> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://studies-guides.jaspari.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Setup and Launch

> Once you've created a study, everything else happens on its Setup page: eligibility, sites, compensation, recruitment area, and the settings that gate whether it can actually launch.

## The Setup Wizard

<Steps>
  <Step title="Basic Information">
    Name, description, study format (site-based, virtual, or hybrid), study type, phase, sponsor, protocol and NCT numbers, duration, and recruiter contact info.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Screening Questions">
    Built through the eligibility rule builder. See [Eligibility Parameters](/studies/eligibility-parameters).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Compensation">
    Compensation availability, total amount, and an optional itemized payment schedule. Offering compensation is optional. If you do offer it, you can choose whether to display that compensation is available on the study's public page, and if you do display it, you can further choose whether to show the exact amount.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Sites">
    Assign existing sites or add new ones. This is also where you turn on volunteer self-scheduling and visit reminders, if you use them. See [Sites](/sharing/sites).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Recruitment Area">
    Choose how you define your geography: radius around a site, nationwide, by state, or by a list of ZIP codes. See [Geographic Scope](/studies/geographic-scope).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Visible to Volunteers">
    Control which fields volunteers see on the study's public page.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Recruitment Goals">
    Start and end dates, enrollment goal, target completion date.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Shared With">
    Manage collaborating organizations and ownership transfer. See [Collaboration](/sharing/collaboration).
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Study lifecycle

A study moves through five statuses:

```text theme={null}
draft → active ⇄ paused
          ↓         ↓
         ended or complete
```

### What stays editable after launch

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Locked at launch" icon="lock">
    Study name, study type, delivery model, phase, protocol number, and NCT number. These can only be set while the study is in draft, and lock the moment it leaves draft.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Editable through active and paused" icon="pen">
    Sponsor name, eligibility rules, description, duration, contact info, visibility settings, visit reminders, and goal-related settings. These lock upon study completion or end.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Requirements before you lock

* Every eligibility rule group needs an inclusion logic choice set (any-of or all-of). You do not need eligibility rules to launch a study, however. This is best for surveys or studies aimed at the general population.
* If your recruitment area is a radius around a site, that setup needs at least one assigned site with a radius configured. This requirement applies specifically to that one scope type.
* Depending on your account, you may need an active payment method or a minimum wallet deposit on file before your first study launches. This is a one-time account-level setup.
* If you are a covered entity, you may need to sign the Business Associate Agreement (BAA) if regulations require it for this particular study.
* If your study's calculated price is at or above a certain threshold, launching (or resuming an edited study from pause) may require speaking to your platform representative. The pricing screen will tell you if this applies.

## Sites, virtual studies, and hybrid studies

A study's delivery model mainly controls what volunteers see on its public page. Virtual studies skip the Sites section entirely, since there's nothing to show. Site-based and hybrid studies both show one.

A site-based or hybrid study can still launch and run with zero sites attached, as long as its recruitment area isn't defined by radius around a site. Interested volunteers for such a study stay fully visible and fully workable. You may assign the volunteer to a site from their volunteer page at any time.

If your recruitment area does depend on a site radius, you'll need at least one site with a radius set before you can launch.


## Related topics

- [Launch, Pause, and Edit a Study](/studies/launching-pausing.md)
- [Launch Your First Study](/getting-started/quickstart.md)
- [Choose a Study Format](/studies/study-formats.md)
- [Managing Sites](/sharing/sites.md)
- [Eligibility Parameters](/studies/eligibility-parameters.md)