What are Enotes?

Enotes are electronic notes similar to email.  They can be sent as email messages with a body text and subject line.  Enotes are different from email in that they are intended to be associated with a particular task at hand. For example, an Enote pertaining to a report object can help track the status of the report.  An example of this is shown in the status screen.

In this example, the Enote can be initiated by clicking on the author's name displayed next to each object.  Because Enotes are context sensitive to a particular task, they are used in a similar fashion as a discussion group.   After each Enote is emailed, they are stored in a centralized database.  This database is organized by subject and time.  This makes it possible to review the ongoing threads of discussions.  Enotes can be used to facilitate decisions which require a detailed audit trail.  Since all Enotes are recorded, they create project memory and a knowledge base for documentation purposes.

The Enotes tools can be found in the study conduct area through the Enotes icon.

Reviewing Notes

Enotes are generally organized by reports but they can also pertain to programs and data.  The first Enote screen lists all the reports broken down by report type and sorted by order number. 

This list enables easy association of an Enote to a particular report.  The review of notes is accessible through the Review All Notes button.  The main Enotes review screen displays the notes in chronological order by subject.

All the notes are collapsed by the subject.  The Last Post dates column shows the date of the last Enote which was entered.  The individual Enotes can be viewed through a hyperlink upon each subject. 

The hyperlink from the subject column will drill down to a detailed view of each note which has been sent out.  In this report, the notes are listed in chronological order including who has sent out and the actual message.

During review, it is optional to set any specific Enote to retire status by checking of the retire note on the upper right.  This does not delete the message but it will set the note to be considered retired and therefore it will no longer show up in the review process.  The retire notes are still accessible through the search facility.

The notes can also be promoted to be considered a change control or CC Note.  This is accomplished by clicking on the CC Note button. 

A reply to an existing note can be accomplished through the email message or through the review screen by clicking on the Reply... button.  This will form a new message with the same subject and will be included as a response to the discussion thread.

User Defined Categories

The list of Enotes can accumulate and become very long as your project matures.  By default, the Trialex System comes with three filters which help you categorize your view.  This include:

• Alphabetized by Subject
• Within Last 10 days
• Within Last 30 days

These filters can be applied through a pull down menu from the review Enotes screen.  In addition to the system defaults, you can add your own user defined categories.  These categories can contain Enotes pertaining to a subject that you are interested.  You add new categories or edit existing ones by clicking on the categories button from the review Enotes screen.

The list presented in this screen consists of category names.  The name of a category is defined by the user to concisely (up to 80 characters) describes the groups of selected Enotes. 

You can start to add a new category by clicking on the add button from the categories screen. 

The first step while adding a new category is to come up with a category name.  The next step would be to select the subjects with contain the Enotes of interest and move them to the list on the right.  Multiple items can be selected at once.  Items are moved back and forth through the two button >> and <<.  Once all the items appear on the list on the right, click the OK button to apply the addition of the new category.

Modifying an existing category is very similar to adding a new category.  The differences include:

• You need to select an existing category before selecting the modify button.
• It is required that you are an administrator or the same user who had created the category to be modified.

The same exceptions also apply when you are deleting an existing category. 

Once the category have been defined, they will appear as an option from the review notes screen.  By selecting the user defined category, the Enotes list will be narrowed to only include items found in the category.

Adding and Replying to Notes

Since Enotes are context sensitive, adding a new message is done at specific points within the Trialex System.  The two most common areas include the main Enotes screen or through the status screen.  In order to add an Enote through the main screen, a report item needs to be selected and clicking on the Add Note button will initiate the Enote.  The selection within the status view is highlighted by user names as a hyperlink.

The Enote composition screen is then available with the subject pre-populated and the users pre-selected.

If the user were to select an item from the status view, the destination of the email message will go to the name of the author.  All team members assigned to the study through the user privileges will also receive the email as a CC.  The subject will contain the object selected such as the report name.   If the user changes the default subject line, a new discussion thread will start for that new subject.  The email body will be pre-populated with the current study name  and a descriptive name of the selected report.

Searching Previous Notes

Another tool used to view the Enotes is applying a search upon existing notes.  This is available through the Custom Report button which is found in the Enotes review screen.  The search options consists of the search text criteria and what field this is applied to.

The fields which the search can be applied to includes:

• All Fields
• Subject
• User Name
• Message

The results of the search can be sorted by the following options:

• Subject, Date Time
• Date Time
• User Name, Date Time

The result of the search will appear with the items found in a view similar to the detailed view of the Enotes during review.

Adding Emotion Icons

Smiles and other visual facial images can add expression to simple text.  These emotion icons can be used inside a text message.  For example, a smiley face can clarify that the comment is a joke.  It is common to see shorthand notations for emotion icons in emails.  The following is a list of emotion icons supported by the Trialex System.

Icon Shorthand	Emotion	Graphic That Will Appear
:)	smile
:(	frown
:o	embarrassment
:D	big grin
;)	wink
:p	razz (stick out tongue)

The shorthand notations in Enotes will automatically be converted into the graphic images during review.