SPEAR User Guide

Introduction

The World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA) places great importance on the health and safety of donors. To ensure the continued success of the global donor network, the WMDA requires its members to report and investigate any serious events or adverse reactions (S(P)EARs). The WMDA has been collecting this data since 2003 and has provided an online reporting tool for this purpose.

For help with the SPEAR online reporting tool, you can find answers to common questions in the user guide. If you have technical difficulties and cannot find a solution in the guide, you can ask a question using the question box at the bottom of the document or reach out to the WMDA office at sear-spear@wmda.info. You can access the SPEAR online reporting tool by clicking here.

Content of this user guide 

This user guide is designed to assist new and existing users in navigating and utilizing the SPEAR reporting tool effectively. Its comprehensive coverage of all the features and functions of the platform will help you get the most out of SPEAR, making it easier for you create, submit and edit reports. Whether you are a beginner or an advanced user, this guide will provide you with a complete understanding of the SPEAR reporting tool, ensuring that you have the information you need to use it to its fullest potential.

List of content

Getting started

Accessing the SPEAR reporting tool

To access the SPEAR reporting tool, simply type "https://spear.wmda.info" into your browser's address bar. To make it easier to get to the login page, you can save a bookmark in your browser.

If this is your first time accessing the SPEAR tool, you will need to create a password. Click on the "Forgot Password" button marked in red in figure 1. Fill out your email address (be careful, it's case-sensitive) on the password reset page in figure 2 and click the "Send Password Reset Email" button. You'll receive an email with a link to set a new password. Note that the password reset link will expire after 2 hours, so if you don't use it in time, you'll need to start the process again.

Setting and resetting your password

• Step 1: Click on the 'Forgot Password' button on the SPEAR login screen (figure 1).
• Step 2: In the next screen, enter your e-mail address and click on the 'Send Reset Password Email' button.
  
  

• Step 3: Click on the link in the e-mail you received from the system. 

• Step 4: Choose a new password, confirm your new password and click on the reset password button.
• Step 5: Go back to the login screen and enter your e-mail address and your new password.

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Figure 1: SPEAR login panel

Switching roles

Every time you login to the SPEAR reporting tool, you select the role you initially want to access the tool with. If you have multiple roles available to you (e.g. you are a SPEAR reporter and a SPEAR committee member or you are a SPEAR reporter for multiple organisations), then you can easily switch roles without logging out. 

• Step 1: Login to the SPEAR reporting with your username and password (see above). 
• Step 2: Click on the three dots next to your name on the top right side of the page (figure 2). A menu will appear that has the Switch Role option (figure 3).
• Step 3: Click this Switch Role option (figure 3) and you will be redirected to a page where you can select the roles available to you.
• Step 4:Select the role you want and click the Select button. To confirm the role switch, a message will appear "Successfully switched role to XX at YY". You can now use the SPEAR reporting tool in the role you selected. Click on the SPEAR logo at the left top corner of the page to go to the dashboard overview.

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Figure 2: Access menu to switch roles

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Figure 3: Select switch roles

To close and exit the application click on the three dots next to your name on the top right side of the page (figure 4). A menu will appear that has the Logout option (figure 5). After logging out of the system, you will be redirected to the login screen. 

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Figure 4: Access menu to log out

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Figure 5: Select log out

Actions within the SPEAR reporting tool

The SPEAR tool is used for three main goals: 1) as a platform for reporters to submit possible SPEAR cases, 2) as a tool for the SPEAR committee to assess and review reports that are submitted and 3) to provide a central current database of adverse events and reactions for data analysis and research purposes. This is why there are a variety of roles available within the platform. The role you have determines the amount of data you can view via the tool and the actions you can carry out.   

Drafting a report (reporter)

• Step 1: Login to the SPEAR online reporting tool with your username and password. Don't have a username and password yet? Please see below at the FAQ: "How do I register as a SPEAR reporter?" 
• Step 2: Choose the role of reporter with the correct organisation when you login to draft reports
• Step 3: Click Create new report at the top of the page under Report list to start a new draft 

• Step 4: Start your new draft report by entering the Type of report first. Once you've selected the correct type of report, the rest of the tabs will become filled with questions based on the type of report you selected.

  Change the report type

  You can always change the Type of report by going back to the first tab (Type of report). If you change the type of report selected, different follow-up questions might appear. Answers previously given can be automatically erased if they no longer are part of the question list belonging to the new Type of report you selected. 

Adding an attachment to your report (reporters)

• Step 1: If you haven't done so yet, start by selecting a Type of report at the Type of report tab first
• Step 2: Go to the Finalisation tab
• Step 3: Scroll down to "Upload any documents.."

• Step 4: Click the paperclip icon to select the files to upload, you can select multiple files from the same folder at once by using CTRL + click or by dragging your cursor 

  File types and sizes

  Please note: only file with xlsx, .xls, .docx, .doc .pdf, .jpeg, .png, .gif, .tiff, .bmp, .txt extensions are accepted. Each file uploaded may not exceed 10mb. The maximum number of attachments may not exceed 5.

• Step 5: After selecting the files you wish to upload, you must check the checkbox underneath the file overview to state that you are not uploading any personal information, such as names, dates of births or any other identifying information belonging to donors, patients or staff.

  For every file you upload, you have to check the checkbox stating that the files you are uploading do not contain any personal information. Personal data are any information which are related to an identified or identifiable natural person. The data subjects are identifiable if they can be directly or indirectly identified, especially by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, etc. In practice, these also include all data which are or can be assigned to a person in any kind of way. For example, the telephone, credit card or personnel number of a person, account data, number plate, appearance, customer number or address are all personal data. For more information on personal data according to the GDPR, please click here. 

Submitting a report (reporters)

Once you've filled out all requested information in the report tabs, you are ready to submit the report. The last Submit tab provides an overview of all the information you've entered in this SPEAR report. If any mandatory information is missing, this will be indicated here. If there is any red text "This question is mandatory" then you must go back to the tab this question belongs to and provide an answer. If you don't do this, the report cannot be submitted. If the report overview page shows no request for mandatory information, then your report is ready to be submitted. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Submit report. Based on your reporter type, the report will then be sent directly to the WMDA or first to your affiliated parent organisation.  

Receiving a report from an affiliated (child) organisation (reporters) 

Adding additional information to a report (reporters)

Providing updates to a report that has already been reviewed by the committee (reporters)

Review process of the committee (committee member)

Download report overview (all users)

You can download an overview of all reports in the SPEAR system of your organisation. Two file formats are provided for download: .csv (Comma Separated Value) file and .json (Javascript Object Notation) file. For regular use, we recommend choosing the .csv file for download as it is easily converted to an Excel file. In case you want to use the SPEAR data for IT applications: JSON is supported by all the programming languages like Java, Net (C#), PHP, etc. 

JSON is a data exchange format that stands for JavaScript Object Notation with the extension .json. JSON is known as a light-weight data format type and is favored for its human readability and nesting features. It is often used in conjunction with APIs and data configuration.

CSV is a data storage format that stands for Comma Separated Values with the extension .csv. CSV files store data values (plain text) in a list format separated by commas. Notably, CSV files tend to be smaller in size and can be opened in text editors.

Please follow the steps below to download an overview of reports:

• Step 1: When you are logged in to the correct role in SPEAR, scroll to the bottom of the page to find the Export reports button (figure 6)
• Step 2: In the pop up window, select if you want to download all reports or only the reports of a certain status (e.g. reviewed by committee) (figure 7). 
• Step 3: In the pop up window, select the file format you'd like to download (figure 7)
• Step 3: Click download. You will be sent back to the dashboard report overview where you can see the progress of the download. 

Converting a .CSV file to an .xslx (Excel) file:

• This two minute video explains how to open a .csv file in Microsoft Excel so you can use the data as a regular Excel file.

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Figure 6: Export reports button

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Figure 7: Select JSON or CSV download

Print a report (all users)

When you click the View option to open a report and view its details, a button will appear at the top of the page: "Print report". 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

GENERAL

USING THE SPEAR REPORTING TOOL

SPEAR REPORTING 101

CASE STUDIES

to be updated

Ask a question on SPEAR reporting

Do you have questions on how to use the SPEAR reporting tool or do you want to report an issue? Please use the button below.