Advantages of using the portal

Centralized

Many working groups store data at different locations instead of using a centralized system. For example, various files are stored in separate folders or servers. This approach leads to inconsistency and makes the data management strenuous. By using the portal, you can avoid this issue. It will centralize the data and provide a REST-API to make the data accessible. Moreover, the portal provides filters to search quickly for specific data.

Traceable

Often it’s hard to overview the whole measurement and evaluation process. Calibration functions and corrections will be applied to improve the data quality of the time series. After the processing, it’s often not clear which data were used for the calculations. This approach is unsatisfying and doesn’t implement the FAIR principles. The data portal stores every information (deployment, instrument setup, calibrations, relations between the series) to make the data retraceable and reconstructable.

Compatibility

Working groups usually have the data stored in different structures and formats. It’s hard to share the data with other working groups since the data is not compatible. The more working groups use the system, the easier it is to share the data between the groups. Moreover, the system allows the implementation of software components (transfer protocol, importer, exporter) that can also be shared between the working groups.

Flexibility

The system allows you to develop your individual software components to adapt the system for your purposes. These might be an importer, exporter, transfer protocol, etc. Therefore, the system provides interfaces that define how to implement these components. To ensure a smooth start, we provide a tutorial that explains the steps in detail.