The Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine of the University of Bern developed a data management software (Meta-Base) that is able to manage steps 10-12 described above, using Microsoft SQL Server (MS SQL) as back-bone and Microsoft Access as front-end. Although the system facilitates the review process, it is not flexible enough for general use. For example, data extraction forms for data entry are not readily adaptable.
To allow for a flexible system we decided to set-up a completely new system based on a well established web-based data management system for clinical studies (WebSpirit®). The system runs on a Linux server hosted by the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine of the University of Bern. It is implemented in PHP based on the relational database PostgreSQL.

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