Central Coding for InForm

The clinical coding process can be a daunting, time-consuming, and ultimately expensive proposition for sponsors and Contract Research Organizations (CROs). Central Coding for InForm is a Web-based coding and dictionary management application designed to automate the coding process and minimize the manual effort required to code verbatim terms. Optimized to work with the InForm Integrated Trial Management (ITM) solution, Phase Forward's industry-leading electronic data capture (EDC) product, the Central Coding module streamlines the coding process, increases coding consistency and potentially drives down costs. Now sponsors and CROs have a centralized means to code, review, resolve and approve terms — all of which can happen simultaneously across staff, sites, trials and locations.

The Central Coding solution is a customizable Web-based clinical coding and dictionary management application that delivers precise auto-coding and interactive manual coding of clinical drug names and indications, adverse event terms, and patient medical history. It provides a centralized collection and access point for all verbatims, and advanced technology features such as customizable synonym and stopword lists, auto-code and propagate functionality, and the workflow and management interface the coding team will use to assign, code and approve terms.

Designed to complement the trial management efficiencies found within the InForm ITM electronic data capture solution, the Central Coding application integrates with the InForm solution as the source system for verbatim terms, saving sponsors and CROs costly integration services and time delays when integrating and deploying a coding solution.


The Central Coding application supports multi-level dictionaries, including support for the industry standard WHO-Drug Dictionary (WHO-DD) and the Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Affairs (MedDRA) for the intial coding and re-coding process. The Central Coding application can also be configured to support hierarchically structured custom or proprietary dictionary formats.

High-Impact Features:

  • High-performance algorithm improves auto-hit rates
  • Configurable synonym lists and addendums can be applied across different studies, ensuring consistency and saving time
  • Definable stop-word lists increases the speed and accuracy of auto-coding
  • Auto-code and approval functions reduce manual coding efforts
  • Intelligent code and propagate functions eliminate the need to manually code identical verbatims
  • Auto-suggest applies past coding choices as an option
  • Impact Analysis reports and reconciliation tools for updating coded terms within a trial with a newer dictionary version
  • Complete audit history provides a date and time stamp for all changes

Key Benefits :

  • Provides global, multi-trial and multi-center connectivity to efficiently code accross all your trials
  • Reduces manual coding efforts by leveraging robust algorithms, synonym lists, and propagation functions to save time
  • Improves quality and streamlines coding process with link-through capabilities to InForm for reference and query initiation
  • Offers a flexible coding process with configurable role-based workflow and approval
  • Supports the latest standards with centralized, multi-version support for MedDRA and WHO-DD
  • Provides ready-to-run reports for coding classification, consistency, coded items and user reports