Technology Built on Science and Business Priorities
CERF meets the needs of your IT organization with fast deployment, scalability, minimal administrative needs and the ability to access and migrate data as technologies change. CERF is also uniquely flexible, easily integrating with software and systems you already use.
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| Compliance |
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No matter how well a system performs, if your data or processes are not compliant with regulatory standards, your investment is put at great risk.
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| Security |
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Once compliant, it is critical to protect your data against intentional or unintentional disclosure. As science is increasingly a collaborative activity, appropriate security roles and access rights must be available for internal and external users.
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| Stability and Performance |
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Time is money. A product must have exceptional availability and support your scientists with timely and correct data.
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| Mobility |
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Modern research proceeds faster than ever. It is increasingly important to stay connected regardless of time or location. Every organization wants their ideas recorded faster than their competitors. The ability to access your data securely on portable devices is no longer a luxury, it is a necessity.
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| Data Longevity |
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Your knowledge is a critical asset and cannot “expire” with every ELN technology cycle. CERF is committed to open standards so that your data is not “held ransom” by proprietary standards.
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| Usability |
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The system must be compatible with existing processes and technologies and usable by scientists without substantial training. For enterprise customers, low IT overhead and the ability of CERF to work with the relational database preferred by your organization is another huge advantage. |
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| Extensibility |
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As technology and science evolve, the platform must easily adapt to new situations and requirements; these customizations need to be platform- or module-based to minimize the chance of incompatibility. Large customers also need a platform that they can customize in-house to ensure that their goals are not secondary to the core roadmap.
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Architecture
The general architecture of Rescentris’ CERF solutions is based on the realities of life science research. Customizable components are joined to bring integrated content to the researcher's desktop. CERF’s five-tier web services model includes:
- Application and web-based local clients
- Java servlet and Java Server Pages (JSP) middleware tier
- Business-logic tier consisting of implementations of a number of CERF APIs
- Persistence tier containing both relational and object data stores
- Back-end service tier for accessing distributed computational and storage functionality
The core of CERF is based upon research into industry requirements (principally in biotech and pharma preclinical biological research). These requirements informed the general design of an appropriately extensible ELN platform. The system architecture was based upon both traditional technologies (e.g., relational database/SQL) and more advanced technologies (e.g., web services, RDF/OWL, XML messaging).
The result was the multi-tiered client/server CERF application framework incorporating Java as the programming language (to achieve cross-platform independence), XML as a fundamental representation of messages (our own web service model), and metadata (RDF), The core functionality of the system is represented declaratively in a set of related, controlled vocabularies and ontologies (OWL/XML Schema).
Full architectural and technical documentation is available to qualified customers.
Compliance
21 CFR Part 11
Compliance with FDA regulations places a substantial burden on your organization. CERF meets your regulatory obligations through measures including extensive Security Controls, automatic Audit Trails, E-Signatures, and PDF export of data. CERF’s staff are experts at ELN implementation and can assist you in deploying a secure and compliant ELN environment. See our Data Sheet for a full discussion of CERF’s compliance.
Audit Trails
CERF logs each access to resources obtained from the CERF server. In addition, a complete audit trail may be established for document version history and for digital signature histories. Each user is uniquely identified, so audit trails may be constructed by resource (e.g., document) to determine access to the resource, or by user, to determine resources accessed by a user.
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Security
Robust Security Roles
CERF projects and notebooks are available for access and real-time data sharing with any number of users - so long as they supply suitable digital credentials to be authorized. CERF offers easy use through intuitive user interfaces that hide the sophistication of a robust and extremely secure system designed to meet the requirements and challenges of today's life sciences research organizations. Views and action menus are automatically filtered to reflect the rich sets of role based access privileges associated with membership in CERF workgroups - so that users have transparent access to everything that they can see and do (and never have access to restricted content or activities). This robust models for workgroups and access controls provides a high-level security despite easy access and collaboration of content and records.
Safe Collaboration
The Rescentris system architectures support a number of forms of collaboration, including multiple-user access to server-based data. Together, these technologies enable collaborators to participate in shared research efforts.
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Mobility
Access and Add Data from any Location, any Time.
CERF’s Web Client allows users to access their data on the go from almost any web equipped device. Lab Managers can review and comment on scientist's work from any location and scientists are released from the restrictions of the stationary work station. You can read data from, and send data to CERF from your field locations or from a collaborator's lab in a different building. In addition, Rescentris has announced the availability of a dedicated iPad / iPhone client as part of the CERF Early Technology Access Program. This pre-release version allows iPad and iPhone users to access CERF and enjoy rich interactions with their data from any location with wi-fi or 3G access. Scientists and engineers in diverse research organizations are freed to take their lab notebooks and data with them as they work, accessing their information using the Apple's elegant touch-based interface. Data are still secured in 21CFR 11-compliant servers hosted behind your organization's firewall or in a cloud-based SaaS system.
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Data Longevity
Open Standards
CERF future-proofs your information assets by using open standards and published methods. You can sleep at night, comfortable that your organization's information assets are not held hostage and data are not locked away in proprietary formats. Our open platform includes:
- A combination of XML technologies, SQL representations, and Java language bindings to achieve platform independence.
- Public domain data models like BSML™, developed and promoted in collaboration with the Collaborative Electronic Notebook Systems Association (CENSA) and other groups.
- Public APIs and public communication methods. Alternative implementations of component functionality allow different vendors to provide solutions that integrate with Rescentris frameworks.
Print Pages, Notebooks, or Search Results
Notebooks are managed as collections of pages which are, in turn, collections of resources. A particular set of pages may be viewed chronologically (i.e., as entered by the researcher) or by section (e.g., all pages for Experiment 12 viewed consecutively). Views of notebooks may be created for different users and may be constructed for all users in a workgroup group or supergroup. Once consolidated, notebook pages are delivered as PDF output. This simplifies long run storage of human readable content.
Data in Original Format
Data in CERF is maintained in same file format that it's saved in. By keeping the data in an inviolate condition, a customer can be confident that they will can comply with data format regulations. This data can always can be extracted for research, compliance, and patent defense purposes.
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Usability
Cross-Platform
Because it's built on Java, CERF provides the same experience no matter what platform your users prefer for their client machines. The CERF server can also be installed and run on your choice of Windows or Macintosh hardware. To achieve the goal of platform independence, CERF uses a combination of XML technologies, SQL representations, and Java language bindings. Most system communication uses XML messages sent via HTTP(S) on top of network communication using the TCP/IP protocol.
Microsoft Integration
You can launch Microsoft Office applications directly from within the Notebook Viewer and create a document that is immediately stored on the CERF server. By accessing these files directly inside CERF, you are taking advantage of CERF's version control, audit trails, and secure collaboration features. Microsoft Office documents can be displayed inline as printed PDFs in the Notebook Viewer and, for PC users, Microsoft Office documents can be edited "in-line" within Notebook Resource Pages.
Optional viewers for your data
CERF is compatible with many Java-based viewers for proprietary data types. Once integrated, the data will be visible inside the notebook right next to a scientist's notes. There is no need to open a separate program, export the data, or tab back and forth between windows.
Choice of database back-end
CERF tracks data using the proven and reliable MySQL back-end by default. If your organization prefers to work with commercial DB technology such as MS SQL server or Oracle, no problem - CERF is equally happy using either of those back-ends. CERF can also be configured to distribute the DB and application on different machines if this is what your IT practices dictate. Cross-Reference lab notebook numbers/pages to other parts of system
Cross-linking
CERF supports several types of link, both internally (to other CERF resources) and externally (to resources outside of CERF). In general, documents and other resources may be linked through simple drag-and-drop mechanisms (e.g., from the CERF project tree to a notebook page). Both the content and metadata of linked resources are available from references to them, and relevant services (e.g., views, queries, and analyses) may be launched from cross-reference link to an object.
Metadata and Full-Text Index and Search
The CERF metadata management system enables indexing and searching by metadata properties. Certain core metadata are defined for all resources, including title, author, and submission date. When documents enter CERF, all relevant metadata are extracted based upon ontological features of the document (e.g., an XML document based on a particular schema or an Excel spreadsheet with instrument data located in specific rows and columns). Searching is available on all metadata fields as well as ontologically specific fields such as molecule type.
CERF also supports full text key word searching for documents that have accessible text. This set of documents includes HTML, RTF, PDF, and most Microsoft Office formats (e.g., Word, Excel).
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Extensibility
Modular Design
To ensure that the product continues to meet the evolving needs of scientists, CERF was built as a highly modular platform. A high percentage of all of the CERF code is componentized. Using this approach, the individual modules have version numbers in addition to the version and build numbers associated with particular builds and release candidates. This permits components to be replaced and updated without disruptions that are frequent in larger, fully inter-dependant system. This permits CERF to be quickly upgraded and to integrate new data and data standards as businesses require.
Virtually all of the client code is based upon a modular design that allows the client to be updated automatically by new or improved modules. The server code is also based upon a set of integrated modules representing various functional areas of business logic.
Easy Implementation
CERF has been engineered for rapid deployment out of the box, with only minor configuration. The process is so easy that installation and future upgrades can be managed across the internet. eCERF, a SaaS (software-as-a-service) delivery model is now available for pilots and small deployments. Learn more about eCERF.
Once installed, the CERF Extensibility Framework makes it easy to adapt the solution to a client's specific needs for workflows and research practices. The Ontology Manager is used to create appropriate scientific data and metadata models, including controlled vocabularies and context-specific forms that provide consistent research annotations. The framework also manages templates, from a single Notebook entry to protocols structured for a complete experiment. Templates are set up using form-based tools and then stored and versioned as OWL ontologies for maximum flexibility.
Customizable Platform
CERF future-proofs your content and manages it in an open, extensible, system that is easily supported, configured, and customized by your IT staff or by Rescentris to meet the demands of R&D for today and tomorrow. Although CERF already includes many advanced features like semantic web technologies and OWL ontologies, Rescentris regularly delivers substantial enhancements to the platform, and rapid customization services that keep your research operation one step ahead of your competition.
Multidisciplinary Research
CERF's modular, flexible architecture and ability to gather and securely store any data from any source make it ideal for research or content management in any regulated environment. CERF actually becomes more intelligent and specialized with use - the longer your organization uses it, the more powerful it becomes. Your library of user-contributed shared templates, metadata tags, and functional work-groups help you match CERF to the way your organization works. You can teach CERF about your unique workflows and language use, your security needs, user roles and hierarchy. The result is a sophisticated tool that can organize any kind of research, bringing order to your knowledge assets and awareness to administrators and managers.
Integrating and Leveraging Existing Systems and Data
Data-driven services are registered based on resource types and workflows, and the semantic inference engine ensures that user menus are dynamically updated with available actions. The connections are set up on the CERF Server using the form-based Integration Manager to create wrappers with minimal effort and maximum reusability.
Using this model, CERF can be connected to your existing technologies or you can add functionality by choosing additional tools available from our growing list of partners.
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