If your time as a researcher or student at UW-Madison is coming to an end, good luck with your new opportunities! As you make the shift, it’s important to begin the process of off-boarding – taking all the necessary steps to ensure a seamless transition when formally separating from the university.
This is especially important when it comes to your research data. Off-boarding requires a careful assessment of all the data, accounts, and tools you have used while at UW-Madison and an understanding of policies on transitioning your research data to your collaborators, departments, or new institutions.
To help, we have put together this brief guide. But remember, many labs, departments, and colleges have their own off-boarding procedures, so it’s best to inquire there for more specific guidance. UW-Madison has also gathered some role-specific resources to get started.
Planning:
Careful planning in the period before you leave is the best way to ensure you won’t lose any data or disrupt the projects you worked on while at the university.
You can start by locating what is known as a Knowledge Transfer File or Template. Here is an example from the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. This template offers specific guidelines for thinking through the transfer of your responsibilities or tasks to someone at the university. Many departments, labs, or colleges at UW-Madison have their own version of a knowledge transfer file, so it’s best to check there first.
Documenting:
If you are leaving data to labmates or colleagues, you should include README files and metadata for each dataset and project to ensure usability of the data into the future.
Be sure to include information that explains the file naming and organization conventions, limitations of the data, contact information, methods for collecting or processing the data, licensing and sharing guidelines, funding information, and more. Cornell has a handy guide to writng README style metadata.
Storage:
Securing the appropriate storage solutions to avoid data loss is a major consideration when leaving the university. Taking a data inventory is the best place to start. This process will help you review the types of data you have, where the data is currently ‘living’, its security and privacy restrictions, assess it for long term storage retention, and identify any dispensable data that can be deleted. If, as part of a grant or other funding, you already have storage solutions in place, it’s also necessary to communicate these plans to anyone who may inherit your data.
Many labs have their own off-boarding procedures and checklists, so make sure you’re using them if they’re available, particularly as it relates to data being used in ongoing projects. It’s vital that you provide access to any folders, accounts, or storage locations for collaborators that will remain on the project after you leave.
Long term storage for your data is another consideration. It’s important to contact your project PI, department, or funding agency for policies in place. You can also refer to UW-Madison’s Policy on Data Stewardship, Access, and Retention.
If you have questions about your data and research records, feel free to contact RDS or the University Records Officer. RDS can provide advice selecting disciplinary or general repositories to share your data long-term. For researchers with business records or other research project records, the University Records Officer can provide retention schedules appropriate to your project.
Access to Campus-Provided Tools:
Part of the data inventory requires understanding the deactivation schedules for the storage solutions and accounts you used while at the university. DoIT has generated this helpful deactivation schedule so you know how long you’ll have access to your accounts.
Different roles have different deactivation schedules, so be sure to look it over. DoIT has a blog post with clear guidelines on account retention and access.
There are other collaboration tools such as Microsoft Teams and Slack that are frequently used on research projects, and it’s important to handle access to those tools in ways that fit your circumstances.
Confidentiality and Intellectual Property:
If you are leaving the institution and taking your research data with you, you’ll want to consult section 4.4 of UW-Madison’s Policy on Data Stewardship, Access, and Retention. Transferring your research data will require permission from your PI or approval from the Vice Chancellor for Research. Directly or indirectly identifiable human subjects data requires IRB review and approval to transfer outside of UW-Madison.
Be sure to review IP policies and the Data Security, Management and Retention page for any policies that may be relevant to your work, and check with Research & Sponsored Programs if you have questions about an award.
Further questions?
Reach out to the RDS team for further assistance or guidance.