Each IRB typically has an electronic platform to manage their review and submission process, including for single IRB arrangements. In addition, a few national electronic platforms exist to facilitate the reliance process and/or document management for multisite studies. Below is a general description of these platforms as well as how you may use them.

IRB-specific platforms

• ARROW is UW-Madison’s IRB platform for IRB submission and review. You will use ARROW to submit requests for UW-Madison to serve as the reviewing IRB and adding sites. Only UW-Madison study team members will need access to ARROW.
• ARROW cannot be used to disseminate IRB approvals or study documents to relying sites. As the lead study team, you are responsible for identifying a tool or process for sharing of documents with relying sites, which needs to be described in your study communication plan.
• IRB submission systems at other sites generally work similarly to ARROW. Some sites, however, require that the lead study team access their IRB system directly as part of the review process and/or sharing of documentation. What local sites require is something you should talk about with your collaborating sites when discussing their reliance process.

Reliance/Multisite-specific platforms

• IRB Reliance Exchange, or IREx, is a free web-based portal designed to support single IRB review processes and dissemination of study documents. If you are planning to conduct a study with more than 3 sites, IREx may be a good option for sharing and disseminating study documents. We can assist you in determining whether IREx or another document sharing tool would work well for your study.
• SMART IRB Online Reliance System (ORS) is hosted by SMART IRB and is designed solely to support the reliance review process among IRBs. UW-Madison typically does not use the ORS due to the administrative burden it places on study teams. If an external site asks you to use the ORS, please contact RELIANT to discuss alternatives.