Here is something the eCOA industry rarely says plainly, the problem with eCOA errors is that they’re common. From our experience of over 20 years, error rates in migrated instruments routinely run at 10–15%. On some projects, we have seen that reach 30–40%. Newly validated text usually fares better but is not immune to errors.

The errors themselves vary. Some are critical: missing content, duplicated response choices, logic failures. Some appear minor: a typo, a mismatched label. Some are embarrassing: an isolated “back” button translated as the body part, “voiding” translated as “on an empty stomach” and confusion around the term “digital”.

In a validated instrument, any difference matters. Nothing is there by accident. Nothing can be changed without consequence.

We combine human expertise with AI verification to provide an additional layer of safety across every instrument we review. Our QA teams work against either legacy source materials or newly validated electronic versions, whichever gives you the most meaningful assurance for your study.

Smart sampling to assess risk early

We begin with a 10% sample of languages, selected to represent a deliberate mix: European, Asian, Middle Eastern, and African. This gives us a meaningful read on overall quality before committing to a full review, and allows us to recommend the right level of intervention for your project.

Human and AI verification, working together

Our specialist QA team works alongside AI-assisted tools to review on-screen content against legacy files. Human reviewers catch context-sensitive errors that automated tools miss. AI verification adds a further line of defence for consistency, completeness, and formatting across hundreds of items and multiple languages.

Full itemised reporting

Every review produces a detailed, itemised report covering every issue identified, its severity, its location, and our recommended resolution. Nothing is summarised away. You receive a clear, auditable record of what was checked and what was found.

Full recheck if needed

If the initial sample reveals a level of error that warrants it, we recommend a full review across all languages. Our teams are set up to scale quickly so this decision never creates unnecessary delay.

– Missing, duplicated, or reordered content

– Response scale errors – incorrect options, wrong ranges, broken logic

– Instruction text that has been truncated or altered

– Formatting inconsistencies across devices and screen sizes

– Typographical errors in validated text

– Character set and encoding issues in non-Latin scripts

– Right-to-left layout errors in Arabic and Hebrew instruments

– Inconsistencies between language versions of the same item

We work with both migrated instruments and those built directly on eCOA platforms. Platform-built translations carry fewer errors on average – but they are not always error-free. Our QA process is designed to catch what the build process misses.

We’ve spent over 20 years working inside eCOA projects across the platforms, the processes, and the edge cases that don’t appear in any guideline. That experience shapes everything we do, from how we set up a migration workflow to how we brief a linguist on a new instrument.

Our teams bring genuine life sciences expertise. They know the difference between a clinical outcome assessment and a patient questionnaire and they work accordingly. Combined with in-house tools that streamline review cycles and a workflow that connects translation, linguistic validation, and regulatory review in one place, the result is fewer handovers, fewer delays, and fewer unwelcome surprises at submission.

Certified to:

• ISO 17100 (translation services)
• ISO 9001 (quality management)

We follow these standards:

• ISO 18587 (post-editing of machine translations)
• ISO 13485 (medical devices)
• ISO 14001 (environmental management systems)

Members of:

• The Professional Society for Health Economics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR)
• The UN Global Compact
• The Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators (ISTC)
• Institute of Sustainability and Environmental Professionals (ISEP)
• Association of Translation Companies (ATC)

Electronic Feasibility Assessment (EFA): A Crucial First Step in eCOA Translation

Navigating Translation in the eCOA Era: Key Takeaways for Language Service Providers