Developing a collaboration system for pancreatic cancer research: a clinical design science study

Figures & data

Figure 1. Data sources used for the current application of design science research.

Figure 2. Core process activity diagram.

Table 1. Special requirements.

Requirement	Description
Distributed Research Environment	Case data must be collected on a distributed basis. Therefore, it is crucial to support researchers independently in their use of the IS from their locality. This requirement led to the application of client–server architecture and appropriate web technologies.
Access Control and Identity Management	Due to the sensitivity of the collected data and the use of networks to support independent local research, access control is essential. Furthermore, for transparency reasons, the identity of the researcher and research entity must be clarified.
Anonymisation	The proposed medical core process results in the collection of both medical research and personal data, which, in the case of European countries, is regulated by the General Data Protection Regulation.
Standardisation of Comma-Separated Values (CSV) Files (Import/Export)	Data collection occurred prior to this clinical IS research project, and researchers mainly used spreadsheets to structure the data. Such data can easily be processed (imported or exported) using CSV files. As there is no common or official standard for CSV files, syntax rules must be defined. Data must also be processed using statistical software.

Figure 3. Use case IS.

Figure 4. Flowchart.

Figure 5. Entity relationship model (excerpt) including the non-relational part (using unified modelling language notation).