title: Development of a web service for analysis in a distributed network.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We describe functional specifications and practicalities in the software development process for a web service that allows the construction of the multivariate logistic regression model, Grid Logistic Regression (GLORE), by aggregating partial estimates from distributed sites, with no exchange of patient-level data.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  We recently developed and published a web service for model construction and data analysis in a distributed environment. This recent paper provided an overview of the system that is useful for users, but included very few details that are relevant for biomedical informatics developers or network security personnel who may be interested in implementing this or similar systems. We focus here on how the system was conceived and implemented.
  
  
  METHODS
  We followed a two-stage development approach by first implementing the backbone system and incrementally improving the user experience through interactions with potential users during the development. Our system went through various stages such as concept proof, algorithm validation, user interface development, and system testing. We used the Zoho Project management system to track tasks and milestones. We leveraged Google Code and Apache Subversion to share code among team members, and developed an applet-servlet architecture to support the cross platform deployment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  During the development process, we encountered challenges such as Information Technology (IT) infrastructure gaps and limited team experience in user-interface design. We figured out solutions as well as enabling factors to support the translation of an innovative privacy-preserving, distributed modeling technology into a working prototype.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Using GLORE (a distributed model that we developed earlier) as a pilot example, we demonstrated the feasibility of building and integrating distributed modeling technology into a usable framework that can support privacy-preserving, distributed data analysis among researchers at geographically dispersed institutes.
authors.affiliation: University of California, San Diego.
authors.forename: Xiaoqian
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Duke University.
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
authors.forename: Keith
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Marsolo
authors.affiliation: University of California, San Diego.
authors.forename: Lucila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ohno-Machado
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