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Connections

Organizations And Sites

How TrialStack models operational relationships across organizations, sites, and their connected records.

Organizations And Sites

Organizations and sites anchor operational context across the rest of the platform.

Who this is for

Use this page if you manage operational relationships, site structure, or the context linked into trials and governed records.

What belongs here

  • organization records
  • site records
  • linked contacts
  • linked trials
  • governance boundaries between internal teams and external collaborators

Organizations versus sites

Use an organization when the team needs the higher-level operational entity.

Use a site when the team needs a specific execution location or site-level operational context under that wider organization structure.

When to create a new site versus update an existing one

Create a new site when the operational location or site identity is meaningfully different and should remain separately visible.

Update an existing site when the work is correcting or refining the same operational location rather than creating a new one.

What teams need to understand

  • how organizations differ from sites
  • when to create a new site versus update an existing one
  • how contacts relate to both organizations and sites
  • how trial linking affects reporting, review, and downstream workflows

Operational expectations

  • An organization should represent the higher-level operating entity.
  • A site should represent a distinct execution location or site-level context under an organization.
  • Contacts, trials, and related records should preserve their connection to the right organization or site.
  • Teams should update an existing site when refining the same location and create a new site only when the operational identity is meaningfully different.

What data users actually maintain on the forms

Organizations and sites share the same page model, but they describe different levels of operational data.

Organization pages usually group data into:

  • organization information such as legal name, operating name, type, and description
  • organizational profile data such as size, maturity, therapeutic areas, and operating countries
  • business identifiers such as LEI, DUNS, tax, or related external identifiers
  • registered address and contact information
  • accreditations and certifications stored as structured repeatable records

Site pages usually group data into:

  • site identity such as name, type, department, and descriptive context
  • contact channels such as phone, fax, email, and website
  • location data, often starting from address autocomplete and then storing normalized address fields
  • capacity data such as enrollment targets or operational throughput
  • capabilities data that explains expertise, infrastructure, or site readiness

Acceptance-wise, a team should be able to tell immediately whether they are editing a higher-level organization record or a specific execution site.

Typical workflow

  1. Create or confirm the organization record.
  2. Add sites where execution context needs to be tracked separately.
  3. Attach contacts and other related records.
  4. Link the relevant trials.
  5. Review relationships when reporting, approvals, or downstream workflows depend on the operational structure.

Common mistakes to avoid

  • using sites when an organization-level update is enough
  • creating duplicate sites when the right action is to update an existing one
  • treating contacts as disconnected from organization and site context
  • forgetting that trial links affect downstream review and reporting context

Acceptance checks

  • A user can represent an organization independently from its sites.
  • A user can add multiple sites under the same organization when site-level execution differs.
  • A user can update an existing site without creating a duplicate record for the same location.
  • A user can review connected contacts and trials in the context of the organization or site they belong to.

API reference

Use TrialStack API reference for exact organization, site, relationship, history, and restore contract details.