ACCESS-NRI Merit Allocations for Reference Datasets
This page provides detailed information about the approach, roles and processes that will be followed for the management of the ACCESS-NRI merit allocations for reference datasets.
Reference Dataset is a general term used by ACCESS-NRI to describe data that is used by community members to undertake scientific research, support model development and/or will be shared for reuse. Reference datasets require at least some level of curation, documentation and management to meet the requirements of the FAIR and CARE Principles.
Click on the below links to move to the different sections on this page:
How to request ACCESS-NRI support for a reference dataset
Process for assessing requests for support
Terms and Conditions (Reference Datasets)
How to request ACCESS-NRI support for a reference dataset
Members of the ACCESS community can request support for a reference dataset by submitting a request via the relevant WG or sending an email to clare.richards@anu.edu.au.
Data requests should include as much of the following information as possible:
* Dataset Name
* Brief description (or link to catalogue record)
* Source location (where it is currently stored)
* Licence (if known)
* Storage required (approx.)
* Reason for being centrally managed, such as:
- Widely used by the community – name user groups/organisations
- Difficult for individuals to access, manage and/or store
- Supports ACCESS-NRI model development
- Required for research publication
- Other
* Data requestors name and ACCESS-Hive WG
We recommend that you read the following sections before submitting a request.
Process for assessing requests for support
The following steps will be followed for the assessment, release and review of datasets:
| Step | Details |
|---|---|
| Data Request | “Data Request” received by ACCESS-NRI. Requests can be from WGs, ACCESS-NRI or directly from a Data Provider. |
| Requests Prioritised | List of requests will be reviewed and prioritised by WGs and/or ACCESS-NRI (for any requests not directly aligned with an existing WG). - Prioritisation will assess both new requests and datasets already in the queue. ACCESS community members should consult with their WG co-chairs if they would like to revise the priority of a dataset in the queue. - If there are insufficient resources available to support a request for a high priority dataset, then a review of released datasets (full or partial) may be required prior to decision to proceed being made. |
| Roles confirmed | Data Owner and/or Provider identified and confirmed. - It is important for these roles to be agreed before proceeding. |
| Develop proposal | Data Provider will work with ACCESS-NRI to develop proposals for highest priority requests. The proposal will confirm the information provided in the Data Request and provide a merit assessment based on the following criteria: - Alignment with ACCESS development pathways OR software and tools - Contribution to community - Computational Feasibility See Merit allocation guidelines section 4. Assessment criteria |
| Proposal evaluated | Proposals for high value/low effort datasets will be approved by ACCESS-NRI under the following conditions: - The proposed storage allocation will not increase the total scheme allocations above 80% of available storage*. - At least one WG rated the dataset as a priority. - It has a known or low-effort pathway to prepare for release. - ACCESS-NRI has assessed as acceptable risk. Proposals that the WGs and ACCESS-NRI assess as requiring further discussion about merit or feasibility will be submitted to the SAC for evaluation. |
| Decision notification | Data providers will be advised of the outcome of the proposal and successful proposals will be asked to agree to the Terms and Conditions for ACCESS-NRI merit allocation support (see section below). |
| Curation and Release | Data provider works with NCI and ACCESS-NRI to curate and release data following the NCI data publication process. ACCESS-NRI will approve resource allocation and provide data management and technical support as agreed in the proposal. |
| Dataset Review | Regular reviews will be conducted to assess the ongoing and relative priority of the datasets. See following section. |
Demonstrating ongoing value
Regular reviews of the datasets will be conducted to ensure they demonstrate ongoing value. As the scheme matures and available storage becomes limited, recommendations for changes, including retirement or transition of low-value datasets and adjustments to the approach or processes for approving requests and reviewing allocations, will be submitted to the SAC for advice.
Ongoing value
To maintain ACCESS-NRI support, datasets will be reviewed regularly to confirm their ongoing value to the community, and relative value/priority compared to other supported datasets. The reviews will involve a reassessment against the merit selection criteria from the original proposal, including:
- Current and expected future value of the full collection and of individual datasets within the collections.
- Usage information such as direct feedback from users, citations, NCI project memberships and downloads.
- Relative value/priority ranking as assessed by the WG members. Datasets of interest (including existing, queued and current requests) will be ranked based on relative merit of the dataset to each WG as well as relative merit across WGs.
- Identification of collections/datasets that are at, or near, end of life and likely to transition or be retired before the next review.
Review frequency
All supported datasets will be reviewed annually. ACCESS-NRI will propose the scope for the review based on the maturity of the scheme. For example, a review of priority of requests/data in the queue or a full collection review.
Additional reviews will be conducted when the following triggers occur:
- Projected scheme allocations are likely to reach or exceed 80% of the total storage available to the scheme within the next quarter. ACCESS-NRI will advise the SAC on the scope the review.
- As requested by ACCESS-NRI.
- As requested by the SAC.
If the additional review is within 3 months of the next planned annual review then ACCESS-NRI will assess and advise the SAC on whether to postpone or cancel the planned annual review.
Transition and retirement
Once a dataset no longer represents (relative) value to the ACCESS-NRI community, the data owner/provider will be responsible for planning the transition of the dataset to an alternative funding scheme or retirement of the dataset.
Transition and retirement of datasets will be managed through NCI’s Data Collections Team.
Roles
There are several roles that have been identified as being essential to ensure the merit allocations continue to provide value to the community, and that datasets are managed and maintained to be available and fit-for-purpose.
Role Description
Science Advisory Committee Provide advice and oversight of the merit allocations process to ensure that allocations maximise impact and value. Reviews reports, requests dataset reviews and provides recommendations on changes to approach or processes
ACCESS-NRI Works with the Community WGs to prioritise data requests and develop proposals and approves datasets that are considered high value/low effort.
Provides an update to the SAC at each meeting with the following information:
- List of data collections (per WG) that have been released or approved for release with details of:
- Total ACCESS-NRI storage allocation that has been approved for each data collection/dataset, and how much has been used.
- Data owner/provider and other data roles, where applicable.
- Monthly allocation growth projections for next 6 months, and likelihood of reaching the 80% threshold that would trigger review.
- Any issues or risks that require SAC input and advice.
- Any dataset requests that require SAC advice or further evaluation.
Roles involved in a data request Data Requester – Member of the community that proposes a dataset for ACCESS-NRI support.
-Assists with initial triage
-Helps identify Data Owner/Provider
Data Owner- Lead organisation and person who is accountable for the data.
-Holds rights to the data and maintains as fit-for-purpose
-Authorises access and use.
Data Provider – Organisation and person who takes responsibility for developing the proposal and making decisions about the future of the data.
-If different to the Data Owner, must have authority (e.g. licence or other agreement) to provide access to and use of the data on behalf of the Data Owner.
-Actively manages data through whole data lifecycle
-Works with NCI to curate and document the data for release
-Manages transition plan and decommissioning at end of life
-Archives data in accordance with their organisation policies and NAA requirements (where applicable).
Terms and Conditions (Reference Datasets)
Data Owners and/or Data Providers that receive support from the ACCESS-NRI merit allocations for reference datasets will be advised of the following terms and conditions:
- Availability of storage is contingent on ongoing funding and cannot be guaranteed beyond the current funding period.
- All datasets will be regularly reviewed to assess if they continue to provide value to the community. Once a dataset no longer represents (relative) value, the Data Provider must transition to another scheme or retire the dataset.
- The approved allocation is to support the datasets described in the proposal and cannot be transferred to other datasets without a new or revised proposal.
- If the approved allocation is not completely utilised or is no longer required, then the excess storage will be returned to the available merit allocation pool to support other and new requests.
- Data Providers remain responsible for the data (see roles and responsibilities), including archiving, managing transition to another scheme or retirement.
- If a Data Provider is no longer actively managing the data and has not identified an alternative Data Provider, then ACCESS-NRI will commence steps to retire the data.
- ACCESS-NRI and NCI should be acknowledged in outputs:
- “This data is supported by the Australian Government’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS), with access to resources provided through the ACCESS-NRI Merit Allocation Scheme and the National Computational Infrastructure (NCI).”