REDCap accomplishes key functions through use of a single study metadata table referenced by presentation-level operational modules. Based on this abstracted programming model, studies are developed in an efficient manner with little resource investment beyond the creation of a single data dictionary. The concept of metadata-driven application development is well established, so we realized early in the project that the critical factor for success would lie in creating a simple workflow methodology allowing research teams to autonomously develop study-related metadata in an efficient manner.(3–5) In the following sections, we describe the workflow process developed for REDCap metadata creation and provide a brief overview of the user interface and underlying architecture.
