1.4.4 The Collaboration’s Information Management System - Archie

The contact details (name, address, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address) of Cochrane entities and individuals are held in The Cochrane Collaboration’s Information Management System (IMS). Access is via the Internet (www.cochrane.org/archie), and restricted mainly to the contact person of each Cochrane entity, each of whom is provided with a personal user name and password. The data for entities and their members are maintained by the entities themselves. Since Archie runs on a central server, all changes that are made are instantly available to other users.

Modules of all types of entity (not only those of Cochrane Review Groups) are published in each issue of The Cochrane Library. For this reason it is important for Super Users of Fields, Methods Groups and Centres to take responsibility for updating their entity’s module at regular intervals (preferably quarterly, if there have been changes in personnel or other information since the previous issue of The Cochrane Library). This involves keeping the names of entity staff up to date, and also their declarations of interest (see section 1.5.2 above); removing details of past events such as workshops; removing duplicate entries; and updating other information as necessary.

It is possible to export data from Archie for use in local systems, but all updating is done centrally. The software has been developed and is maintained by the IMS team at the Nordic Cochrane Centre, who provide technical help and advice with updating entity modules. The table below indicates who has responsibility for managing the different types of data stored in Archie. Details of other responsibilities, such as user support or system management and backup, are not included here.

People

Responsibilities

Questions about data should go to:

Individuals who do not have access to ‘Archie’

 

  • keep their primary Cochrane entity informed about any changes to their contact details

Primary Cochrane entity

Standard users (individuals who have access and can edit their own contact details)

 

  • update their own contact details
  • verify that entity affiliation is correct

Primary Cochrane entity

Entity administrators

  • update their own contact details
  • update their entity’s record (including its module, if a non-CRG)
  • update the entity’s membership/role information
  • update members’ records (if primary), or notify relevant administrator (if not primary)
  • respond to questions/requests from other entity administrators
  • respond to questions/requests from entity members

Individuals in question, or other entity administrators

Data administrator1 (staff of the Cochrane Operations Unit)

  • tries to ensure that contact details of the contact people of all entities are available and up-to-date
  • updates these contact details if necessary2
  • directs questions/requests to the appropriate Entity

Particular individuals, Entity administrators, or System administrator

System administrator1 (staff of the IMS team at the Nordic Cochrane Centre)

  • has no data responsibilities
  • performs imports and bulk editing tasks, and generates reports from the Database
  • responds to questions/requests

n/a

1.  Data and System administrators may also independently be Entity administrators for specific entities.

2.  The type and number of contact persons required will depend on the type of entity, and should be agreed with the Cochrane Operations Unit (secretariat@cochrane.org).

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