The Purpose of the Project

The majority of the current Central Registry Data Management Systems in use at the various SEER Registries were developed in the mid 1980's and are nearing the end of their hardware and software life spans. Historically, the NCI SEER program has provided funding separately to each of its registries for the purpose of system development. With the potential expense of anywhere from hundreds of thousands to several million dollars per SEER Registry the NCI SEER program can no longer afford to let each registry develop and re-design their systems independently. It was determined that the NCI SEER must actively pursue the development of a Central Registry DMS that can ultimately fulfill the needs and requirements of its SEER registries.

There are many benefits of centralized design and development. These include:

• decreases in system maintenance expenses,
• improved data quality,
• the ability to report on data sooner,
• increased ease in the ability to expand collected fields, and
• the ability to make enhancements and modifications immediately and in the same version to all involved Registries.

The Project Intentions identify the organizations' specific reasons for developing the SEER DMS and the results that are expected from this effort.