New Features

• Action Tags

  •  @FORCE-MINMAX
    • Enforce a range of values that can be entered in a field.
    • Supported for textbox fields that have a validation range with a min/max component, i.e. integer, number, date or time validations.
    • Impacts all collection mechanisms, i.e. data entry, importing data, completing surveys. 
    • Applying this action tag for a field means no one will not be able to enter a value into the field unless it is within the field's specified validation range.
  • @IF
    • Create conditional logic for configuring other action tag(s).
    • Uses normal syntax logic to evaluate a condition and implement specific action tag(s) based on whether that condition is true or false, i.e. @IF(CONDITION, ACTION TAGS if condition is TRUE, ACTION TAGS if condition is FALSE)
    • For example, @IF([yes_no] = '1', @HIDDEN, @HIDE-CHOICE='3' @READ-ONLY), implements @HIDDEN if the 'yes_no' field's value is '1', otherwise if the 'yes_no' is not 1, it implements the two action tags @HIDE-CHOICE='3' and @READ-ONLY. 
    • Supports: 1) multiple instances of @IF for a single field, 2) nested instances of @IF() inside each other, and 3) Smart Variables.

• Additional Customization

  • Protected Email Mode
    • Security enhancement to prevent identifying data (PHI/PII) from being sent in outgoing emails for alerts, survey invitations, and survey confirmation emails.
    • In Protected Email Mode, the full text of an email message is replaced with a surrogate email that contains a link to a secure page in REDCap for the recipient to view the full text of the email message.
      
      • The first time a recipient accesses a Protected Email Mode email on a specific device, REDCap emails a security code to the recipient to access the secure page in REDCap. The code expires in 30 days and is unique to the device.
    • Enable and configure Protected Email Mode via Project Setup > Optional Modules and Customizations > Additional Customizations button.
    • Configuration options:
      • Apply to all A) alerts, survey invitations, and survey confirmation emails or B) only emails where piping data from Identifier fields into the message or subject
      • Customize email header and page header seen by the recipient.
      • Add logo to email header and page header.

• Exporting

  • Blank Values for Gray Form/Instrument Status
    • Export an empty form status field as a blank value.
      • The empty form status is indicated by the grey icon in any of the data entry grids, i.e. Record Status Dashboard, Record Home Page, or form links in the the left hand navigation menu, and by default exports as 0 for raw data exports or incomplete for labeled data exports
    • Select to export the empty form status/grey instrument status as a blank value via Data export dialog > Advanced data formatting options > Export blank values for gray Form Status? drop-down option.
    • Exporting empty form status/gray instrument statuses as blank values is recommended if the data will be re-imported into REDCap.
    • Corresponding default behaviors
      • Empty form status exported as a blank value in in Project XML metadata or data files, the option to export gray instrument status as a blank value will be preselected by default,
      • Empty form status exported as 0 (raw data) or incomplete (labeled data export) in all other exports.
  • Instrument-Level Data Export Rights/Permissions
    • Assign a user's data export permissions at the form level.
      • For each data collection instrument/form, assign a user one of the following export permissions: No Access", "De-Identified", "Remove All Identifier Fields", or "Full Data Set" data export rights.
      • Assigning export permissions is similar in execution to assigning Data Viewing Rights.
      • Assigning export permissions at the form level facilitates assigning a user with export permission that correspond to their with their Data Viewing permissions.
    • This replaces project level export permissions (which was supported in previous versions of REDCap).
      • As part of the upgrade, users export project permissions have been converted to corresponding form level permissions, i.e. if a user was assigned permission to export de-identified data, the user will have de-identified data export permissions on all instruments/forms. Thus, their export privileges will behave exactly the same as before.
    • Default Behaviors
      • When adding a new data collection instrument/form to a project in development status, all users will automatically be assigned "Full Data Set" data export permission for that new instrument/form.
      • When adding a new data collection instrument/form to a project in production, all users will automatically be assigned "No Access" data export rights for the new instrument/form. 
    • Related Improvements
      • The instrument/form count for Data Viewing and Data Export permissions, e.g., “3 No access, 2 Full Data Set”, is included in the User Rights page table that lists all users and their permission, 
      • When adding/editing a user’s or user role’s permission, you can click the table headers for each Data Export setting or Data Viewing setting to apply that setting for all instruments in the project.

• Field Validation

  • Dynamic Min/Max Range Limits
    • Two mechanism for dynamic ranges
      1. Enter  "today" or "now" as a min or max value.
         1. Use these this so that the current date or time is always captured
         2. This means a user or participant could not enter a date/time n the past or in the future. 
      2. Pipe a value from another field into the field's min or max range setting, e.g., [visit_date] or [event_1_arm_1][age]
         1. Use this when you need to capture a value in a field has a larger or smaller value than another field.
    • Supported for textbox fields that have a validation range with a min/max component, i.e. integer, number, date or time validations.
    • Impacts all collection mechanisms, i.e. data entry, importing data, completing surveys. 
  • Time (HH:MM:SS)
    • Force users/participants to enter a time value that contains the hour, minute, and second components.
    • Supported for textbox fields.
    • Impacts all collection mechanisms, i.e. data entry, importing data, completing surveys. 

• Form Display Logic

  • A form-level branching logic tool that supports using conditional logic to disable/enable accessing specific forms/instruments during data entry.
  • Impacts Record Status Dashboard, Record Home Page, and the form list on the left-hand menu.
    
    • Does not impact Importing.
    • Does not impact the Survey queue.
  • Use this tool to prevent users from entering data on a specific form or event until certain conditions have been met. 
  • Find this tool via Project Setup tab > Online Designer > Form Display Logic button at the top of the form/instrument list.
  • This is an advanced and optional tool.
    
    • Review documentation in REDCap for nuances regarding its functionality.
  • Configuration requires using syntax for conditional logic.
  • Configuration should be thoroughly tested and vetted during development.

• Surveys

  • Conditional Logic for Auto-Continue Survey Setting
    • Add conditional logic to trigger automatically continuing from one survey to the next.
      • This means REDCap will auto-continue to the next survey *only* if the conditional logic is evaluated to TRUE or if conditional logic has not been configured.
    • Impacts survey set up and collecting survey responses.
    • This functionality is similar to Survey queue functionality but simpler to configure and a better alternative to setting up the Queue as long as complex survey/form event level configurations are not required.
  • Survey Start Time with Corresponding Smart Variables
    • Track when a participant began a survey.
      • The survey start time corresponds to the first time the survey is opened (as a web page).
      • The survey start time is not collected for surveys completed before this upgrade.
    • View the survey start time for partial or completed response by opening the response as as form. The survey start time displayed at the the top of the form.
      • If the start time is a blank value, it implies that the response began while on an earlier version of REDCap when start times were not yet collected.
    • Related Smart Variables
      • Reference the survey start time via piping by using following two Smart Variables: [survey-time-started:instrument] and [survey-date-started:instrument].
      • Survey duration 
        • [survey-duration] captures the difference between the survey's start time and either its 1) completion time (if completed) or 2) the current time (if not completed)
        • [survey-duration-completed] represents the difference between the survey's start time and completion time, in which a blank value will be returned if the survey has not been completed.

Changes & Improvements

• Codebook Access

  • A button to open the Codebook in a floating popup window has been added inside the Logic Editor popup.

• Events

  • The auto-generated event ID number has been added to the Define My Events table.
  • The event id number can be referenced via it's corresponding Smart Variable [event-number].

• Help & FAQ

  • Reformatted the layout for to make the page easier to use.