Please note: A PDF version of this guide is available for download at the bottom of the article.

This manual will guide you through the process of using the Reviewer Dashboard menu item in the IRB Assistant menu group on the homepage of your iRIS™ software.  Within the Reviewer Dashboard, you can access any submission you have been assigned to review, access internal submission routing assignments, and review any upcoming meetings.

Any of your incomplete Reviewer Assignments will populate in the main page.  To the left of the page, you can switch screen views and view the agenda for different meeting dates.  The Switch View area contains links to the Task List and Internal Submission Routing. The Upcoming Committee Meeting and Past Committee Meeting areas will display different meeting dates.  The Task List is selected by default and displays any submissions you have been assigned to review.

Task List

The Task List displays any submissions you have been assigned to review. The page contains search and view options for you to manage your review assignments. You can click the Close Search link to hide the search criteria. The icon will hide the menu on the left, allowing the Task List queue to display on the entire page.

The search criteria at the top of the queue will allow you to search for specific assignments.  This allows you to easily access any submission you have been assigned to review. Submission Type contains a list of submission form types.  Committee Type populates with committees your account is associated with in User Accounts.  Process Type contains a list of review processes. The default is “All,” but you can also search by submissions placed On Agenda, Expedited, Emergency Use, etc. To do this, set the dropdown option to “Assigned”, then an additional drop down list will become available listing the available review processes you can select.

The Status list will allow you to search for Incomplete or Complete reviewer assignments.  After you select items to refine your search, click the Search button and the page will refresh with all submissions that meet your search criteria.

The Task List page contains the columns shown in the screenshot below.  You may sort the submissions by any of the columns from IRB Number to Assigned Analyst by clicking on the column.  You may then indicate the sort order alphabetically from A-Z or Z-A by clicking on the icon.

PDF – click on the icon in this column to view the submission form in PDF.  When this icon is clicked, the system will convert the submission components to PDF view.  This may take several moments, depending on the size of the material you are viewing.

After the submission form(s) is converted to PDF, a new window will open similar to that in the screenshot below. You can review the submission from this screen, or print the submission.  The new window will allow you view the PDF version of the submission components and the Reviewer Dashboard screen at the same time. This feature will enable you to continue with your review, or switch back to the submission form as needed.  When you are finished reviewing the submission form, click the Close button at the top of the page.

Details – Clicking the icon in this column will pop up with additional details about the submission.

Reviewer Checklist

Click to open – Access your reviewer checklist by clicking the icon in this column.  This will open the Reviewer Checklist form, similar to opening the Reviewer Task from your Homepage.  Navigate through the form by completing the necessary questions and clicking the Save and Continue button on the top right of the page.

Within the reviewer checklist, you will also have the option to use the Reviewer Panel option located at the top of the page. The reviewer panel allows you to navigate through the submission components, where you can view specific sections within each form and make comments as needed.

Reviewer Panel

Click the Reviewer Panel button to open the submission review panel.

On the left-hand side of the screen, you will have all the submission components available for viewing access.

Click on the different submission components link(s) to view the associated forms within each corresponding section.

To review a submission form, click on the form name to display the entire view of the form.

You can also view specific sections within each form by clicking on the icon to expand section details. Once the sections are expanded, you can click on a specific section for review.

Within each form, you will have the ability to make comments associated with specific questions. To comment, click on the icon next to the corresponding question. This will populate a comment window where you can enter comments and save them to the submission form.

When you view a consent or other study document, the document will display within the panel and an additional feature will be available on the top of the panel called Highlight Mode. By default, this mode is off. Click the On button to enable the feature. Note the “Expand Comments Panel” option at the bottom of the page.

When Highlight Mode is enabled, the Comments Panel will expand on the page. You can highlight areas of the document and add comments to that specific part of the document.

Highlighted text:

A popup will appear, and the background will gray out. Add your comment to the popup. You can move the comment box around on the page by clicking on the box and dragging it to the desired location.

You can also expand the comment box by placing your mouse at the bottom or right side of the box and clicking and dragging the box.

When you have added the comment, click the Save button to the bottom left of the comment box.

You can click the Cancel button to discard the comment.

Comments added to the document will display within the Comments Panel at the bottom of the page. If other members have added comments, those will appear in the Comments Panel as well. You can flip between the comments by clicking on the green Previous and Next arrows.

When you click on a comment or view them by clicking on the Previous or Next buttons, the comment will become active and the text within the document that the comment refers to will highlight yellow. If you are the author of the comment you can Delete the comment or Edit the comment by clicking the appropriate button. You can reply to the comment by clicking on the Reply link.

You can then enter your reply, and click Save when done.

Once you are done entering comments and reviewing components, you can exit the review panel by clicking the Close Panel button at the top of the page. This will bring you back into the Reviewer Checklist.

Note: The Reviewer Checklist is a configurable form, so your form may look different than the one used in the example below.

At the end of the form, you will be asked for your recommendation and to indicate whether you have completed your review.  When you indicate Yes and click Save and Continue, the system will mark your review as complete.  Your assignment will move from the Task List page to the Reviewer Assignment link in IRB Assistant.  Your completed reviewer assignments can also be found by searching for Complete Tasks from within the Reviewer Dashboard.

Comments made by the Reviewer can also be seen and shared with other reviewers when this property is turned on, rb.use_shared_comments. This property is located in IRB Assistant > Review Board Administration > Board Configuration Options > Reviewers. When set to “Yes”, reviewers will be able to see other reviewer comments. When set to “No”, reviewers will not be able to see the comments made by the others.

Internal Submission Routing

This link contains any Internal Submission Routing tasks that you have been assigned.  These tasks also populate in the incomplete tasks on your homepage.  

Click the icon to open an assignment.

The Internal Submission Routing page lists elements of the submission with a menu across the top of the page that will allow you to access different areas of the study related to the submission.

Submission Components – The first section of the Internal Submission Routing page is a link to the submission components.  

Reviewer Assignment List – Section displays any reviewers associated to the submission.  If you are assigned as the reviewer, you will be able to access your Reviewer Checklist from this section.

Meeting Discussion – Displays any discussion added to the submission from a meeting.  The meeting discussion can be edited from this section.

Recommendations – Displays recommendations added to the submission. You can add, edit, and delete recommendations from this section.

Stipulations – Any stipulations added to the submission will populate here.  Stipulations can be added/deleted or edited from this section.

Submission Outcome – Displays the outcome set for the submission in read-only format (if an outcome has been determined).

Outcome Letters – Any outcome letters created for the submission populate here.  If you have been assigned to sign off on a letter for this submission, you will be able to access your signoff task from this section.  You can also create and send a letter from this section.

Internal Submission Routing – The last item on the page contains specific information about the internal submission routing task.  This is where you can view assignment notes and indicate completion of the routing task.  

From this section, you can respond back to the Analyst by clicking User Comments to add comments regarding the submission.  

You can also add additional routing tasks in case the submission needs to be reviewed by someone else on the board.  You can do this by clicking the Add Routing button.  This will open the Internal Submission Routing Assignment screen. Select which board members to assign the submission to and their role, and add any comments if necessary.

Click Save Selections to save the routing.

If you added a routing by mistake, you will be able to undo the addition by checking the box next to the routing you added and clicking on the Remove Routing button.  After making any changes to this section, click the Save Routing button.

When you are finished with your assignment, indicate that your assignment is complete by selecting Yes under the Completed column and click Save Routing.  If you return to the Reviewer Dashboard, the Internal Submission Routing task will no longer appear on this page.

Committee Meetings

The Upcoming Committee Meeting area displays the next upcoming meetings, with the closest meeting in red. Click on any meeting date to open the Agenda. From this view, you can access submissions placed on a particular meeting date and edit the agenda. Click Save Changes when you are done editing the agenda.

You can click on any of the dates in the Past Committee Meetings area to open the agenda for that meeting and can edit them as well.

Reviewer Specific Tasks

Reviewer Assignment Task

The Reviewer Assignment home screen task will populate when you have been assigned as a reviewer. The task will stay on your home screen until the assignment has been completed. Additionally, you may receive an email notification indicating that you have been assigned as a reviewer. Opening this task will navigate you into the Reviewer Checklist (either directly to the form or to the submission processing screens, depending on your system configuration) where you can complete the review for the submission round.

Internal Submission Routing Signoff Task

The Internal Submission Routing Signoff home screen task will populate when you have been routed to complete a signoff. The task will stay on your home screen until you indicate that you are complete with your signoff task. Additionally, you may receive an email notification indicating that you have been assigned an Internal Submission Routing Signoff task. Opening this task will navigate you into the Submission Validation page, where you can verify the submission components and complete the signoff.

Note: All tasks that have been assigned to the user will populate here under “All Tasks” and can be filtered to show only specific tasks.