What happened:

Last night a test environment sent inaccurate email notifications to study teams. The emails included expiration notices, continuing review due reminders, pending corrections and other types of notifications.

Why this happened:

The Office of Research is currently evaluating new functionality in the test environment. The vendor followed routine procedures to prevent impact to users, but the current software version now requires previously unidentified additional controls.

What we are doing to prevent this from happening in the future:

We are working closely with the vendor to prevent it from happening again as testing continues. The vendor has added the new additional steps to prevent email release to the test procedures.

What does this means for study teams:

If you got an email from iRIS last night look at the address it originated from:

[email protected]: This is a real and accurate notification. Please follow the instructions in the email.

[email protected]: You can ignore the message. It was sent from the test system in error and contains incorrect information. Please be assured that the IRB’s official records are accurate and complete in the iRIS system.

If you receive a message from iRIS in the future that is inconsistent with your study status, please verify that it originated from [email protected]. It is not necessary to call the IRB to verify.

We apologize for the confusion that this error may have caused.