Managing Queries

There are two types of queries in Vault EDC: system and manual queries. Vault generates system queries by running checks on data and creating a query when data doesn’t meet specifications defined during study design. For example, Vault creates a system query when an entered date is outside a certain range. Manual queries are those created by a Clinical Research Associate (CRA) or Data Manager.

For query information specific to Clinical Research Coordinators (CRCs) and Principal Investigators, see Answering Queries.

Viewing Queries

From Review > My Studies > Queries, you can see a listing of all queries, including Event Date queries, from Sites that you have permission to access. Vault lists totals of queries by status at the Site and Subject levels, in the Open Queries and Answered Queries columns. See below for details about those statuses.

Click to open a query. Vault automatically opens the Form or Event that the query is on. From here, you can comment on or close the query.

Note that if an Item with an open query is hidden in Data Entry, review users can only close the query, not comment on it.

You can view closed queries with three (3) or more comments from the form that the query is on. The closed query is displayed next to the Event Date (for Event Date queries) or Item (for Item queries) that the query was opened about.

Query Teams

Each query has a badge indicating which team created it. The Query Team for a query is only shown for queries when the study is enabled for Team Query Restrictions in Studio.

If your study uses the Team Query Restrictions feature, only members of the same team as the query creator can close a query. If a query is created by one team, for example, the Clinical team, then only members of that team can close the query. In this example, a member of the Data Management team would be able to comment on the query, but that user wouldn’t be able to close it. You can still view and comment on queries created by other teams. The selected Query Team will be visible in the UI and will display in the Query Detail Listing and the SYS_Q dataset of the Study Data Extract.

When a user has multiple Study Roles, that user can use the dropdown menu in the Query Team field to select the role in which they are responding to a query.

When Team Query Restrictions are enabled, users can choose which Query Team to assign to System queries in study-level settings. Learn more about study settings.

System Queries

Vault runs a check and creates a system query on any item value that is out of a defined range. That range is defined during study design.

The following system query types are defined automatically:

• Required: When creating an Item Definition, a study designer can choose to mark a field as required. If this field is left empty when a form is submitted, Vault creates a system query (“This field is required.”).
• Range: When creating an Item Definition, a study designer can define a range for a field value. If the entered value is outside of that range, Vault creates a system query (Value is out of range.). Note that this query type is only for numeric values, not dates.
• Future Date: When creating an Item Definition, a study designer can disallow future dates. If a user enters a future date, Vault creates a system query (Future dates are not allowed.).
• Future Date (Event Dates): When creating an Event Definition, a study designer can indicate that future dates aren’t allowed. Vault can then create a system query on any Event Date that is later than the current date when entered.
• Out of Window (Event Dates): When creating an Event Definition, a study designer can create a window of allowed dates for an Event. If configured, Vault can create a system query any time an Event Date falls outside of this window.

Study designers can define additional data validation rules in Studio. Based on those rules, Vault EDC can create additional system-generated queries.

When a system query is manually closed, that same system query will not re-fire when forms are resubmitted.

If you have the View Query Rules permission, and you are able to access the EDC Tools area, you can view a list of all data validation rules for queries in EDC Tools > Query Rules.

Opening Manual Queries

You can open queries from a Form in the Review tab. To open a query in the Reviews tab:

1. From the Review tab, navigate to the Form or Item you want to open a query on.

2. For Item queries, click the Open Query icon on the Item.

3. For Event Date queries, click the Open Query icon on the Event Date.

4. Enter your comment in the text entry field. Note that query messages have a 500 character limit. A best practice is to avoid using special characters, as they may not appear correctly in export files.
5. Click Save. Vault creates the query.

Your new query now displays to data entry users as an Open query that they need to answer. This query also displays in the Queries listing in the Review tab.

Commenting on a Query

You can comment on a query.

1. Navigate to the Event, Form, or Item on which there is an open query.
2. Click the Open Query icon.
3. Click Reply (for manual queries) or Comment (for system queries).
4. Enter a comment.
5. Click Save.

Commenting on a query will only move it to the Answered status if you have the Answer Query permisssion.

Closing Queries

Once a system or manual query is resolved, and no further actions are required, you can close a query. Note that you can immediately close a query you create, without a user answering the query.

1. Navigate to the open query. The Answered Query icon indicates that the query was answered.
2. Optional: Enter a comment.
3. Click Close Query.

Reopening Queries

You can reopen a manual query if additional action or discussion is required. Note that you may only reopen queries with three (3) or more comments.

To reopen a query:

1. Navigate to the closed query.
2. Click Reopen.
3. Enter a comment.

Vault returns the query to the Open status.

Query Statuses & Icons

Queries in Vault have three statuses: Open, Answered, and Closed. These statuses indicate which actions have been taken and what still needs to occur on a query.

Vault displays the badge icons on top of the Event or Form status icons. Vault then displays the full status icon for queries in the query itself.

Badge	Icon	Name	Status
		Open	Open indicates that a query has not been answered. The Open Query badge displays in the casebook schedule on the queried event or form's existing status icon, while the Open Query icon displays on the query itself. Vault lists open queries in the task bar.
		Answered	Answered indicates that a query has been addressed. For example, the site has responded with a reason for the queried value. The Answered Query badge appears in the casebook schedule on the queried Event or Form’s existing status icon, while the Answered Query icon displays on the query itself.
N/A		Closed	Closed indicates that a query requires no further action or discussion. A CRA or Data Manager can reopen a closed query if needed.

Rules in EDC Tools

Lead data managers and other users with access to the EDC Tools area can perform additional actions on rules there:

• In EDC Tools > Rules, you can view details about a rule, including its expression.
• In EDC Tools > Job History, you can view a history of any Run Rules jobs that have been run.

See Managing Rules for details.