The caDSR is a database and a set of APIs and tools used to create, edit, control, deploy
and find common data elements
(CDEs) for metadata consumers and for UML model development. The common data elements are developed by the NCI,
together with
caBIG®  partners in the research community, to be used as metadata
descriptors for research and for caCORE-like applications.
The UML models are developed by research partners in collaboration with CBIIT,
where the UML models are loaded into the caDSR database as administered
components.
The use of common data elements addresses a biomedical data management problem,
namely the many and varied ways in which similar
or identical concepts have been described. Such inconsistency in data descriptors
(metadata) makes it nearly impossible to aggregate and manage even modest-sized data sets to ask basic questions and
obtain meaningful answers. Common information building blocks or data standards,
used for capture of data and for reporting,
facilitate understanding and sharing of cancer research information. The use of registered metadata facilitates interoperability among applications developed in
research centers and deployed on the
caGrid .
For more information about caDSR, including links to documentation and contacts
as well as technical background and product status, visit the
caDSR Wiki .
The caDSR database is an Oracle database. All of caDSR tools and interfaces connect to the same central database.
NCI chose an international standard to represent the CDEs in the database, the
ISO/IEC 11179 standard for metadata registries .
This standard is somewhat complex, but it offers a richly expressive model for metadata that does a good job of supporting the variations needed for biomedical applications.
If you are interested in working with the caDSR, review the
background information on the way
NCI has implemented the ISO/IEC 11179 standard .
In implementing the ISO/IEC 11179 model, NCI has included extensions, among them two important
additional types of content in the caDSR,
Forms and Protocols. A Form is a collection of CDEs, and a Protocol is a collection of Forms.
For clinical trials applications, a Form corresponds to a Case Report Form (CRF), and a Protocol corresponds to
a clinical trial protocol.
The caDSR tools include interactive tools to perform various tasks associated with managing and deploying CDEs,
and a series of tools that support reviewing externally generated forms to see if they are
CDE-compliant, that is, comprised of approved CDEs found in the caDSR.
The tools have online help. To make using the tools easier, review the description of the CBIIT implementation of
the
ISO/IEC 11179 Standard .
If you would like an account for any of the caDSR tools, please send a request describing the nature of
your interest in the system to
NCICB Application Support. The caDSR Tools include the following.
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