Background: The large number of biobanks within Germany results in a high degree of heterogeneity with regard to the IT components used at the respective locations. Within the German Biobank Alliance (GBA), 13 biobanks implement harmonized processes for the provision of biomaterial and accompanying data.
Objectives: The networking of the individual biobanks and the associated harmonisation of the IT infrastructure should facilitate access to biomaterial and related clinical data.
Methods: For this purpose, the relevant target groups were first identified in order to determine their requirements for IT solutions to be developed in a workshop.
Results: Of the seven identified interest groups, three were initially invited to a first round of discussions. The stakeholder input expressed resulted in a catalogue of requirements with regard to IT support for (i) a sample and data request, (ii) the handling of patient consent and inclusion, and (iii) the subsequent evaluation of the sample and data request.
Conclusions: The next step is to design the IT solutions as prototypes based on these requirements. In parallel, further user groups are being surveyed in order to be able to further concretise the specifications for development.
Keywords: Biological specimen banks; Medical informatics; Needs assessment; Request management; Stakeholder participation.