Sentinel stores surveillance configuration separately from individual investigation records. Authorised users can configure diseases, reference values, custom fields, surveys, case definitions and task templates through the application.
Custom fields extend patient and case information without adding a dedicated database column for each surveillance variable. Supported input types include text, numbers, dates, dropdown selections, checkboxes, multiline text, email addresses and telephone numbers.
Disease-specific configuration supports:
- Selecting additional information to collect for a disease.
- Maintaining reference values used by forms and classification criteria.
- Associating surveys and task templates with disease workflows.
- Reusing selected configuration through disease hierarchies.
Changes within the supported configuration model do not require a source-code change or database-schema migration. New entity types, integrations or application behaviour may still require software development.
Configuration changes should be tested with representative records before they are applied to an operational workflow.