Data management for RDI

Storing data 

Good storage and documentation practices for data collected or produced in a project 

• help avoid mistakes and misunderstandings and facilitate sharing the data between different operators 
• ensure that the data can be found and used after the project, as necessary 
• prevent unauthorised people from accessing sensitive data. 

Always remember to describe your data. Without descriptive information, i.e. metadata, the data quickly becomes incomprehensible. 

Data security 

Ensuring data security is an essential factor of storage, and particularly important with sensitive data that contains personal data, special categories of personal data or other confidential data.  

Data security means ensuring the prevention of data destruction, damage and alteration or theft and the control of access and usage rights. When storing or processing sensitive data, pay special attention to the selection of the storage location.  

Data-secure storage requires compliance with Metropolia data security guidelines. Data backup is also a part of data security and essential for the proper management of data. 

Storage locations 

Metropolia storage locations and their properties: 

Metropolia U drive (priv) 

• Requested for the project from IT Services 
• With more than one Metropolia staff member working on the data 
• No access to operators outside Metropolia 
• Also suitable for sensitive data 
• Content backups made regularly 

Metropolia Z drive     

• When you are processing the data alone 
• Also suitable for sensitive data 
• Content backups made regularly 

Metroarch 

• Metropolia server for the storage and processing of sensitive data in RDI projects. 
• When several people process the data 
• When access for operators outside Metropolia is needed 
• Particularly suited for sensitive data 
• See instructions on requesting storage for sensitive data below 

Cloud services: Google Drive, One Drive, Teams 

• Suited for collective use of data across organisational boundaries 
• Not suitable for sensitive data 
• Secure use of cloud services

IDA Research Data Storage Service (CSC)     

• Suited for collective use across organisational boundaries 
• Not suitable for special categories of personal data 
• Suitable for sharing files and opening data 
• See instructions on requesting an IDA space below 

File management 

Save your files in folders in a consistent way that makes the data understandable both to the person collecting the data and any persons reusing the data. 

File naming     

• ​Give your files informative and consistent names that describe their content as accurately as possible.  
• Use uniform formats, e.g. with dates.  
• In case of several versions of the data, add the version number in the file name, e.g. v01, v02, etc.  
• Do not use descriptive terms such as 'old,' 'new,' 'newer,' etc.

Folder structure     

• You can create dedicated folders for unprocessed raw data, analyses and results, for example.  
• The best folder structure depends on the data.  
• Give each folder a descriptive name and, in addition to the actual data, save a descriptive documentation/instruction for the data in the folder, as necessary.  

File format     

Aim to use common file formats that are likely to be usable also in the future, e.g. 

• Text: csv, xml, html, txt
• Audio: aiff, bwf, flac, aac, wav
• Video: dpx, mpeg-4 
• Image: dng, jpeg, png, tiff
• Geographic datasets: GeoTiff, gml, kml

Deleting unnecessary files

IDA – Research Data Storage Service 

RDI projects generate various kinds of research data: interviews and text, measurement results, images and sound recordings. On one hand, this data must be stored somewhere during the project, and on the other, many datasets should also be stored after the project has ended. 

IDA Research Data Storage Service is intended for the safe and efficient storage of data.  

Benefits of IDA 

• Safe – Finnish service for higher education institutions produced by CSC. 
• The data is stored more reliably than on a USB flash drive or some other external storage device. 
• Data can be easily shared with other users, unlike when storing data on Metropolia network drives. 
• Metadata can be easily stored into the Etsin service – the data receives a dataset page enhancing its visibility. 
• In Etsin, the data also receives a persistent identifier and it can be cited. 
• Facilitates opening the data, but does not force it. 
• Easy to use and free of charge. 
• Particularly suited to data that is not being processed constantly. 
• Also suitable for storage after the project has ended. 
• The service does not allow the storage of special categories of personal data (GDPR). 

Implementing IDA at Metropolia 

1. Create a My CSC account and ask all IDA users included in the project to create their own accounts. 

• You can create the account by signing in to the service with your Haka log-in. 
• The portal also allows you to get access to other CSC services, such as supercomputers.​ 

2. Create a project in My CSC portal and apply for IDA storage space to the instructions provided by CSC

3. The IDA contact person for Metropolia's data support grants your project IDA storage space. We also offer instructions on the use of IDA as necessary. 

4. Your project now has a dedicated IDA space and you can store your data in it!  

When you need more information or assistance regarding the use of IDA, please contact datatuki@metropolia.fi.