What's new (Simple service)

The ordinal randomisation number (1, 2, 3...) is now included in the email notifications.
Extra validation checks are performed when creating lists to prevent errors caused by malformed inputs.

Validation certificate 1.19.0

Sep 2019 - version 1.18.0

This update incorporates a change to our card payment integration with Stripe to comply with new regulations for strong customer authentication in Europe.

Jul 2019 - version 1.17.0

This is a minor update to address a few issues:

It wasn't previously possible to order a block of randomisations when the list was too short to reach the new randomisation limit. We've relaxed this rule to allow a block to be ordered so that a trial can reach its intended recruitment target when it is below the upper randomisation limit. We still show a warning about this on the order form.
If a randomisation list of fewer than 50 rows was uploaded, paying the set-up cost did not increase the randomisation limit to the maximum possible if some randomisations had been carried out. This has been fixed.
Orders paid for by invoice are now automatically fulfilled when the invoice is paid.
Password reset emails can only be requested once over a short period.

May 2019 - version 1.15.0 and 1.16.0

These releases were mainly to do with changes to back-end administration tools used by Sealed Envelope.

In addition a few issues were fixed:

A warning message that the list was not long enough to reach the planned sample size was sometimes shown erroneously.
Randomisation by SMS failed for trials without lists.
Emoji were not supported, but now they are 😄, so you can brighten up your trial descriptions. We don't recommend you put emoji in the trial name as it makes it hard to search – you'd need to enter the full name with emoji into the search box to find your trial.

Validation certificates

We now produce a validation certificate for each release. This confirms the software was produced according to our SOPs and has passed all of our internal testing procedures.

March 2019 - version 1.14.1

Some minor updates to fix an error that could occur when parsing the strata on the create a randomisation list form, and a more general change to the way errors are handled.

March 2019 - version 1.14.0

You can now pay online for randomisations, making it quicker and easier for you to set-up or extend your randomisation system!

Rebranded Simple with list to Simple+

We've changed the name of what we used to call the Simple with list service to Simple +. This better reflects the fact that Simple + has additional features (eligibility criteria and randomisation by SMS) and doesn't necessarily use a list.

Online payment

A secure online checkout that allows set-up costs and randomisation blocks to be paid for instantly has been added. Ordering is also possible with payment by invoice through the same checkout, but in this case orders are not fulfilled until the invoice has been paid.

Administration area

Administrative features (online payment, sending randomisations by email, SMS instructions and deleting the trial) have been moved into a dedicated administration area. This is password protected with the trial password.

Randomisation list warnings

Applies to Simple + only with a randomisation list.

Warnings are now shown when the number of allocations for any stratum in a randomisation list may be too short to reach the sample size or randomisation limit.

In the example screenshot the trial uses a list stratified by age group, and the Under 4 age group has 19 unused allocations in the randomisation list. Since there are 46 randomisations remaining until the limit of 50 is reached, the list may be too short. The list will run out if more than 19 randomisations are carried out for the Under 4 age group.

Other changes

Users can specify the trial's SMS ID on trial set-up which activates the randomisation by text message feature
Sample size is now recorded on trial set-up and used to prevent the upload of lists that are too short.
Longer inputs are allowed for treatments, block sizes and strata on list creation
Notification emails are now sent in HTML format
Randomisations are sent by email as a CSV attachment rather then being inline for easier processing
The minimum trial password length has been increased to 8
The low balance warning is now shown earlier, when 10 or fewer randomisations remain rather than 5