Last week Jisc held two workshops at Conference Aston around proposed shared services for research data. The workshops were over two days and split between higher education institutions and RDM system suppliers. During both days we received a huge amount of feedback from all participants and we would like thank them for all of their hard work, attention and input.
We are currently synthesising all of the feedback, comments and notes and will report back soon on how this has changed the shape of the service, as well as releasing an updated requirements document. This means that the Jisc presentation slides in this blog are already out of date!
In the meantime if anyone who wasn’t able to attend the workshops would like to add their feedback to the draft requirements document a google doc is currently open to capture comments. Slides from the workshops are linked to below:
HEI Shared Services Workshop, Wednesday 18th November 2015
Over 70 representatives from UK Higher Education Institutions gathered and provided feedback on the requirements for shared services, shared experiences on current gaps in provision in RDM services, lessons learned from RDM service implementation at an institutional level and discussed hopes, aspirations and concerns about shared services for RDM.
The day began with a welcome and introduction from Peter Tinson (UCISA Executive Director and Chair of the Jisc RDM Expert Advisory Group)
Rachel Bruce (Deputy Chief Innovation Officer, Jisc) Introduced Jisc’s Research at Risk programme of work and the drivers and motivations behind Jisc’s work around Shared Services.
Slides: Introduction to Research at Risk and Shared Services (12.3MB)
John Kaye (Senior Co-design Manager – Research Data, Jisc) presented the architecture, functionality and requirements of a proposed Jisc hosted shared service.
Slides: Jisc RDMSS Scope Functionality and Requirements (3.4MB)
To set the context for group exercises on refining requirements for the shared service we heard short talks from two projects:
Ruth Jenkins (Head of Library Services, Manchester Metropolitan University) spoke about MMU’s recent experience in gathering requirements for a central RDM service. Ruth Spoke stressed that thinking about researchers should be central in any requirements and outlined MMU’s recent experience in gathering requirements and analysing them against the current marketplace. This experience has led MMU to quickly prototype a hosted EPrints based solution.
Jenny Mitcham (Digital Archivist, University of York) and Chris Awre (Head of Information Management, University of Hull) presented the requirements gathering work they have carried out behind the Jisc Research Data Spring project: ‘Filling the Digital Preservation Gap’
Slides: Digital Preservation Requirements for Research Data Management (4.4MB)
The room then split out into tables for a group exercise to refine the requirements. The groups were given sections of the Draft RDM Shared Services Statement of Requirements to examine and were asked:
- Which of the Requirements are “Mandatory” and which are “Optional”?
- What are the priority for the “Mandatory” requirements?
- What requirements are missing?
This exercise generated a great deal of debate and extremely valuable analysis which will feed into an updated requirements document and Jisc’s operational requirements procurement document
After lunch the focus turned to sharing institutional experiences of implementing RDM and . Two short presentations set the context for this:
Daniel Hanlon (Research Data Architect, UCL) outlined UCL’s approach to RDM and the systems that they have in place.
Slides: Research Data Management at UCL (2.1MB)
Masud Kohkhar (Head of Innovation, Lancaster University) outline the contrasting approach from Lancaster
Slides: RDM at Lancaster University (1.1MB)
These talks were followed by another group exercise where participants were asked:
- Fill in a card detailing your hopes, aspirations and concerns for the service?
- Where are there gaps in the current RDM service provision both in general and at an institutional level?
- What are the key pitfalls to avoid, tips for success and lessons learned to be utilised when implementing RDM systems?
In the last session the focus turned to examining what institutions needed to have in place to ensure successful implementations of RDM systems.
Jonathan Rans (Digital Curation Centre) outlined some of the results from the DCC’s institutional engagement work and outlined trends in the sector, what institutions need to have in place for successful RDM implementations and what system providers need to consider.
Sides: DCC Institutional Engagements (416KB)
John Kaye then finished the session outlining the proposed service development process, the timeline and how institutions can become involved and pilot this service.
Slides: Jisc RDMSS Development Process and Insitutional Engagement (5.2MB)
Attending the workshop is not a pre-requisite for becoming a pilot institution, and if you are interested in finding out more or expressing an interest, then please refer to our previous blog post.
As well as the participation from the delegates the Jisc Digital Futures team would like to thank Joy Davidson (DCC), Jonathan Rans (DCC), Peter Tinson (UCISA) and Dave Golding (University of Leeds) for facilitating group work throughout the HEI Workshop.
Research Systems Suppliers Workshop, Thursday 19th November 2015.
This half day workshop focused on consulting system suppliers and developers and gaining their views on the service and the proposed development process. There was an attendance of around 40 system suppliers, developers and HEI representatives.
Rachel Bruce Introduced Jisc’s Research at Risk programme of work and the drivers and motivations behind Jisc’s work around Shared Services.
Slides: Introduction to Research at Risk and Shared Services 151119 (12.3MB)
John Kaye (Jisc) presented the architecture, functionality and requirements of the proposed Jisc hosted shared service.
Slides: Jisc RDMSS Scope Functionality and Requirements 151119
John Kaye (Jisc) also provided an outline of the procurement lots, the process to be employed for selecting systems, and the process for working with institutions to develop the pilot system
Slides: Jisc Development Process and Procurement 151119
These presentations generated much debate in the room and have provided useful feedback on improving the shape of the system and in considering factors within the requirements of the system and how providers will work together to successfully deliver a system.
After all of the hard work from the institutional delegates the previous day we couldn’t let the providers leave without engaging in a group exercise. In this activity we asked groups to:
- Fill in a card detailing your hopes, aspirations and concerns for the service?
- What are the key pitfalls to avoid, tips for success and lessons learned to be utilised when implementing RDM systems?
- What might need to be included in the procurement FAQ?
As with the institutions we received a great deal of useful feedback which is informing how we progress with the service and how we draw up the invitation to tender. We’d like to thank the suppliers who attended for generating an open debate and for helping to refine our thinking before we go to tender.
There will be more updates about the project soon, but if you have any immediate questions then please email john.kaye@jisc.ac.uk