Case Study of Vertical Interoperability Between Research Tools Enabling an End-to-End Sample Workflow from Collection, to Management, to Archiving

Case Study of Vertical Interoperability Between Research Tools Enabling an End-to-End Sample Workflow from Collection, to Management, to Archiving

Vertical Interoperability

In recent years, interoperability has taken the forefront of discussions on research data management, whether related to research tools, data, or metadata. When it comes to research tool interoperability, the focus so far has been horizontal, improving the flows between tools that serve the same category: GREI’s standardisation of generalist repository metadata [1], a DMP Common Standard [2].

However, the data and metadata is also going to flow vertically, across tools used in very different stages of the research process. These tools will naturally have different requirements, focuses, and functionality from each other, especially differing between domains. How can we enable information to flow between these tools while ensuring FAIR principles are upheld? How can we facilitate researcher processes while ensuring traceability and no metadata loss? What considerations need to be taken into account by institutions and tool developers to design a flexible solution that satisfies user needs? 

Case Study - Fieldmark, RSpace, repositories

In this presentation, we will provide an update on the development of our end-to-end, integrated research data management workflow for samples. We integrate three tools, covering sample collection, processing, storage, and archiving:

• Fieldmark, an offline sample metadata collection tool
• RSpace, an ELN and sample management system and RDM platform
• Generalist and domain-specific data repositories

The presentation will also explain how consistent use of IGSN IDs (the material sample persistent identifier) in every tool and at every stage of the process acts as an integrating force and enhances data discovery.

We wish to present both practical recommendations, as well as higher-level reflections on how to approach thinking and developing vertical interoperability at an institution, and its benefits for researchers and RDM as a whole. We will also cover planned support for PIDINST. We hope that attendees will gain a strengthened mental model of how their tools ecosystem could interact, and how to approach building greater interoperability in their workflows.

References

[1] Curtin, L., Feri, L., Gautier, J., Gonzales, S., Gueguen, G., Scherer, D., Scherle, R., Stathis, K., Van Gulick, A., & Wood, J. (2023). GREI Metadata and Search Subcommittee Recommendations_V01_2023-06-29. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8101957

[2] https://github.com/RDA-DMP-Common/RDA-DMP-Common-Standard