The study schematic

An automatic diagram of your study's design: groups, visits, and assessments.

Most protocols include a one-page diagram of the study design: the treatment groups (arms), the phases the study moves through, and the visits along the way. Reviewers love it because it says in one glance what takes ten pages to write. In Trelice you never draw this diagram — the study schematic builds it automatically from what you have already entered in the protocol.

Where the diagram comes from#

The schematic reads three structured sections of your protocol:

Study Design — the arms, the phases (screening, treatment, follow-up), and how participants move through them.
Schedule of Assessments — the visits and what happens at each.
Study Treatments — what each arm receives.

Because it is generated, the schematic can never drift out of date the way a hand-drawn figure in a Word file can. Update the sections, reopen the page, and the diagram matches.

Opening the schematic#

Open your protocol in the editor and click the Documents button at the top-right. See The protocol editor at a glance.
On the Document Generation page, click the card named Study Schematic.
What you'll see: a page headed Study Schematic, with the protocol title and version beneath it, and the diagram below in a white card.

You can also find your way back using the breadcrumb trail at the top of the page — it runs from Studies, through your protocol, to Study Schematic.

Reading the diagram#

The diagram flows left to right, following the participant's journey:

Each phase of the study is a labeled span across the top.
Each arm is drawn as its own track, so you can see where participants are split into groups and what each group receives.
Visits from the Schedule of Assessments are marked along the way, with their timing.

There is nothing to configure and nothing to save — the page is a view, not an editor. If something in the diagram looks wrong, the fix is always in the protocol sections it is drawn from.

If data is missing#

The schematic can only draw what the protocol contains. Two gentle prompts tell you when it needs more:

Nothing to draw yet. If the Study Design section is empty, the page shows a card headed No study design data with the message "Fill in the Study Design section to generate the study schematic." Click the blue Go to Study Design button — it takes you straight to the protocol editor. Complete the section, save, and return.
Partly filled in. If the design exists but is incomplete, an amber banner appears: "Study design data is incomplete." It names what is missing — "No study phases defined." or "No treatment arms defined." — and warns that "The schematic may be partially rendered." The diagram still draws what it can; add the missing pieces to complete it.

Troubleshooting: If you filled in the Study Design section but the page still says there is no data, check how it was filled in. The schematic reads the structured form fields — arms, phases, visits entered in their own boxes. Design information written only as free paragraph text cannot be drawn. See Filling in structured sections.

Printing the schematic#

Protocols, submissions, and slide decks all want this figure. To take it with you:

Click the blue Print button at the top-right of the page.
What you'll see: your browser's print window, showing just the diagram — the menus and buttons are left out automatically.
Print it on paper, or choose your browser's "Save as PDF" option to get a file you can insert into other documents.

When you are done, the Back to Editor button beside Print returns you to the protocol.

Note: The schematic follows the protocol version you opened it from. After an amendment changes the design, simply reopen the page — the diagram regenerates from the current sections every time. There is no stale copy to worry about, and nothing to delete or redo.