance Testing

In interactive UAT, we get together with our customers and sit around a table and one of our configuration consultants displays the Vault CDMS system on the screen. The customer then goes through and executes their User Acceptance Testing scripts. They provide feedback to us, and we make changes to the system in near real-time so that they can then review and ultimately accept the system.

2. How do real-time discussions and updates address the challenges of a traditional UAT?

Addressing traditional challenges

An interactive UAT addresses a lot of challenges that I've seen in my experience over the last 20 years. In a traditional UAT process, you collect feedback, typically in a log. Everyone leaves the meeting and then someone has to come back and make changes based upon that feedback, who potentially wasn't even in the room. Sometimes you lose the essence of the meaning behind those changes. In contrast, during an interactive UAT with all the key stakeholders from the customer around the table--and the individuals that are going to make the changes sitting at the table as well--they can have direct dialog. So there are no requirements lost in translation. Ultimately, we can lead to higher quality and faster decisions within that meeting so that we don't have to come back and deliver changes days or weeks later.

Key roles and responsibilities

We want all of the key stakeholders from the customer involved. This includes members of the clinical team, data management team, biostats team and any other key stakeholders who are involved in accepting system functionality for that specific clinical trial. During the meeting, the project manager from Veeva is responsible for meeting facilitation. The configuration consultant is responsible for walking through the Vault CDMS system, walking through each of the case report forms, triggering edit checks, and confirming with the stakeholders in the room that the system is functioning as designed.

Excitement and appreciation for real‑time updates

The feedback from customers has been absolutely amazing. The awe and surprise by customers sitting around the table when we've sat at the keyboard and made a change that they then see on the screen seconds later, has been absolutely amazing. One of the best quotes I heard in a meeting was “That was data management exciting!” It was amazing to customers that a vendor and software could make changes in real-time that they could then see right away. And then be able to change again if they wanted to, with just another couple of clicks.

How Real-time UAT Improves the Speed and Quality of Database Builds

Live Casebook Updates Are Game-changing for UAT

1.

How would you describe an interactive UAT meeting?

Interactive User Acceptance Testing

2.

How do real-time discussions and updates address the challenges of a traditional UAT?

Addressing traditional challenges

3.

What are people’s roles and responsibilities during an interactive UAT?

Key roles and responsibilities

4.

What feedback have you received?

Excitement and appreciation for real‑time updates