April 2015

The next release of updates to ESTR is scheduled to take place after 6:00pm on April 16.  This release is focused on aligning two Harvard custom features with the vendor upgrade path.  You will notice the following key changes after this release:

In addition to regulatory elements, a selection of Harvard-specific determinations will be recorded in the ESTR.  These “Harvard Special Determinations” will appear in determination letters, as applicable and will allow for simplified reporting by the IRB.  Your IRB/IRB Review Specialist will alert you to any additional needed information relative to these determinations as part of the regular review process.  However, at this time, additional visibility into these determinations does not represent any new policies or additional requirements.

The Study Team Member Tab, visible on submission workspaces, has been reformatted to display a dynamic list of study team members which can be searched and filtered, along with more at-a-glance information about the named Principal Investigator and Faculty Sponsor, as applicable.

Additional more minor changes:
>Turkey is available to select as an international site on the SmartForm.
>Continuing Review reminder notifications include links directly to more specific submission deadline information for each IRB.

As part of the next few updates to ESTR, you will see additional navigation and use changes. To learn more about what is planned for ESTR updates, please see the "ESTR Update Plan" section of this page.

Please visit the Job Aids page of this site for current ESTR job aids and training information.