Two types of external personnel are permitted to use OHSU's REDCap: 1) external collaborators on individual projects, and 2) OCTRI partner personnel, such as personnel with the Portland VA. OHSU personnel are required to use REDCap with OHSU username and password.
Training and support is not provided for external collaborators to build projects in OHSU's REDCap.
Operations for External Accounts
Overview
- External user accounts are valid for an OHSU fiscal year, annually expiring every August 31st.
- For continued access to REDCap, accounts will need to be renewed for each fiscal year.
- Accounts for Portland VA personnel are an exception and will not be set to expire.
- All external users have a Sponsor user.
- The Sponsor is the user who requested the account, unless otherwise designated.
- OHSU and Portland VA personnel are eligible to be sponsors.
- The external account is referred to as the sponsored user.
- Accounts can be requested, as needed, through the project's life cycle, both during during development and production.
Requirements
- External collaborators are required to use their institutional or organizational email address for their REDCap profile.
- An account is created for the exclusive use of the external collaborator it was created for. Sharing the account would violate OHSU security directives.
- Per OHSU security directives, shared accounts cannot be added to REDCap as users.
Two Factor Authentication
- External users must complete two factor authentication via email.
- External users will see an option to use Duo for two factor, but Duo is for OHSU users only.
- Sponsors are the first point of contact for external users with questions about two factor authentication.
Costs
- There are annual charges.
- Fees are outlined on the OCTRI Rates page (VPN access required to view this page)
- Charges are based on the total number of accounts requested or renewed each fiscal year.
- Billing information is required every time an account(s) is request, however OCTRI only bills for the annual charge once a year.
Request Process | ||
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| 1 | OHSU personnel submits form: Request External Users for REDCap Project. A link to the form is included on each project's User Rights page.
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| 2 | REDCap Team notified via email. | |
| 3 | REDCap Team evaluates if request can be processed, based on the following criteria
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| 5 | REDCap Team creates account(s) for external user(s). | Invalid Request: REDCap Team notifies OHSU study personnel that request could not be processed. Pertinent details included in notification. |
| 6 | REDCap automatically notifies external user that an account was created in OHSU's REDCap, with instructions to log in and set up password. | Incomplete Request: REDCap Team sends OHSU study personnel link to submit missing or corrected information. Based on response, REDCap process request, following steps 3-8. |
| 7 | REDCap Team notifies the OHSU study personnel that the external account(s) was created, with instructions to add the user(s) to their project. | |
| 8 | OHSU personnel add external user(s) to their project. | |
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Outcome
Outcome:
* Occasionally, accounts are created for non-OHSU personnel from OCTRI partner organizations, such as the Portland VA, at request of the personnel themselves when they will be building and managing a project that has been approved for OHSU's REDCap.
Overview
For collaborators external to OHSU, the project team will first need to request a REDCap account be created, before they can add that personnel to their REDCap project.
- Requests for new accounts are processed throughout the fiscal year.
- Requests to renew accounts for the upcoming fiscal year will only be processed from July 1 to August 31, annually.
Managing External Accounts
All external users have a Sponsor user, as described above. The Sponsor is responsible for managing account operations outlined below. The Sponsor is also the external user's main of point of contact for help with the specific project the user has been added to and the first point of contact for any issues the user encounters accessing REDCap itself.
Sponsor Dashboard
The Sponsor Dashboard is a tool for sponsor users to manage the accounts of their sponsored users.*
- The Dashboard contains information about each external user account sponsored, such as username, name, expiration, and date of last activity.
- From the Dashboard, the Sponsor can send requests to the REDCap Admin Team to help manage their sponsored external user, such as resetting a password, setting the account expiration and suspending the user.
Sponsor Dashboard link on the My Projects tab
All external users have a Sponsor user. The Sponsor is the user who requested the account, unless otherwise designated.
Renewing External Accounts
Requests to renew accounts for the upcoming fiscal year will only be processed at the start of year, from July 1 to August 31, annually.
How to Renews Account - Sponsor Instructions | |
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| 1 | Navigate to Sponsor Dashboard . |
| 2 | For each account to be renewed, selects the corresponding checkbox. |
| 3 | Click the Set account expiration button. |
| 4 | In the Submit to administrator pop-up modal, click the Submit button. |
| 5 | REDCap Team automatically notified. |
| 6 | REDCap Team will send the Sponsor an email to collect updated billing information. |
| 7 | Sponsor sends REDCap Team updated billing information. |
| 8 | REDCap Team updates the expiration date to 8/31 for upcoming fiscal year. |
| 9 | REDcap automatically emails Sponsor the request to Set account expiration (renew account) has been approved. |
Suspending External User Accounts
Study teams should request the suspension of accounts for external users no longer active on the project.
How to Suspend Account - Sponsor Instructions | |
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| 1 | Navigate to Sponsor Dashboard . |
| 2 | Check the box next to each user to be suspended, and click the red Suspend user button. |
| 3 | In the Submit to administrator pop-up, click the Submit button |
| 4 | REDCap Team automatically notified. |
| 5 | REDCap Team approves suspension. |
| 6 | REDcap automatically emails Sponsor to notify that the request to suspend user has been approved. |
Changing Sponsors
- If another REDCap user should be designated as the sponsor for an external user listed on your User Sponsor Dashboard, submit a request to the redcap@ohsu.edu and cc the new Sponsor.
- Include the following information in your email:
- External user's username.
- New Sponsor's name. Sponsors must be REDCap users, i.e. personnel who have logged into REDCap and set up their profile with their OHSU email address.