Coding maps

Definition and purpose

A coding map is a study object that contains the necessary information to code an item. You create a coding map for an item that needs to be coded in the Central Coding application.

Where to view and create

You can create, modify, and delete coding maps only when a form is selected. When a form is selected, the Coding tab displays all coding maps for the form. When a study event is selected, the Coding tab displays all coding maps for all of the forms in the study event, and so on.

You can view, but not edit, coding maps in the Coding tab of the editors for the following study objects:

• Study design
• Study element
• Study event

Creation process

To create a coding map, you assign an item to one or more dictionary levels and level types—the level type is the term, code, or additional information of the dictionary level.

For more information, see Creating, modifying, and deleting a coding map.

Information in a coding map

• Verbatim (the item to be coded).
• Form on which the verbatim appears.
• Verbatim type.
• Dictionary type to use for coding.
• Any specified context items and target items.
• Query target item.

Multiple coding maps for a verbatim

You can create multiple coding maps for a verbatim—one for each dictionary type that is installed and selected for a given study or library. Therefore, a verbatim, a target item, and a context item can all be part of multiple coding maps.

Reusing

When you copy a form to a library or study, the coding maps that are defined for items on the form are copied with the form.

Deployment

Coding maps are deployed to an InForm study as InForm TDE CODINGMAP objects.

If you select a query target item for a coding map, you can only deploy the study to a version of the InForm application that supports coding query targets. For more information, see the InForm documentation.

Note: If you create or modify a coding map, use a full deployment package to deploy the changes. Changes to coding maps are not supported in incremental deployment packages.

Requirements for repeating sections

For repeating sections, the references in a coding map must all be either in the repeating section or outside the repeating section.

Multi-language studies

Coding maps are language neutral. You cannot create a language-specific coding map.