Authors:
Mihai Pintilie, Principal Product Manager, eCOA
Roger Vaillancourt, Senior Director, eCOA Operations
Snapshot:
- Purpose-built tools for faster configuration: Suvoda eCOA simplifies design, translations, and layout preview within a unified system
- Rapid questionnaire creation: Low-code tools and reusable components cut build time dramatically
- Faster global readiness: Centralized licensing and translation streamline multi-language studies
Clinical trials are growing more complex, but the pressure to reduce timelines never goes away. Delays during the startup phase can impact the entire study lifecycle. Among the most common bottlenecks: the setup of electronic clinical outcome assessments (eCOA). Traditional approaches to eCOA configuration can require lengthy build cycles, cumbersome localizations, and fragmented vendor coordination—all of which can place timelines and budgets at risk.
Suvoda eCOA was developed with these challenges in mind. With purpose-built tools and a thoughtful, protocol-aware design approach, Suvoda enables study teams to reduce complexity, eliminate redundancies, and move from protocol finalization to go-live with greater speed and confidence.
Here are five ways Suvoda eCOA supports accelerated study startups:
1. Pre-validated templates minimize build requirements
Suvoda offers a robust repository of pre-validated eCOA templates, each grounded in industry standards and informed by real-world study experience. These templates provide a reliable starting point for study teams, reducing the need for extensive repeat development and associated validation work.
By leveraging proven frameworks, studies can be configured more efficiently, with shorter build cycles and less rework—helping trials to progress without compromising data integrity or compliance.
2. Low-code/no-code questionnaire creation for rapid build
One of the most significant contributors to eCOA setup delays is the complexity of questionnaire design. Suvoda addresses this challenge with SQDL—the Suvoda Questionnaire Design Language—a proprietary, patented language that allows non-engineers to define questionnaires through an intuitive interface.
SQDL facilitates collaboration between clinical and technical stakeholders by making the logic transparent, reviewable, and easy to modify. This clarity expedites both initial configuration and subsequent updates, helping teams align more quickly and decisively.
3. Integrated licensing and localization coordination
Studies can require anywhere from two or three to 20 questionnaires or more, each needed in 15 to 20 languages. When the required licensing and translations are managed across multiple vendors, it can lead to delays, confusion, and misaligned timelines. Suvoda centralizes these efforts, coordinating all licensing and translation requirements through a unified internal process supported by specialized partners who can work directly within the system.
This can shorten review and approval cycles, alleviate administrative burden, and help required materials be ready when needed—keeping studies on track.
4. Preview questionnaires in real-time to support early alignment
How questionnaires will appear on screen is a critical part of the patient experience and is often a source of startup delays. With Suvoda’s patented Questionnaire XD architecture, delivery teams can view questionnaires as they are being designed in real-time.
These live previews promote early review, minimize unnecessary revisions, and provide greater visibility into how assessments will appear on screen for patients and sites—helping teams identify and resolve discrepancies well before deployment.
5. Built-in flexibility for mid-study changes
Clinical trials are dynamic. Protocol amendments and questionnaire logic changes are often unavoidable—but in many systems, even small changes can require full revalidation and trigger delays.
Questionnaire XD makes it possible to update questionnaires mid-study without disrupting the rest of the system. This flexibility protects timelines and preserves startup momentum.
Purpose-built for the pace of today's trials
Suvoda eCOA is part of a broader platform philosophy focused on easing the trial experience for patients, sites, and sponsors. It operates on a single, unified platform alongside Suvoda IRT and eConsent, and will feature Greenphire Patient Payments, Travel, and Scheduling. With shared workflows, interfaces, and data layers, users experience fewer disconnected systems, fewer manual handoffs, greater operational efficiency, and greater visibility to trial data.
This unified platform allows key trial moments—like patient randomization or consent collection—to be triggered by eCOA activity, reducing delays caused by siloed systems.
In a landscape where speed to first patient in is critical, Suvoda offers a thoughtful and efficient path forward—supporting faster launches, more predictable timelines, and ultimately, greater access to innovation for the patients who need it most.
Authors
Mihai Pintilie
Principal Product Manager, eCOA
Roger Vaillancourt
Senior Director, eCOA Operations