Chapter 4 Consortia
This chapter is targeted towards people who are part of a consortium and plan to use AnVIL as part of their activities. You will find here:
- Account Setup Overview – Goals for this guide and help choosing a role in the consortium
- Account Setup Steps – Step-by-step instructions to create your first accounts as part of the consortium on AnVIL
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4.1 Account Setup Overview
4.1.2 Choosing a Role
Consortia are usually made up of scientists taking on different research roles. This guide will be most helpful to you if you target the section most closely related to your role. The sections are summarized by role below:
Data Manager
The data manager is responsible for controlling access of consortium members. To protect data security, data managers ensure that consortium members only have access to appropriate datasets. If there are multiple datasets, the data manager will manage consortium member access as appropriate to a subset of those datasets. These limited access permissions are organized via distinct Terra Authorization Domains.
Principal Investigator / Lab Manager
Principal Investigators are responsible for managing billing expenses accrued by members of the consortium. Within the consortium, PIs can add members to Workspaces managed under specific Google Billing Accounts and Billing Projects, providing centralized control over computing and data storage expenses. Principal Investigators will need to work with data managers to ensure their team members have correct data access via Terra Authorization Domains, where necessary.
Data Analyst / Researcher
A consortium data analyst might describe someone who is performing analyses or writing code, but isn’t responsible for managing dataset access or billing expenses. The Analyst should be able to identify the PI or data manager point of contact in the consortium. Analysts will not be able to run analyses or access data without explicit permission from consortium management. This role also describes research leaders who will participate in activities but will not be managing personnel or expenses as part of the consortium.
Data Submitter
Data submitters are responsible for working with the AnVIL Data Ingestion Team as well as the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) to make data available on AnVIL. Data submitters will work with the data manager to ensure the data is protected via the appropriate Terra Authorization Domains.
4.1.3 Consortia Responsibilities
It is important for consortium members of all roles to have a common understanding of the consortium’s security and data access policies. Consortia leadership are responsible for the following:
- Drafting Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) and Data Use Agreements (DUAs)
- Arranging IRB oversight
- Drafting policy and protocol for data security and management incidents
- Ensuring all consortium members are aware of all data use limitations and the terms of the consortium agreements
- Defining what it means to be a consortium member
- Developing clear timelines and milestones for sharing data with the community rapidly, completely, and in NIH-designated data repositories
- Creating a timeline for closing out the consortium and thus the consortium-managed, streamlined access for consortium members
- Communicating the timeline with relevant NHGRI program staff and provide AnVIL with 6 months’ notice of when the consortium’s data access is expected to end
4.2 Consortium Data Managers
4.2.1 Managing Security and Privacy Policies
As a data manager, you are responsible for managing access to sensitive data. You should be involved in managing the following:
- Drafting Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) and Data Use Agreements (DUAs)
- Arranging and managing IRB oversight
- Drafting policy and protocol for reporting data security and management incidents
- Managing data use limitations and conditions of consortium membership
4.2.2 Account Setup
To set up your account on AnVIL, please see the chapter for PIs and Lab Managers. Once the setup is complete, return to this page to continue.
4.2.3 Two Factor Authentication
Note that you must establish two factor authentication on your Google Account for added security.
4.2.5 Granting Access
Data managers should confirm that all other consortium members have two factor authentication set up on their Google accounts prior to granting access to datasets.
Granting member access to datasets should be controlled via Terra Authorization Domains.
4.2.6 Revoking Access
Revoking access to datasets, either when a member leaves the consortium or the consortium concludes, should be controlled via Terra Authorization Domains.
4.3 Consortium PIs and Lab Managers
4.3.1 Be Aware of Security Policies
As part of a consortium on AnVIL, you should be aware of the following:
- Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) and Data Use Agreements (DUAs)
- IRB oversight of the consortium
- Policy and protocol for reporting data security and management incidents
4.3.2 Account Setup
To set up your account on AnVIL, please see the chapter for PIs and Lab Managers. Once the setup is complete, return to this page to continue.
4.3.3 Two Factor Authentication
Note that you must establish two factor authentication on your Google Account for added security.
4.4 Consortium Data Analysts and Researchers
4.4.1 Be Aware of Security Policies
As part of a consortium on AnVIL, you should be aware of the following:
- Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) and Data Use Agreements (DUAs)
- IRB oversight of the consortium
- Policy and protocol for reporting data security and management incidents
4.4.2 Account Setup
To set up your account on AnVIL, please see the chapter for Data Analysts. Once the setup is complete, return to this page to continue.
4.4.3 Two Factor Authentication
Note that you must establish two factor authentication on your Google Account for added security.
4.5 Consortium Data Submitters
4.5.1 Be Aware of Security Policies
As part of a consortium on AnVIL, you should be aware of the following:
- Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) and Data Use Agreements (DUAs)
- IRB oversight of the consortium
- Policy and protocol for reporting data security and management incidents
4.5.2 Account Setup
To set up your account on AnVIL, please see the documentation for Data Submitters. Once the setup is complete, return to this page to continue.
4.5.3 Two Factor Authentication
Note that you must establish two factor authentication on your Google Account for added security.
4.6 Wrap-Up
Congratulations! You have successfully set up your AnVIL account!
You should now be able to move forward with your consortium activities, such as adding personnel to appropriate datasets or working in a Workspace. Remember that you will need to coordinate with other members of the consortium to establish appropriate permissions for datasets, Terra Billing Projects, and Workspaces.