Looking to convert an Excel spreadsheet into an elegant and sophisticated web-application.

Needs to:

* carry over current data and logic from spreadsheet
* be simple to update and maintain by non-technical medical researchers
* have robust search and filter capabilities
* have a simple, elegant UI (we like the stuff from www.37signals.com for that reason)
* be stable and scalable, up to potential commercial use
* include client/account management capabilities
* be cost effective

Please include your plan for porting the data, building the database, creating the UI, the technologies your plan would be based on, and why your choices are the best mix of technologies or solutions.Attached file: KS WebApp Sample File.xls
File info: Sample data file with required search/filter functionality and logic.PURPOSE OF APPLICATION

To clarify, the purpose of the database is to sift, sort and organize data in order to be able to identify trends in research and facilitate medical information analysis.

PROJECTS & PERMISSIONS

We would need to be able to create new projects (databases) within the web app, and either import data from Excel, or input data directly from source documents.

We also need permissions to enable varying levels of access, i.e. certain people would have the ability to import or input data, while others not.

DATA FILE

A sample data file has been uploaded as an attachment that includes the sort and filter functions we are looking to replicate in this web app.

The file contains five rows of data. The complete file contains approximately 1,100 rows of data. We would need to be able to work with at least this much data in the web app.
COMMERCIAL USE

Was asked about commercial use. We plan to:

1) Use the database internally for our projects

2) Sell access to the database to corporate users. Would likely be a site licence/subscription with a certain number of users per company, division, country, etc. May need to be levels of access for each licence.

Hope this helps.A very good question was posted by a vendor about workflow. Here is the answer.

PROCESS

We have a five step process when adding new data:

STEP 1) Person 1 enters the data
STEP 2) Person 2 checks for accuracy
STEP 3) Person 1&2 discuss results from previous steps and reach consensus
STEP 4) Person 1 updates data based on consensus from STEP 3
STEP 5) Person 3 finalizes and approves

* Audit trails would probably be helpful so we know where changes were made and by whom.
* There should be an override for Step 1 when importing bulk data.
* Ability to hide or archive records (individual data rows) would be beneficial

EXTERNAL DATABASE INTEGRATION

One other thing, the ability for this app to pull data directly from PubMed, Cochrane and ClinicalTrials.gov would be beneficial. Some sort of integration and search/selection capability.