Workflows

Deposit

ADA provides deposit guidelines on the public website [101] and the ADA wiki “Quick Deposit Guide” [5]. When a depositor contacts the ADA, the proposed deposit is appraised by the ADA for suitability [22]. Once the deposit has been provisionally accepted, an ADA archivist will set up a deposit shell on the ADA Deposit Dataverse [94] instance. The ADA archival workflow is managed across three separate Dataverse installations programmatically by ADAPT [6] to ensure data integrity [37] as data is moved between Dataverse instances. Depositors are instructed to upload all data and supporting documentation files to their dataset shell on the ADA Deposit Dataverse. An ADA archivist will prompt the depositor to complete the DDI metadata fields [93] on the deposit shell. The archivist will further correspond with the depositor if further information is needed to create complete documentation for their data, based on ADA requirements [33].

Data Processing

When the deposit shell is created using ADA’s ADAPT application [6], each deposit is assigned a unique six-digit ADA Identification (ADAID) number. The purpose of ADAPT is to ensure data provenance and authenticity [31] is maintained. ADAPT copies the deposited files to an archive directory identified by the same unique ADAID number as the Submission Information Package (SIP). Within the SIP, the initial draft deposit remains unchanged so that a complete end-to-end audit trail can be always maintained. The archivists create a copy of the data for curation and processing. Archival and working directories are accessed via a secure Remote Desktop Service (RDS), with storage and infrastructure managed by the NCI [37].

Archivists curate and process the data and documentation as agreed with the depositor. The level of curation [102] may depend on the type of data (e.g., quantitative or qualitative), the perceived value of the data to the designated community, its sensitivity, or other factors as determined in consultation with the depositor. The archivist will check for disclosure risk covered under rights management [26] and liaise with the depositor about how best to mitigate any risks identified. Data will also be checked for re-usability [36], including appropriate metadata and consistent mapping to supporting documentation such as data dictionaries or user guides. Proposed changes to the data are detailed in the ADA Processing Report sent to the data depositor or data custodian for approval prior to the changes being made. All agreed changes are recorded in the curation syntax as part of the Archival Information Package (AIP) [31].

Review and Publication

Once all agreed changes to the data and metadata have been made, the archivist will set up a preview on the Test Dataverse instance that reflects the intended final ‘published’ version of both the metadata and files. Once the data custodian/depositor has approved the preview, it is duplicated on the Production Dataverse instance using the ADAPT tool. Here the data is published, searchable, and available for access request. DDI metadata is always publicly accessible, as is all project documentation files (unless depositors have specified otherwise). Data access is typically restricted and can be downloaded subject to data access criteria [8], including at minimum an ADA account with a verified institutional email and sufficient responses to any “Guestbook” questions (subject to the ADA License Agreement and Terms of Access; see section Rights Management [26] for details). Access criteria are recorded on ADA’s internal wiki (not publicly available) for reference by access management staff.

Changes or updates to the data files of an already published deposit are handled via the above deposit and processing workflows. Changes are automatically version controlled in Dataverse. Major changes, that is a change to the data, result in a full versioning (i.e. Version 1.0 becomes Version 2.0), while a minor change such as the addition of metadata results in a sub-versioning (i.e. from Version 1.0 to Version 1.1).

Preservation

At publication, preservation versions of the DDI metadata are exported using the Dataverse export functionality in ADAPT. The metadata is stored in a preservation sub-directory with that deposit’s ADAID in the archive directory, along with a copy of the published SPSS data file(s) and SPSS syntax. The Preservation Plan [9] outlines how ADA manages long term preservation of data and metadata for reuse.

Adjusting Workflows, Decision Handling, and Change Management

The ADA Archive Team meets weekly with the ADA Director to discuss workflows and make decisions as required. Meetings follow an updated agenda, with outcomes and actions documented. Projects are managed in ADA GitHub or through ANU Microsoft SharePoint platforms.

References

[101] ADA website - depositing data - (https://ada.edu.au/depositing-data/)

[5] Deposit guidelines – (https://docs.ada.edu.au/index.php/Quick_Deposit_Guide)

[22] Deposit Appraisal & Collection Policy - (https://docs.ada.edu.au/index.php/Deposit_Appraisal_%26_Collection_Policy)

[94] ADA Deposit Dataverse - (https://deposit.ada.edu.au)

[6] ADAPT - (https://docs.ada.edu.au/index.php/ADAPT)

[37] Storage & Integrity - (https://docs.ada.edu.au/index.php/Storage_%26_Integrity)

[93] Metadata guidelines for ADA Dataverse - (https://docs.ada.edu.au/index.php/Metadata_guidelines_for_ADA_Dataverse)

[33] Quality Assurance - (https://docs.ada.edu.au/index.php/Quality_Assurance)

[31] Provenance and authenticity - (https://docs.ada.edu.au/index.php/Provenance_and_authenticity)

[102] Levels of curation - (https://docs.ada.edu.au/index.php/Quick_Deposit_Guide#Levels_of_Curation)

[26] Rights Management - (https://docs.ada.edu.au/index.php/Rights_Management)

[36] Reuse - (https://docs.ada.edu.au/index.php/Reuse)

[31] Provenance and authenticity - (https://docs.ada.edu.au/index.php/Provenance_and_authenticity)

[8] Setting Access conditions - (https://docs.ada.edu.au/index.php/Setting_Access_Conditions)

[9] Preservation Plan – (https://docs.ada.edu.au/index.php/Preservation_plan)