A clinical research site’s study pipeline is tied to its overall performance, with CROs and sponsors rewarding sites that demonstrate efficiency, reliability, experience, and strong patient recruitment capabilities with more trial opportunities. Maintaining a strong and efficient study pipeline is critical for the success of any site. Having a well-managed pipeline ensures a steady flow of studies, resources, and opportunities, which directly impacts a site’s financial stability and sustainability. There are many metrics that can provide insights into operational efficiency, financial health, and overall site performance. In this blog, we’ll explain how you can improve your study pipeline. By tracking these metrics, sites can identify areas for improvement and implement data-driven strategies to enhance their operations and win more studies.
Why Pipeline Management Matters
Having a strong trial pipeline is key for a site’s financial stability and revenue generation. This pipeline ensures a steady revenue stream, with new trial opportunities flowing in from a variety of sources. Efficiently managing these opportunities is important for budgeting, resource allocation, and overall operational effectiveness. A well-maintained pipeline also allows for improved planning and utilization of staff, equipment, and facilities as you know what to expect and can better manage downtime and engagement across your sites. Being able to see how often opportunities flow in, from where, and for what kind of trials can also shine a light on emerging industry trends – allowing you to capitalize on them early by preparing and allocating the correct resources.
Ultimately, continuous engagement in trials allows sites to build experience and expertise, leading to more reliable outcomes. A strong pipeline supports the development and refinement of standardized processes and strategic planning, improving consistency and accuracy in trial execution and data collection. Sponsors and CROs are more likely to choose clinical research sites with a proven track record, increasing your site’s competitive edge.
Key Performance Metrics to Monitor
As in all aspects of clinical trials, data is king when it comes to operational performance. Consistently maintaining efficient trial management leads to a stronger pipeline, attracting more sponsors and studies. Monitoring key performance metrics is essential for maintaining effective trial management, which in turn strengthens your study pipeline. Sponsors and CROs are keenly aware of these metrics, as they directly reflect a site’s ability to deliver results on time and within budget. By consistently excelling in these areas, your site not only builds a reputation for reliability and competence but also becomes a preferred partner, attracting more studies and forging stronger relationships with industry leaders. Sponsors care about these metrics because they indicate the likelihood of trial success, the quality of data collected, and the efficiency of the trial process – all critical factors in bringing new therapies to market. Here are some of the most important metrics to monitor:
New Opportunities per Month
Knowing the rate at which your site is receiving new opportunities month over month can help you better manage resources and plan ahead. Tracking the timing around opportunities as they move through the process is also key to understanding your standard business development funnel.
Opportunity Close Rate
Having a steady flow of opportunities is important, but knowing your average opportunity close rate is just as crucial. Knowing exactly how often you are winning can make all the difference when it comes to effective business development strategies and growing your business. Identifying strengths and weaknesses and then acting upon that information can help set your organization scale faster and achieve sustained success.
Lead Source Tracking
Identifying where your opportunities are coming from is the first step to developing stronger partnerships. Have a steady stream from a certain CRO or sponsor? Reach out about additional opportunities in new indications or areas you’re looking to grow. For new or slower sources, use past successes and metrics to help start the conversation and encourage more opportunities for your organization.
Trials Seen by Specialty/Indication
While many sites may have a specialty/indication they primarily perform in, tracking opportunities by indication further provides insights into current trends and potential areas for growth. The ability to anticipate or adapt or pivot to take on trials in a new indication is key to expanding your business and scaling operations.
Study Start-Up Timing
Although not tied directly to your pipeline, the time it takes to initiate a study from site selection to patient recruitment directly impacts the overall trial timeline and is one of the few places to effectively speed up trials. Sites should track the duration of each start-up phase and identify any bottlenecks. Demonstrating to sponsors and CROs how quickly you’ve moved previous trials from initiation to enrollment can distinguish your site in the decision-making process.
Improving Site Performance with Technology
Monitoring and managing all the moving parts of a clinical trial can be daunting. That’s why implementing the right technology for your organization is so important. Designed specifically for clinical research organizations, RealTime-Devana automates data collection, streamlines pipeline management, accelerates study start-up, and improves clinical trial site management and monitoring. The system helps automate the tracking of business development and overall performance metrics across the entire organization, making it easier to monitor trends and providing real-time oversight into current pipeline management, study start-up, and beyond. Leveraging RealTime-Devana, sites can drive improvements in business development processes, as well as feasibility, trial monitoring, site management, and countless other processes, all from directly within the system. Furthermore, the system offers seamless integrations into the industry’s leading CTMS solutions, allowing for automated tracking of business development and overall performance metrics across the entire organization, while also enabling comprehensive oversight of clinical operations. This integration makes it easier to monitor trends and provides real-time insights into current pipeline management, study start-up, and beyond.
Transform your business development process as well as your feasibility, trial monitoring, site management, and countless other processes – all within the same system.
For both central teams and site-based staff, RealTime-Devana provides a centralized platform that serves as a single source of truth for all trial-related data, contacts, and documents. As trials progress through the system, Devana automatically captures timing and performance metrics for all sites and trials from pipeline to closeout. Via powerful dashboards and reports, sites can monitor key metrics at a glance, empowering them to make data-driven decisions to improve efficiency and identify both strengths and weaknesses. The RealTime-Devana platform also automates various aspects of study management, including site activation processes, document tracking, and pre- and post-award milestone tracking. This automation reduces manual errors and accelerates study start-up times. Successful sites and site networks who have already adopted the RealTime-Devana system generally report up to 30% in staff time saved per week, 14 hours of time saved per study activation, and 76% reduced contract and budget turnaround times.
Key Takeaways
For clinical research sites, a strong pipeline ensures a steady flow of revenue by continuously bringing in new trial opportunities from various sources. Effective, streamlined management of this pipeline is vital for budgeting, resource allocation, and overall operational effectiveness. With a well-maintained pipeline, sites can better plan and utilize their staff, equipment, and facilities, minimizing downtime and maximizing engagement across all trial locations. Moreover, understanding where opportunities originate and how quickly they can be converted into active studies allows sites to stay ahead of emerging industry trends, positioning them to capitalize on new opportunities swiftly.
Ultimately, a continuous engagement in trials builds a site’s experience and expertise, leading to more consistent and reliable outcomes. This proven track record of reliability and competence makes sites more attractive to sponsors and CROs, further solidifying their competitive edge.
In modern clinical trials, consistently monitoring key performance metrics is important for maintaining an effective trial pipeline. Sponsors and CROs closely watch these metrics as they are indicators of a site’s ability to deliver results on time and within budget. By excelling in these areas, sites not only build a strong reputation but also become preferred partners for future studies.
Leveraging technology like RealTime-Devana is critical for improving and demonstrating a site’s performance in managing the complexities of a clinical trial. With its comprehensive features, from automating data collection to streamlining pipeline management and accelerating study start-up, RealTime-Devana empowers sites to monitor trends, make data-driven decisions, and improve overall efficiency. That’s why the industry’s leading site networks have already adopted the system and are demonstrating the tangible benefits of integrating the platform into their operations, leading to significant time savings and faster study activations.
Finally, the ability to effectively manage and optimize your trial pipeline, supported by the right technology solutions, can significantly impact your site’s success. By focusing on key metrics and continuously improving processes, your site can maintain a competitive edge and attract more opportunities, ensuring long-term growth and sustainability.
About RealTime eClinical Solutions
RealTime helps organizations manage the research and business of clinical trials, together, with software solutions including CTMS, eReg/eISF, eSource, participant payments (SitePay/GlobalPay), engagement solutions (Text, eConsent, and MyStudyManager™ Participant Portal), and Devana for pipeline management, business intelligence, and process and performance metrics.
Read More: Helios Case Study
Read More: Standardizing Pipeline Management and Study Start-up in Clinical Trials
