Person identifier
Choose the identifier EnaResearch uses to match people - national ID, NHS number, BSN, AHV, KVNR, a hospital record number or none - and how it is protected.
- Admin panel
EnaResearch keeps one record per person in your organization, so the same person can be recognized when they join a second study. The Person identifier setting decides how people are matched: by an identifier your organization uses, or by name and date of birth only. The identifier is never stored in clear, never exported and never sent to the mobile app.
Required role
- Owner (System management → Person identifier).
Identifier types
| Identifier | Validation |
|---|---|
| Not used (name + date of birth only) | People are matched by name and date of birth similarity; the researcher decides |
| T.C. Kimlik No / YKN (Türkiye) | Official check digit rule |
| NHS number (England, Wales) | Official check digit rule |
| BSN (Netherlands) | Official check digit rule |
| AHV/AVS number (Switzerland) | Official check digit rule |
| KVNR (Germany) | Format only |
| Institution / hospital record no | Your own display name and an optional format rule |
| Other national identifier | Your own display name and an optional format rule |
A valid format does not prove that an identifier belongs to the person. For your own identifier, enter the Display name (for example "Hospital record no") and, optionally, a Format rule as a regular expression, applied in upper case after spaces and hyphens are removed.
Once people have a stored identifier, the type can no longer be changed.
Rules
- Identifier required: new participants cannot be registered without it. If off, name and date of birth matching is used when it is missing.
- Keep an encrypted copy: the identifier is also stored encrypted, for tasks such as reconciling with the hospital system. Only owners can view it (Show identifier), and every view is audited. Turning it off permanently deletes existing copies; the matching data remains. Turning it on keeps copies only for identifiers entered from then on.
How the identifier is protected
The identifier is kept as a protected hash for exact matching plus its last 4 characters as a hint. It never enters exports, the mobile app or the audit log.
Your legal basis
Which identifier is used, and on which legal basis, is decided by your organization with its data protection officer (for example under GDPR, UK GDPR, the Swiss FADP or KVKK). This setting alone does not make processing compliant.
Related articles
Can't find what you need?
Our support team can help, from setting up a study to exporting a dataset. Please include your organization code.
System management
EnaResearch System management - organization identity and logos, language, time zone and country, the notification gateway, license and software support.
Audit log
The EnaResearch audit log records changes, approvals, exports, imports, data access and assistant requests. Filter, verify signatures, export to Excel.