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* This Field is required This Field IS visible on profile Information for: 1. Name of facility : Please enter your real full name.
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This Field IS visible on profile Information for: 11. CRITERION: Signed Letter of Agreement, Intent to Cooperate or similar with ICSU : <p> &nbsp;</p> <p> The ICSU WDS constitution states that the facility must agree to a model consortium agreement, Letter of Agreement, or Intent to<br /> Cooperate with ICSU, or other comparable agreement. This will describe the commitment of the facility to the goals of ICSU WDS.</p> <p> <br /> A template is supplied at: http://icsu-wds.org/wds-members/join-icsu-wds/template-agreement</p>
This Field IS visible on profile Information for: 12. CRITERION: Have relevant external experts to provide advice and guidance to WDS node : <p> Evidence of the arrangements in place for provision of external expert advice or guidance should be provided. This can vary in the degree<br /> of formality. For example, advice/guidance could be provided by one or two relevant experts in the appropriate field, perhaps by means of<br /> reviews of the reports every two years, or occasional visits of the experts to the facility. These could be members of the Scientific Unions,<br /> but this is not essential. For facilities that belong to thematic groupings (e.g. IODE or IVOA), those bodies could act as the external experts.<br /> For the former FAGS, each analysis service works under the general supervision of an Advisory Board which has been approved by the<br /> Scientific Union or Unions concerned. This arrangement can continue for WDS.</p>
This Field IS visible on profile Information for: 13. CRITERION: Should attend WDS meetings every two years : <p> &nbsp;</p> <p> &nbsp;</p> <p> To be fully a part of the WDS, the facility must engage with other members, exchange expertise, review developments, etc, and the forum<br /> every two years is one important mechanism for this. In addition, participation indicates that the WDS member must have resources and<br /> funds available to support this.</p>
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This Field IS visible on profile Information for: 14. CRITERION: Promote active communication with research community and other users : <p> &nbsp;</p> <p> &nbsp;</p> <p> The WDS facility should provide an indication of outreach and communication activities, for example, regular report of activities (annual<br /> or every two years), participation in conferences and exhibitions, production of promotional leaflets, flyers and articles/papers.<br /> WDS-SC will provide a template for a report. This will cover, for example, a short summary of the remit and status of the WDS node; an<br /> overview of activities and developments; new data, products and services; key targets for upcoming year, any changes relating to the WDS<br /> criteria, key performance indicators.<br /> The type of information provided to the research community and other users by the WDS facility could cover:<br /> &bull; Data products and services available<br /> &bull; Linkages with other organisations who use the data for generation of products and services<br /> &bull; Current projects aiming to increase and promote use of data and services supplied<br /> &bull; Statistics/metrics indicating usage of data and services<br /> &bull; Availability of an Enquiries or Help Desk<br /> &bull; Details of surveys of customer satisfaction undertaken<br /> &bull; Training courses</p>
This Field IS visible on profile Information for: 15. CRITERION: Provide full, open, timely, non-discriminatory and unrestricted access to metadata, data, products, and services, no cost or at the Cost of Fulfilling User Request (COFUR) : <p> &nbsp;</p> <p> The WDS facility must provide data in accordance with the WDS data policy:<br /> &bull; There will be full and open exchange of data, metadata and products shared within WDS, recognizing relevant international instruments<br /> and national policies and legislation;<br /> &bull; All shared data, metadata and products will be made available with minimum time delay and at minimum cost;<br /> &bull; All shared data, metadata and products being free of charge or no more than cost of reproduction will be encouraged for research and<br /> education.<br /> If a licensing scheme is in use, please provide details.</p>
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This Field IS visible on profile Information for: 16. CRITERION: The facility has defined: • the scope of the data and/or product (services) it offers; • its responsibility for the long-term preservation of its data, products and services; • its target communities and their needs; • the rights of its use : <p> &nbsp;</p> <p> The WDS facility should provide evidence of its goals and objectives through a strategy document, mission statement, etc. and other<br /> supplementary documentation (for example, detailing data sets, products, services). These are often published in the form of a policy or<br /> contractual documents describing the commitments. This should also include a forward look.<br /> It should also note if any of the goals are beyond the remit of this facility, and provide the reason for this (e.g. not appropriate for user<br /> community, real-time data service where the responsibility for the long term preservation of the original data lies elsewhere).</p>
This Field IS visible on profile Information for: 17. CRITERION: The organizational form is adequate for the facility in terms of: • funding • sufficient numbers of qualified staff • organizational structure • long-term planning : <p> In order to be certified, the WDS facility must provide evidence that it is hosted by a recognised institution (ensuring long-term stability and<br /> sustainability) appropriate to its user community. The facility must indicate that it has sufficient funding, including staff resources, IT<br /> resources and a budget for attending meetings. Ideally this should be for a 3 to 5 year period, and the information should be updated<br /> regularly. Evidence should also include a description of the range and length of expertise of both the organisation and its staff. Any<br /> appropriate affiliations (e.g. national or international bodies, etc.) should also be noted.</p>
This Field IS visible on profile Information for: 18. CRITERION: Expertise of the host organization offers local oversight (scientists, data specialists) of international repute : <p> WDS facilities are hosted within other larger organisations, groups of organisations or consortia who can provide local oversight. WDS<br /> facilities should specify name(s) and expertise of host organization, describe its international reputation, affiliations, etc. This could be<br /> done by means of an existing document.</p>
This Field IS visible on profile Information for: 19. CRITERION: Maintenance of a continuity plan in the event of a host institution shift of interests or reaction to substantial changes : <p> The WDS facility should provide a long term stewardship plan indicating options for relocation or transition of the activity to another body<br /> in the event of a shift in interest of the host institution. These will be reviewed by the WDS-SC or other appropriate body to ensure an<br /> orderly transition.</p>
This Field IS visible on profile Information for: 20. CRITERION: Facility is committed to formal, periodic review and assessment to ensure responsiveness to scientific and technological developments and evolving requirements : <p> &nbsp;</p> <p> This will be met by the WDS facility providing a report every two years (question 13), including a forward look covering planned response<br /> to new scientific developments as well as new technological requirements. Certification through WDS-SC will be regularly reviewed (e.g.<br /> every 3-5 years) by the approved process.</p>
This Field IS visible on profile Information for: 21. CRITERION: The facility ensures integrity and authenticity of data sets during ingest, archival storage, data quality assessment and analysis, product generation, access, and delivery : <p> &nbsp;</p> <p> Evidence should be provided by the WDS facility to show that it operates a data management system suitable for preserving integrity and<br /> authenticity in the processes of ingest, archival storage, data quality assessment and data access. This is provided in particular by<br /> documentation of all changes to the objects, including metadata and usage of appropriate international standards and conventions which<br /> should be specified. Adequate metadata is necessary to ensure that there is no information loss (e.g. register of acquired data, contents,<br /> structure and technical description of data, version control, usage rights and conditions). Additionally and where appropriate, algorithms<br /> and model states must also be preserved.</p>
This Field IS visible on profile Information for: 22. CRITERION: The facility accepts data sets from its producers based on defined criteria for collection, selection, and evaluation : <p> &nbsp;</p> <p> The WDS facility should provide evidence of its procedures for verification of completeness and correctness of data and metadata. This<br /> will include reference to quality control, standards and reporting mechanisms accepted by the relevant community of practice.<br /> The WDS facility could provide summaries of any quality assurance processes and algorithms that are in place. This should not be a<br /> detailed description of how the algorithms work but a broad summary of the checks that are run and, for example, whether data are visually<br /> inspected. The summary should include details of how any issues are resolved (e.g. are they returned to the data provider for rectification,<br /> fixed by the data center, noted by quality flags in the data file and/or included in the accompanying metadata).<br /> Details of any Quality Management System (QMS) or accreditation schemes implemented by the data center should be provided. Where<br /> data have been collected in line with nationally or internationally agreed standards this should be indicated.<br /> Evidence should be provided, where appropriate, of procedures to maintain and validate provenance, quality and authenticity of data<br /> products. Where appropriate examples of data publication should be provided.</p>
This Field IS visible on profile Information for: 23. CRITERION: Archival storage of the data sets is undertaken to defined specifications : <p> &nbsp;</p> <p> The WDS facility should provide its operating plan/procedure for the archival process including definition of the data sets (granularity,<br /> information type and structure), storage of the data sets, usage of unique persistent identifiers (e.g. DOI, URN, LSID) and implementation<br /> of long-term stewardship and preservation measures.</p>
This Field IS visible on profile Information for: 24. CRITERION: The facility permits efficient usage of archived data sets, products and services based on defined criteria and preferably open standards (searchable, accessible, and usable objects and services) : <p> &nbsp;</p> <p> The WDS facility should provide evidence that it maintains a searchable metadata catalogue to appropriate (internationally agreed)<br /> standards, to ensure access to data, products and services. Because standards are evolving, this may require negotiation with WDS<br /> applicants.</p>
This Field IS visible on profile Information for: 25. CRITERION: Facility functions on wellsupported operating systems and other core infrastructural software : <p> &nbsp;</p> <p> This covers the general system infrastructure requirements and evidence to be provided should cover the following: software inventory;<br /> system documentation; support contracts; use of strongly community supported software (e.g., Apache).</p>
This Field IS visible on profile Information for: 26. CRITERION: Facility is using hardware and software technologies appropriate to the services it provides to its designated community(ies) : <p> &nbsp;</p> <p> The WDS facility should provide evidence of:<br /> &bull; The procedures and arrangements in place to provide swift recovery or backup of their essential services in the event of an outage;<br /> &bull; For real-time to near-real-time data streams: the provision of around-the-clock connectivity to the public and private networks at a<br /> bandwidth that is sufficient to meet its global and/or regional responsibilities (24/7 &amp; bandwidth);<br /> &bull; Interoperability according to international and/or community standards (e.g. Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) standards, OGC, W3C, ISO<br /> 19115, WMO Core Metadata Profile, ISO 23950 or OAI-PMH search, geospatial services, IVOA standards). This will need regular review<br /> because standards evolve and change.</p>
This Field IS visible on profile Information for: 27. CRITERION: Security: Technical infrastructure for protection of the facility and its data, products, services, and users : <p> &nbsp;</p> <p> WDS facilities should have a security policy describing how the data, products and services are protected from both malicious and<br /> accidental loss. System-based hazards could arise for example due to hardware problems or the failure of individual storage media.<br /> Externally the facility&rsquo;s first priority must be to protect against natural threats (e.g. fire, water, seismic activity) and also against risks caused<br /> by humans. The objects can be harmed directly by employees or through harmful programs smuggled into the system (e.g. viruses). Note<br /> that the security policy should exist but should not be made public as it potentially exposes vulnerabilities.<br /> Ideally, a policy should include the following:<br /> &bull; How the holdings are physically protected (e.g. how access to the building is controlled, how secure the building is, who has access)<br /> &bull; Access to the network (if the holdings are accessible from the network) &ndash; what is the access policy, how is user access limited and by<br /> whom, whether there is an internet link and details of how the firewall is configured and altered, how machines are patched, which users<br /> can log on to particular machines, policy on passwords (e.g. how often they are changed and how secure they need to be)<br /> &bull; Policy when staff leave organisation<br /> &bull; Database policy &ndash; how users are established, what rights they have, how often administrator passwords are changed, what control is there<br /> over allowable passwords<br /> &bull; How the data holdings are backed up &ndash; how often, where are the backups stored and how long for, how protected are the backups (e.g.<br /> fire proof safe, stored securely off site, who has access).</p>
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