Best Practices in Production Mode

Once the project has been moved to production, you will not be able to easily edit the project fields!

You will be able to move the project to draft mode and make modifications, which will then need to be approved by a REDCap administrator before taking effect, however some changes may be automatically applied.
- The system will tell you if your changes were automatically applied upon ‘submitting draft changes for review'
Some data fields may be impossible to change once in production mode
More info: https://utahctsi.atlassian.net/servicedesk/customer/portal/3/article/276988143

Design changes after the Production phase are discouraged. You can lose data. Checking and testing the changes is harder than in the Build phase, and can result in data loss.

Some design changes must be re-submitted through the REDCap administrators and will not be visible or take effect until the REDCap administrators approve the changes.
Request the minimum number of design changes possible, and do so in a manner that will not destroy prior collected data, whether or not you believe you will use that prior collected data. The data dictionary will not upload when you change the position of the field, edit the label, edit the variable name, or edit SQL code.
Always make a copy of the data dictionary before making any significant production changes.
Caution: the data import tool can override the existing data.
Changes to any variables may affect programmed calculations and/or branching logic. It is the responsibility of the requester to review and test all calculated fields and branching logic prior to submitting changes.

The below table provides a summary of the impact of project changes on your production data:

DATA IMPACT TABLE: TYPES OF REDCAP PRODUCTION PHASE CHANGES AND POTENTIAL DATA IMPACT
Metadata	Change Type	Data Impact	Further Explanation
Variable Name / Field Name	Add new	No Data Loss	The new field will be added to all records.
Variable / Field Name	Delete	Data Loss	This deletes the field and all the data entered for that field.
Variable / Field Name	Rename	Data Loss	This is equivalent to deleting a variable and adding a new variable, thus the data is deleted.
Form Name	Add new form	No Data Loss	New form/fields will be added to all records.
Form Name	Change via data dictionary upload	Data Loss	Form completeness data will be lost. Form names can be changed within the Online Designer without data loss.
Form Name vs. Form Label	Rename form	Possible Data Loss	Recommend renaming the Form Label rather than the Form Name. The data dictionary renames the form. All form status values (unverified, complete) for ALL records will then be reset to “Incomplete”. The Online Form Editor will NOT change the form name and only renames the form label, preserving the form status for all records. You can re-name the survey title (if it’s a survey) within survey settings without changing form name or label ‘Note: Form name “back end” name (data dictionary ex:”baseline_data”) does not appear on screen. Form label “front end” name displays on screen (ex: “Baseline Data”)
Field Units	Add, Modify, Delete	No Data Loss	This would merely change the field unit label.
Section Header	Add, Modify, Delete	No Data Loss	No data loss as it is descriptive text.
Field Type	Modify	Possible Data Loss	Depending on the change, data can be lost. Examples of changes that can be made without data loss: Radio button response sets to drop downs, or Drop-downs to Radio buttons. Examples of changes that can be made that cause data loss: Radio dropdown buttons to check boxes, (and vice versa) or Text box to calculated field.
Field Label	Modify	Possible Data Confusion	Changes to question caption may change the meaning of data previously entered. Simple spelling corrections or format changes are not problems.
Response Choices	Add	Possible Data Impact and Confusion	-If the choice added at the end of a list, no data is lost, but there could be confusion in the final data analyses. New choice will be added to all records.
Response Choices	Delete	Data loss	Deletes the choice and ALL data entered as that choice.
Response Choices	Recode	Possible Label Mismatch	Codes are not automatically re-mapped to new codes. Data entered remains the same in the database. Relabeling codes may change the meaning of data entered.
Calculations	Add, Modify, Delete	Data Confusion	Forms with saved calculated field values will not automatically recalculate when changes are committed. Values should be derived and confirmed in analysis. All forms with values should be resaved to update stored values.
Slider Labels	Add, Modify, Delete	Possible Data Confusion	If the changes impact how respondents answer the question, former data may not be consistent with data after the change.
Field Note	Add, Modify, Delete	No Data Loss	No direct data impact as it is descriptive text.
Text Validation Type	Add, Modify	Possible Data Loss	Data entered as free text or other type of validation text may no longer be valid.
Text Validation Type	Delete	Possible Data Confusion	Field becomes open text field.
Show Slider Number	Add, Delete	Possible Data Confusion	If the changes impact how respondents answer the questions, former data may not be consistent with data after the change.
Text Validation Minimum	Add, Modify, Delete	No Data Loss	No data impact since out of range data can still be saved.
Text Validation Maximum	Add, Modify, Delete	No Data Loss	No data impact since out of range data can still be saved.
Identifier	Add, Delete	No Data Loss	No direct data impact.
Branching Logic	Add, Modify	Data Loss	Fields that will be hidden due to updated logic but that already contain data will prompt data erasure.
Branching Logic	Delete	No Data Loss	No direct data impact, but may impact missing data analyses. Fields will remain visible.
Required Field	Add, Delete	No Data Loss	Data can still be saved without completion of required fields.
Custom Alignment	Modify	No Data Loss	Display only.
Question Number (surveys only)	Modify	No Data Loss	Display only.
Matrix Group Name	Add, Modify, Delete	No Data Loss	Display only.
Section Headers	Add, Modify, Delete	No Data Loss	Descriptive fields can be changed/deleted/added without any loss since they don’t store data

Courtesy of Wright State website, authored by Drs. Marjorie Bowman and Rose Maxwell

This Knowledge Article was developed by the University of Utah’s REDCap Analysts using data garnered from the REDCap Consortium Library, Wright State's website and other REDCap Affiliate members’ online resources and documents.