What is Real-time UAT?
User Acceptance Testing (UAT) is typically an iterative process that requires weeks of back-and-forth between sponsors, CROs, and vendors. With real-time updates in Vault EDC, Veeva has developed a new process that cuts weeks off traditional UATs and improves quality. We call it real-time, interactive UAT.
The Process
We typically fly a team to your office to hold the UAT live and in-person. We gather the stakeholders around a table so they can hear each other’s opinions. And then we walk through each case report form (CRF) to ensure your requirements were properly configured.
With our design tool, Vault Studio, we can revise forms and rules directly in the room with you. Vault Studio doesn’t require complex re-deployments for changes to be viewed, allowing the decision-makers to see their requests, and accept or deny the adjustments on the spot. Your team makes better decisions when they can discuss requests collectively and in real-time, rather than through long email threads or weeks later in a traditional UAT process. One of my favorite moments was when a customer called it “data management exciting.” I think she’s right. Real-time updates bring innovation to a historically transactional process, resulting in fewer rounds of UAT and reducing overall timelines.
More complex changes that can’t be made within the conference room are documented in a shared change-request log that Veeva services and your team both access. When we finish the UAT roundtable, we start working through the requested changes immediately and begin delivering updates for review the very next day. Your team has direct access to the sandbox development Vault that houses your study, increasing visibility into the build process. You can review updates, mark them as completed or add additional changes in the shared log as we collaborate in real-time.
Interactive UAT transforms a process that has been static for two decades. Veeva is introducing new technologies and processes that reduce the time to configure studies, helping you hit first-patient deadlines, and begin collecting patient data faster. Already we’ve seen customers like Vertex Pharmaceuticals cut their build times by more than half with Agile Design processes, such as interactive UATs.
“Live UAT updates is a game changer. By providing feedback, fixing problems, and testing updates immediately, we can eliminate three to four weeks from our timeline.”
-Vikas Gulati, Executive Director of Data Management and Metrics for Vertex Pharmaceuticals
My advice to companies interested in interactive UAT is to be bold. Don’t be afraid to try a new process when adopting new technologies. It is the combination of process and technology that opens the door to significant improvements.
We sat down with Vertex to talk about their four innovative strategies to reduce database build times. You can read the conversation here: How a Risk-based Approach to UAT and Real-time Updates are Shaving Weeks off EDC Study Builds.