How KCL's research team moved from spreadsheets to a fully auditable digital study platform in under two weeks

A KCL research team had received ethics approval for an observational study and needed to begin recruitment immediately. Their previous approach — Excel spreadsheets and paper case report forms — would not satisfy the data governance requirements outlined in their ethics submission, which specified electronic data capture with full audit trails.

The team had a limited budget, no dedicated IT support, and needed a system their postgraduate researchers could learn and use independently. Commercial EDC platforms they evaluated came with six-figure price tags and implementation timelines measured in months.

Through Trialflare's academic programme, the KCL team accessed the platform free of charge. Using the self-service form builder, a postgraduate researcher configured the study's eSource forms, consent workflows, and participant tracking in under a week — with no external support needed.

Role-based access was set up for the PI, two postdoctoral researchers, and three postgraduate assistants. All data was stored in GDPR-compliant EU data centres with automatic audit trails recording every entry, edit, and access event — satisfying both the ethics committee and the university's data governance office.

The study went live 11 days after the team signed up to Trialflare. First participant data was collected on day 12. The research team completed the study on schedule and produced a complete, audit-ready dataset with no data integrity findings at the post-study data review.

The department has since adopted Trialflare as its recommended platform for observational and interventional studies, with four additional research groups now active on the platform. KCL cited ease of use, rapid deployment, and the academic pricing model as the deciding factors.