AQ eTMF

A trial master file that shows what is missing before anyone asks.

AQ eTMF holds the trial master file on the same study record as the site file, the pharmacy file and CAPA. Every document files to the TMF Reference Model by study, country and site, and completeness shows on any day a sponsor, auditor or MHRA inspector asks.

ZONE 0195%
ZONE 0293%
ZONE 03100%
ZONE 0491%
ZONE 0590%
ZONE 0686%
ZONE 0795%
ZONE 0881%
ZONE 0991%
ZONE 1080%
ZONE 1186%
Zone
05
Watch
Site Management
90
%
212 of 236
filed
Gap with an ownerPriya Nair · overdue 6 days
QC inside the fileQuery raised to the owner
91% complete762 of 839 documents
Select a zone of the TMF Reference Model
Platform and study record hosted in Microsoft Azure UK regionsDSPT Standards Met 2026UK GDPRAQ Platform: six years of daily use
The problem

Four ways a trial master file falls behind the trial it documents.

Sponsors answer for the TMF even when CROs and sites file most of it. Documents arrive through portals, shared drives and email, and the TMF team learns what is missing at the point of review.

One study, without a governed TMF

The evidence falls further behind the work at every stage.

Trial activityDocuments in the TMFEvidence gap
35%of expected documents not yet filed at close-out
01Filed 6 weeks after the visit02Count is 3 days old03Query moved to email04Sponsor v3 · CRO v2 · Site v4Gap 8%Gap 21%Gap 32%Gap 35%
ConductInterim reviewMonitoring visitClose-out
01Break

The file trails the work

Documents reach the TMF weeks after the activity they record. The file shows the study as it was, and contemporaneous evidence is lost.

02Break

Completeness lives in a spreadsheet

TMF teams count expected against filed by hand, at review time. The count is out of date the day after it is made.

03Break

Findings leave the file

QC queries and missing documents move into email and side trackers. The trail from finding to fix breaks before quality sees it.

04Break

The site file and the TMF disagree

Sponsor, CRO and site copies of the same record drift in version and location. Close-out starts with reconciliation.

Capabilities

Nine controls, one governed trial master file.

AQ eTMF covers the TMF from study set-up to archive. Each control writes to the same record, so completeness, QC and audit evidence always describe the same documents.

Zone 05 · Site ManagementZone
05.02 · Site Staff
Investigator CV · Site 03
Control 01

TMF structure

AQ eTMF files every document to the CDISC TMF Reference Model: zone, section and artifact, by study, country and site.

Sponsor, CRO and site staff file to one structure, so a document has one correct place.
Signed protocolFiled
Investigator CVGap
Owner · Priya Nair · due 14 Nov
Control 02

Expected documents and gap alerts

Each study carries its own list of expected documents before anyone uploads one.

The expected document list follows the protocol, the countries and the sites in the study.
SponsorSite 01Site 02SponsorCROSite staff
Control 03

Roles, access and sign-on

Access follows role, study, country and site.

Sponsors, CROs, monitors, site staff and quality leads work within permissions set for their function.
Connected platform

The trial master file, the site file and the pharmacy file on one record.

AQ eTMF and AQ eISF share one study record. Sponsors see what they need, sites work in what they own, and each document exists once.

AQ CTMS

1

Study, countries, sites and milestones come from AQ CTMS, so AQ eTMF measures completeness against the study as it runs.

AQ eISF

2

Site documents index into the TMF automatically as the current version. Sponsor and site file each record once.

AQ Pharmacy

3

Pharmacy records file to the same TMF structure as sponsor and site documents.

AscensionQStudy 001 · one study recordTMF · eISF · Pharmacy · each document exists once
1Start-up milestone · Site 03
4Signed · M. Carter · live
2Investigator CV v2 · indexed
5SOP-014 v3 · training linked
3Zone 06 · IMP accountability
6QC gap → CAPA-0231

Every connection is native to AQ Platform and runs from the first study.

AQ Digital DoA

4

AQ eTMF checks each signature against the live delegation log, so only a currently authorised delegate can sign.

AQ QMS

5

Staff training records link to the study, and SOPs stay under quality control.

AQ CAPA

6

QC findings and unresolved gaps become CAPA records, with owner, evidence and resolution history on one workflow.

Built for networks

One view across every site in the network.

AQ eTMF runs the hub-and-spoke model directly. A coordinating centre sees completeness, delegation, quality and readiness across every site from one view, and each site works in its own record.

Coordinating centre · network view95% or above85 to 94%Below 85%
AscensionQCoordinating centre
Liverpool96%3 outstanding
Manchester92%6 outstanding
Berlin83%14 outstanding
Munich91%7 outstanding
Leeds88%9 outstanding
90%Network completeness
1 of 5Sites at 95% or above
39Documents outstanding
Network dashboardsStatus for every site in the network sits on one screen.
Multi-CRO and multi-sponsor studiesEach CRO and sponsor files to the agreed structure inside the same study.
Sponsor and site perspectivesOne platform serves the sponsor or CRO view and the site or network view of the same study.
How a record moves

From expected document to inspection evidence.

Every TMF document passes through the same four stages. Each stage records who acted, when, and what changed.

Milestone reachedSite 03 activatedTriggered
Investigator CV · placeholderGap
Zone · section05 Site Management · 05.02
Country · siteGermany · Site 03
OwnerPriya Nair
Due14 Nov 2026
Stage
1
of 4 ·
Expected
What happens
A study milestone creates a placeholder for the document, with an owner and a due date.
What is recorded
Zone, section, artifact, country, site, owner, due date.
What gates it
The placeholder counts as a gap until a document fills it.
Who works in the file

Five roles, one trial master file.

Sponsor TMF owner
Sees completeness across every study, country and CRO. Sets the structure, the expected document lists and who files what.
Study 001 · CRO A93%
Study 001 · CRO B88%
Study 002 · CRO A79%
Study 003 · CRO C97%
StructureExpected listsWho files what
TMF health

TMF health by study, country and site, on one screen.

TMF and quality leads open one view to answer the questions a sponsor or inspector asks first.

AQ eTMF · Study 001 ·
Completeness
Demo data
01Trial Management118/124 · 95%
02Central Trial Documents86/92 · 93%
03Regulatory64/64 · 100%
04IRB/IEC and other approvals71/78 · 91%
05Site Management212/236 · 90%
06IP and Trial Supplies54/63 · 86%
07Safety Reporting39/41 · 95%
08Central and Local Testing47/58 · 81%
09Third Parties31/34 · 91%
10Data Management28/35 · 80%
11Statistics12/14 · 86%
What’s next

What’s next for AQ eTMF.

These capabilities are in development. Each one is standard in leading eTMF products, and each one runs on the same study record as the rest of AQ eTMF.

N1

AI classification at upload

AQ eTMF reads each uploaded document, proposes its zone, section and artifact, and fills the metadata for a person to confirm.

In development
N2

Full-text search

AQ eTMF indexes every document, scanned files included, so teams search by content as well as by metadata.

In development
N3

Open API

An open API connects AQ eTMF to EDC, CTMS and institutional systems from other suppliers.

In development
N4

EDC and REDCap integration

Study events in EDC and REDCap update the TMF.

In development
N5

Email to TMF

Teams send documents to a study address, and each one arrives in the file for classification and QC.

In development
N6

TMF transfer at study close

AQ eTMF exports the full TMF in the industry exchange format, so a sponsor can take the file from a CRO, or move it to another system.

In development
N7

Risk-based QC

QC effort follows document risk, with sampling rules set by the sponsor.

In development
N8

Expiry tracking

AQ eTMF tracks expiry dates on CVs, GCP certificates and laboratory normal ranges, and alerts the owner before they lapse.

In development

In development. Ask us for the current plan.

How AQ eTMF compares

Where AQ eTMF sits against the four kinds of TMF tool.

Most TMF teams choose between four kinds of tool. AQ eTMF is the only one that carries the site file and the pharmacy file on the same record as the TMF.

What teams need
AQ eTMF
Enterprise life-sciences suites
Mid-market eClinical platforms
Site binder tools
Paper, shared drives and spreadsheets
TMF Reference Model structure
Completeness tracking by study and site
e-signatures aligned to Part 11 and Annex 11
TMF and site file on one study record
Separate products
Two systems, indexed
Pharmacy records on the same record
Delegation log connected to sign-off
Hub-and-spoke network oversight
Partial
Legal hold and retention policies
Partial
Platform and study record hosted in the UK
Varies
Varies
Varies
Varies
AI classification at upload
What’s next
Partial

Compared by category of tool. Based on AQ’s review of published product information, June 2026.

Regulatory alignment

Structured to the standards your TMF is inspected against.

ICH E6(R3) Good Clinical PracticeUK clinical trials regulations in force from 28 April 2026MHRA GCP inspection expectationsCDISC TMF Reference ModelALCOA+21 CFR Part 11EU Annex 11UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018
DSPTStandards Met 2026
Cyber EssentialsCertified
UK hostingMicrosoft Azure UK regions
UK-based teamImplementation and support

AQ eTMF is built around these standards. Each organisation remains responsible for validating its own use.

FAQs

Questions TMF teams ask.

An electronic trial master file is the system that holds the essential records of a clinical trial and shows, for each record, who filed it, who approved it and what changed. AQ eTMF files those records to the CDISC TMF Reference Model by study, country and site, tracks completeness against what the study expects, and keeps an immutable audit trail on every document.

The eTMF is the sponsor’s file for the whole trial. The eISF is each site’s own file. AQ eTMF and AQ eISF share one study record, so site documents index into the TMF as the current version, and sponsor and site hold one record of each document.

AQ eTMF creates a placeholder for every document the study expects, from study-defined lists and milestones. Completeness is the share of placeholders filled with a document that has passed QC, shown by trial, country, site and zone with RAG status, alongside timeliness and quality scores.

AQ CTMS and AQ eTMF share one study record, so the study, sites and milestones reach the TMF directly. A CTMS from another supplier needs an interface, and an interface between two validated systems is itself a computerised system that needs its own validation evidence. An open API for other suppliers’ systems is in development.

The best eTMF software for UK clinical research files to the TMF Reference Model, tracks completeness continuously, gives MHRA inspectors read-only access to the live file and states where its data sits. Ask every supplier for validation evidence for the release you will use. AQ eTMF meets the first four, and keeps the platform and study record in Microsoft Azure UK regions with DSPT Standards Met for 2026.

Look for a reference-model structure, expected document lists, version control with locked final documents, duplicate detection, QC routing with queries, electronic signatures with meaning captured, an immutable audit trail, and retention controls with legal hold. AQ eTMF holds all of these on the same record as the site file, the pharmacy file and CAPA.

AQ eTMF gives inspectors scoped, read-only, time-limited access to the live TMF and logs every document they open or download. Readiness scores show completeness, quality, open queries and overdue gaps for each trial and site, and an archive export carries an integrity manifest for each file.

Yes. AQ eTMF scopes filing, completeness and access to study, country and site, and every CRO files to the sponsor’s structure. Coordinating centres in hub-and-spoke networks see every site in one view while each site works in its own record.

The sponsor and the chief investigator of a clinical trial of an investigational medicinal product keep the trial master file for at least 25 years, starting the day after the trial ends. Regulation 31A of the UK clinical trials regulations sets this period, as amended from 28 April 2026. The sponsor keeps the file for at least 2 more years after a UK marketing authorisation is granted, where the trial supports that application when the 25 years run out. AQ eTMF supports 25-year retention with configurable retention policies, legal hold and destruction certificates.

The platform and study record are hosted in Microsoft Azure UK regions. AQ Platform holds DSPT Standards Met status for 2026 and Cyber Essentials certification. Access is role-based, and every action on a document sits in an immutable audit trail.

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