Manual Data
Collection/Curation
with Case Viewer
FAQs
What are the first steps after I receive
MPOG data?
•An important initial step to most multicenter research projects is to visualize the
MPOG data for the completeness and accuracy of each variable. We recommend
evaluating each variable by institution over the years. A simplified hypothetical
scenario is provided under Step 8 of the Research Proposal Process on the MPOG
website as an example of what the first steps might look like.
Last Updated: 6/26/2025 Contact: support@mpog.zendesk.com 2
When is manual data collection needed?
•While MPOG has many curated perioperative variables, such as Phenotypes and
Concepts, some projects require manual review of intraoperative records to
capture additional data elements or confirm accuracy of documentation. This can
be achieved using the MPOG Case Viewer tool, which allows researchers to enter
MPOG case IDs and returns the associated intraoperative anesthetic record for
each case. Please refer to the Case Viewer User Guide for more information on
the tool.
Last Updated: 6/26/2025 Contact: mpog-research@med.umich.edu 3
How can we capture additional data
elements from Case Viewer?
•We recommend that study teams build spreadsheets/databases to capture
additional data elements based on their manual review of cases in Case Viewer.
These additional spreadsheets/databases must be stored in Turbo.
•Suitable software include Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Access.
•Most of these FAQs and the example spreadsheet are based on using Excel to
develop a data collection spreadsheet.
Last Updated: 6/26/2025 Contact: mpog-research@med.umich.edu 4
How should we format and structure the
spreadsheet?
•Each row should be a unique case and contain the unique identifier of MPOG
Case ID that can link this new data with existing data queries.
•Each column in the spreadsheet should capture a distinct data element or
variable. For binary/categorical variables, we suggest including one column for
the descriptive portion (words to describe the categories, ex. Yes/No) and
another column for the value code (corresponding numerical designation for
each category, ex. 0/1).
•Column names should be descriptive, yet concise and adhere to character limits
set by statistical packages (SAS has a 32-character limit). To ensure compatibility
with various statistical software, avoid spaces in column names by using
underscores (e.g., variable_name) or concatenation (e.g., VariableName).
Last Updated: 6/26/2025 Contact: mpog-research@med.umich.edu 5
How do we use the manually collected data
for analysis?
•Spreadsheets containing manually collected data elements should be saved in the
study team's designated project folder on the MPOG Turbo storage drive.
•As a reminder, the Turbo storage drive is HIPAA aligned and has multiple
backups/safeguards available, so the instance of a virtual machine failure will not
result in loss of any work/documents if stored in your project folder.
•Study teams can merge data from an existing PCRC project query with manually
collected variables using the unique identifier of MPOG Case ID and software
available on the MPOG secure enclave services (SES)/stats server. Once merged,
this combined dataset can be used for further analyses.
Last Updated: 6/26/2025 Contact: mpog-research@med.umich.edu 6
Sample Excel Spreadsheet
Last Updated: 6/26/2025 Contact: mpog-research@med.umich.edu 7
