QUALITY CONTROL

THIS APPLICATION PROPOSES TO DESIGN AND BEGIN DEVELOPMENT OFA USER-FRIENDLY MICROCOMPUTER SOFTWARE PACKAGE FOR DATA ACQUISITION, ENTRY, AND MANAGEMENT AND TO PROVIDE QUALITY CONTROL (QC) CAPABILITIES OVER THOSE PROCESSES. THEORETICA-LLY ALL OF THE INFORMATION NEEDED FOR DATA ENTRY AND DATA- BASE MANAGEMENT SHOULD BE INCLUDED IN THE DELIBERATIONS THATGO INTO THE DESIGN OF A FORM. THE PROPOSED SOFTWARE WILL BEDEVELOPED AROUND THAT CONCEPT. AT THE SAME TIME, THE PROGRAM WILL PURSUE AN AREA THAT HAS BEEN MUCH NEGLECTED: THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE QC CAPABILITIES FOR SUPERVISING THE PROCESSES OF DATA ACQUISITION, ENTRY, AND MANAGEMENT. THROUGHOUT, USER FRIENDLINESS WILL BE EMPHASIZED. PORTABILITY OF THE SOFTWARE WILL BE A MAJOR CONSIDERATION DURING DESIGN. THE SOFTWARE WILL INTERACT WITH THE USER IN THE PROCESS OF FORM DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT.DURING THIS INTERACTION THE PROGRAM WILL ASSIMILATE THE INFORMATION NEEDED TO DEVELOP A DATA ENTRY PACKAGE AND A DATA MANAGEMENT PACKAGE FOR THE PARTICULAR DATA STRUCTURE ASSOCIATED WITH THE FORM(S). IT IS PROPOSED TO DEVELOP LINKS, TRANSPARENT TO THE USER, TO AT LEAST TWO AND PERHAPS THREE EXTANT DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS, SPECIFICALLY SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION RETRIEVAL, ORACLE, AND SAS. THE DATAENTRY COMPONENT OF THE PROGRAM WILL BE DESIGNED WITH THE NEEDS OF THE MEDICAL RESEARCH COMMUNITY IN MIND. THIS IS IMPORTANT, AS MOST DATA ENTRY PACKAGES AVAILABLE WERE DESIGNED WITH BUSINESS APPLICATIONS IN MIND AND ARE NOT SUFFICIENTLY GENERAL FOR USE WITH MEDICAL RESEARCH.