Clinical trials are complex. That’s expected, given accelerated advancements in science and technology. But when that complexity creates friction in how trials are designed and run, it slows timelines and introduces risk.
Study teams work across multiple systems to manage protocols, documents, training, and enrollment. Sites re-send the same information across platforms, while sponsors and CROs lack a consistent view of progress, causing delays and reducing predictability.
The issue isn’t any single system. It’s how disconnected they are.
Advarra’s Study Collaboration has evolved to tackle this issue head on. By connecting to existing native systems and providing a single, shared workspace, Study Collaboration is pioneering a new way for sites, sponsors, and CROs to work together—reducing administrative work and improving visibility.
A connected foundation for the trial lifecycle
Study Collaboration has evolved from a study startup tool into a connected suite that supports the full trial lifecycle. Powered by Braid, Advarra’s unified data and AI layer, Study Collaboration brings together workflows, systems, and operational insight to help sponsors and CROs work more effectively with sites.
This foundation enables a set of purpose-built capabilities that align decisions made early in study design with how trials are ultimately run:
- Study Design: Optimize protocols with insights drawn from the industry’s richest trial operations dataset, reducing avoidable amendments. The solution includes a tailored service and an app that uses conversational AI for rapid, on-demand insights.
- Site Identification & Feasibility: Identify sites using the most up-to-date performance data from Advarra’s IRB, then accelerate site qualification through streamlined feasibility assessments.
- Study Startup: Activate trials quickly through guided workflows that provide shared visibility into both site and sponsor milestones, and automate progress toward site readiness.
- Site Collaboration & Training: Collaborate more efficiently with sites through connected document exchange and powerful study training that now includes conversational AI for faster protocol comprehension.
- Enrollment Planning & Tracking: Enable sites with tools to plan recruitment strategies, prioritize and access referrals within native CTMS systems, track real-time enrollment and screening progress, and support participant engagement throughout the clinical trial journey.
Together, these capabilities create continuity, connecting what’s planned with what actually happens at the site level.
Built to work within existing site workflows
To push beyond functionality, that continuity requires meeting sites where they are. Many research sites already operate within Advarra’s technology ecosystem. Study Collaboration connects to those existing systems, allowing sponsors and CROs to engage sites within their day-to-day workflows.
Building on its integration with CIRBI, Study Collaboration connects directly with Advarra’s industry-leading site systems—OnCore CTMS, Clinical Conductor CTMS, and eReg—as well as sponsor CTMS and eTMF platforms. As a result, study documents and data move more seamlessly across stakeholders.
Documents such as IRB approvals, essential study files, and training certificates are routed without manual handoffs. Patient referrals flow directly into the CTMS platforms where site staff already operate. At the same time, sponsors, CROs, and sites gain a shared view of study progress, reducing the need for constant status updates via email.
This approach reduces duplication, shortens startup timelines, and makes it easier for sites to participate without disrupting how they work.
Adding intelligence to connected workflows
Connectivity creates the foundation; intelligence helps teams act on it. By combining integrations with a unified data layer, Advarra brings together protocol data, operational insights, and real-world study performance to inform decisions across the trial lifecycle, empowering sponsors and CROs to:
- Optimize their protocols before they reach sites;
- Identify high-performing sites using validated data;
- Support faster protocol comprehension for site staff; and
- Plan enrollment more proactively.
The result is not just more connected trials, but more informed, predictable ones.
A real-world example: ICON and Advarra’s connected site network model
ICON is applying this approach through a connected, research-ready site network model that creates a shared operating environment with its global research sites.
In this model, Study Collaboration serves as the integration hub connecting ICON’s clinical trial systems with the Advarra systems sites use every day for financial management, regulatory compliance, and participant visit workflows. This enables study information, documents, training materials, and enrollment activity to move more efficiently between ICON and participating sites, with shared visibility into progress.
For ICON, this shifts trial conduct away from fragmented coordination toward a more unified, scalable approach. By connecting to site-native systems, ICON reduces duplicate work, accelerates startup, and improves consistency without adding burden to site teams.
Study Collaboration also provides ICON with operational insight to inform earlier decisions. By drawing on historical study data and real-world site performance, ICON can better optimize protocol design, strengthen site identification and feasibility, and plan studies with a clearer understanding of site capacity and workflow realities.
The result is a more predictable approach to trial conduct, helping ICON:
- Reduce downstream adjustments mid-study;
- Improve efficiency across its global network; and
- Enable more sites, including those newer to research, to participate using technology designed for their day-to-day operations.
Moving forward with greater alignment
A connected approach isn’t a groundbreaking one, but it is necessary to meet the demands and realities of today’s research. When systems reflect how team and sites operate in practice, more efficient studies are within reach.
Connect with our team to learn more about Study Collaboration or to schedule a demo.
