Clinical data management system

1. A clinical data management system comprising:

a plurality of staging databases comprising clinical study level staging databases and pooled cross-study databases storing clinical data, study metadata, study properties, and clinical reference tables;

a plurality of distributed digital data processing servers configured to import and adapt source data from disparate clinical site sources into the staging databases at refresh intervals of uniform frequency, wherein the distributed digital data processing servers capture and maintain an audit trail of source data imported into the staging databases;

user interfaces and external system interfaces comprising a plurality of input modules for enabling a user of the system to input one or more study-specific changes to data model standards and mapsets and a plurality of delivery and visualization modules configured for reporting and displaying processed clinical study data mapped into the staging databases; and

a study data mapper that maintains a plurality of data models comprising a study metadata model, a clinical data model, a discrepancy data model, and a reporting support data model, wherein the study data mapper is configured to:

map data from the staging databases into the data models, and map data from the data models into data delivery databases, wherein the data models act as consistent core data structures of data across said disparate clinical site sources, said consistent core data structures allowing for study-specific additions but not allowing for destructive changes to core variables or tables; and

perform said mapping into the data models by using metadata defining the data models for transforming data from each staging database to one or more data models according to one or more mapsets, wherein each mapset specifies how data for a clinical study is to be transformed into a standard set of target tables.

2. The clinical data management system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the mapper inserts extensions to date fields where imputations are required for incomplete or invalid dates and wherein the mapper provides in each table of the data models a primary key and a surrogate key, in which a primary key is a combination of columns or rows which define the uniqueness of a record within a table, and a column or row which is a member of a primary key cannot contain null values.

3. The clinical data management system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the mapper defines primary keys within the data models as mutable, in which the data values stored in the constituent variables may change, and in which a surrogate key is a single row or column that uniquely identifies a record in a table and are immutable and cannot contain null values.

4. The clinical data management system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the data models are in a hierarchy consisting of three levels; first and second levels of standard models and a third level for study implementation, and wherein the first level includes version-controlled metadata definitions of core data models, the second level includes metadata definitions of sponsor standard data models, and the third level includes study execution physical data models, and wherein the data models include a study metadata model containing study level metadata describing study design and planning, and also clinical reference tables.

5. The clinical data management system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the data models include a clinical data visualisation model including a study-level standard reporting structure for data visualisation through third party reporting tools, and wherein a data model includes a subject snapshot table, said subject snapshot table containing a row for each clinical trial patient, describing their current status and progress to date in the study, with a combination of demography data, disposition or milestone data, eligibility data, and safety data.

6. The clinical data management system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the metadata is in a metadata model.

7. The clinical data management system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the data models include a clinical data visualisation model including a study-level standard reporting structure for data visualisation through third party reporting tools, and wherein a data model includes a subject snapshot table, said subject snapshot table containing a row for each clinical trial patient, describing their current status and progress to date in the study, with a combination of demography data, disposition or milestone data, eligibility data, and safety data; and wherein the mapper performs two transformations according to the same mapset, compare resultant target data, and provide feedback, and wherein at least two mapper software instances independently specify transformations to be applied as part of the mapping process, and a mapping reviewer function automatically generates a detailed report of the differences between two different specified transformations, and wherein the source data is clinical study data and the reviewer generates a detailed report on the compliance mapping with its selected standards.

8. The clinical data management system as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the mapping reviewer releases each map in a mapset as soon as it is complete, and releases an entire mapset when its component maps are complete; and wherein the metadata comprises a library of pre-defined mapping functions that can be applied to variables; and wherein the metadata is used to automatically generate mapping software functions, and wherein each mapset has an associated set of source and target tables; wherein a mapset defines transformation of source variables, said variables including data, fields, properties, attributes, and table value lists; and wherein the transformation step maps targets to a source.

9. The clinical data management system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the mapper performs the step of mapping from one or more source structures to a target structure according to a table map; wherein there are multiple combinations of source structures that are mapped to a single target structure and the method creates multiple maps to the same target, called submaps; wherein common variables in separate submaps are named the same and have the same mapping requirements, and these common variables are mapped the same way in a common mapping and are applied to each submap within a sub map group.

10. The clinical data management system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a search engine identifies similar previously mapped table structures as exact or partial matches, and wherein the system performs the step of applying system installation configurable attributes or tags to mapping projects, table sets, value lists, variables, table maps, submaps, or variable maps that can then be used for searching and reporting on any of said entities, and wherein code is generated in multiple languages for the same mappings giving the same resultant data.

11. The clinical data management system of claim 1 , wherein the mapper is further configured to:

determine the compliance of the clinical data model with clinical data model standards; and

electronically transmit non-compliant data into the discrepancy data model.

12. The clinical data management system of claim 1 , wherein the mapper is further configured to:

add unique identifiers to data model tables to identify change deltas; add original code and decode values to data model tables;

add data status flags to the data models to assist status and query management; and

insert a source reference field into said data models to provide traceability from said clinical site sources to the data models.

13. The clinical data management system of claim 12 , wherein the mapper is further configured to:

determine the compliance of the clinical data model with clinical data model standards; and

electronically transmit non-compliant data into the discrepancy data model.

14. The clinical data management system of claim 12 , wherein the mapper is further configured to:

add unique identifiers to data model tables to identify change deltas; add original code and decode values to data model tables;

add data status flags to the data models to assist status and query management; and

insert a source reference field into said data models to provide traceability from said clinical site sources to the data models.

15. The clinical data management system of claim 1 , wherein one or more tables of the clinical data models includes a primary key and a surrogate key, in which the primary key defines the uniqueness of record within a table.

16. A computer readable medium comprising non-transitory software code to perform the following steps when executed by a digital processor:

importing and adapting source data from disparate clinical site sources into the staging databases at refresh intervals of uniform frequency, wherein the distributed digital data processing servers capture and maintain an audit trail of source data imported into the staging databases;

receiving one or more study-specific changes to data model standards and mapsets;

reporting and displaying processed clinical study data mapped into the staging databases;

maintaining a plurality of data models comprising a study metadata model, a clinical data model, a discrepancy data model, and a reporting support data model; and

maintaining a study data mapper that is configured to:

map data from staging databases into the data models, said staging databases including clinical study level staging databases and also pooled cross-study databases storing clinical data, study metadata, study properties, and clinical reference tables, and mapping data from the data models into data delivery databases, wherein the data models act as consistent core data structures of data across said disparate clinical site sources, said consistent core data structures allowing for study-specific additions but not allowing for destructive changes to core variables or tables; and

perform said mapping into the data models by using metadata defining the data models for transforming data from each staging database to one or more data models according to one or more mapsets, wherein each mapset specifies how data for a clinical study is to be transformed into a standard set of target tables.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the mapper is further configured to:

determine the compliance of the clinical data model with clinical data model standards; and

electronically transmit non-compliant data into the discrepancy data model.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the mapper is further configured to:

add unique identifiers to data model tables to identify change deltas; add original code and decode values to data model tables;

add data status flags to the data models to assist status and query management; and

insert a source reference field into said data models to provide traceability from said clinical site sources to the data models.

19. A clinical data management system comprising:

at least one digital data processor,

user interfaces and external system interfaces,

at least one database,

at least one distributed digital data processing server, and

a study data mapper,

wherein the digital data processor imports and adapts source data from disparate clinical site sources into staging databases at refresh intervals of uniform frequency and captures and maintains an audit trail of source data imported into the staging databases;

wherein the user interfaces and external system interfaces comprise a plurality of input modules for enabling a user of the system to input one or more study-specific changes to data model standards and mapsets and a plurality of delivery and visualization modules configured for reporting and displaying processed clinical study data mapped into the staging databases;

wherein the database comprises of clinical study level staging databases and pooled cross-study databases storing clinical data, study metadata, study properties, and clinical reference tables;

wherein the study data mapper is configured to:

maintain a plurality of data models, and map data from the staging databases into the data models, and maps data from the data models into data delivery databases, wherein the data models act as consistent core data structures of data across said disparate clinical site sources, said consistent core data structures allowing for study-specific additions but not allowing for destructive changes to core variables or tables, and said data models include a study metadata model, a clinical data model, a discrepancy data model, and a reporting support data model; and

perform said mapping into the data models by using metadata defining the data models for transforming data from each staging database to one or more data models according to one or more mapsets, wherein each mapset specifies how data for a clinical study is to be transformed into a standard set of target tables.

20. A method of managing clinical data using a plurality of staging databases, a plurality of distributed digital data processing servers, a plurality of user interfaces and external system interfaces, and a study data mapper that maintains a plurality of data models, the method comprising:

mapping data from the staging databases into one or more data models, the data models including one or more of a study metadata model, a clinical data model, a discrepancy data model, and a reporting support data model;

mapping data from one or more of the data models into data delivery databases, wherein the data models act as consistent core data structures of data across disparate clinical site sources, said consistent core data structures allowing for study-specific additions but not allowing for destructive changes to core variables or tables;

wherein the mapping uses metadata defining the data models for transforming data from each staging database to one or more data models according to one or more mapsets, wherein each mapset specifies how data for a clinical study is to be transformed into a standard set of target tables,

electronically transmitting data from one or more staging databases into the clinical data models, wherein each table of the clinical data models includes a primary key and a surrogate key, in which the primary key defines he uniqueness of a record within a table;

determining the compliance of the clinical data model with a received clinical data model standard; and

electronically transmitting any non-compliant data into the discrepancy data model.

21. The method of claim 20 , further comprising one or more of:

adding unique identifiers to data model tables to identify change deltas;

adding original code and decode values to data model tables;

adding data status flags to the data models to assist status and query management; and

inserting a source reference field into said data models to provide traceability from said clinical site sources to the data models.

22. The method of claim 20 , further comprising one or more of:

receiving, using user interfaces and external system interfaces comprising a plurality of input modules, any one or more study-specific changes to data model standards and mapsets; and

reporting or displaying, using the plurality of delivery and visualization modules, processed clinical study data mapped into the staging databases.