Readme file for internal use only: 

Whitelee SCADA Dataset (Pure id 44340781)

Pure dataset record created on 7th Sept 2015, but the data files were not uploaded due to their size. Data finally uploaded to RDMS i-drive in July 2016. 

Access to files was subject of a FoI request in July 2016, which was subsequently denied. Data is of a commercially sensitive nature & will probably never be released. 

Below is email history of the data.

AlanM 03/08/16

22/07/16

Hi Claire

I think this should be treated as a formal FOI request.  Having looked at the information provided by Iain it is obvious that although we do hold this information we are not able to release it.  If we are withholding recorded information which the University does hold then we always need to provide an official exemption for not releasing it.

We will deal directly with the requestor and may have to go back to Iain for some further information at some point.  Do you want to be copied in to this correspondence?

Thanks

Jeanette

Jeanette Leiper
Information Governance Officer
Email j.leiper@strath.ac.uk
Tel Ext 5994

Iain,

We cannot provide this data – it is commercially sensitive and was provided by Scottish Power to support a fully industry funded project. We can wait to hear from the FoI office – but I think there input is academic. If we give this out then the University will have broken commercial terms.

Regards,

Stephen

Professor Stephen McArthur
BEng(Hons) PhD CEng FIET FIEEE

Hi Alan, 

I will respond to FoI team if I receive an e-mail from them but can confirm that the request for access should be turned down as the dataset is commercially sensitive and we have permission to use it solely for appropriate research within the EEE department. This particular request is from a direct competitor to the owner of the data (Scottish Power Renewables) and I cannot envisage any scenario where such a request for access to the dataset would be acceptable.

I can add that even access for research within the EEE department should be specifically requested rather than automatically given as there is a need to ensure it is protected, I'm not sure if it would therefore be necessary for non-employees (undergraduates, PhDs) to sign an NDA prior to access. Finally, one extra note around the use of the dataset is that any resulting research output needs anonymised and also approved by SPR prior to publication.

Apologies for the delay in responding to your e-mail earlier in the week regarding sharepoint access. I'll respond before close of play today.

Best regards,

Iain Dinwoodie PhD MEng

Hi Alan, 

Thanks for your e-mail.

I am happy to be noted as the contact for the database. The only caveat is there is a bit of uncertainty around my current role and what I will be doing beyond the end of August so it may need updated again in the near future. 

From a sustainability view point, hosting the database on PURE would make sense as there is significant opportunities for future research. The main issue is the commercial sensitivity of the data, it was supplied through a purely industrial collaboration and permission should be requested from the industry partners before anyone uses the data. (They are generally supportive of this as they benefit from the research but it is vital that the resulting analysis is anonymised and the dataset itself is not accessed by third parties.

Professor McArthur will be in a better position to advise on the best route forward.

Thanks,

Iain Dinwoodie PhD MEng
 
Level 4, Technology and Innovation Centre, University of Strathclyde, 99 George Street, Glasgow, G1 1RD
Tel: 0141 444 7228| Mob: 07921461012 | Email: iain.dinwoodie@strath.ac.uk  / iain.dinwoodie@gmail.com
 
The University of Strathclyde, charity number SC015263

From: Alan Morrison
Sent: 01 July 2016 12:34
To: Iain Dinwoodie
Subject: FW: Whitelee SCADA data in Pure
Dear Dr Dinwoodie, 
 
I’m part of the university RDMS team that look after data deposit in Pure. As David Pattison has now left the university I was in contact with him looking for a replacement contact person for the Whitelee SCADA database which he created a Pure dataset record for last year. I just received an email from David saying that you now look after the database. 
 
I had already emailed Prof MacArthur before I heard back from David (see below) regarding the options for the future of the database, but in the short term would you be OK with me adding you as the contact for the database? All this entails is your email address being added to the Pure record, this is for internal purposes as only the generic RDMS contact email address appears on the public Knowledgebase record. If you don’t want to take on this responsibility I’d be grateful if you could indicate someone in the department who would. 
 
I’d also be interested to hear your opinion on the options I’ve listed in my email to Prof MacArthur, ie we would like to try & get a copy of the database deposited in Pure, either so that we can administrate access to it and/or take a copy for preservation purposes only. There’s no particular urgency on the deposit/access options, but if you could get back to me about adding you as the contact person that would be helpful, 
 
Many thanks
Alan

Alan Morrison
Research Data Support Officer | Research Data Management & Sharing 
Research and Learning Support
University of Strathclyde
Level 5, Andersonian Library, Curran Building
101 St James Road
Glasgow G4 ONS
Tel: +44 (0) 141 548 4468
orcid.org/0000-0003-3032-1553 
RDMS Web: http://www.strath.ac.uk/researchdataproject/ 
 
From: Alan Morrison 
Sent: 01 July 2016 10:56
To: Stephen McArthur <s.mcarthur@strath.ac.uk>
Cc: Alan Slevin <alan.slevin@strath.ac.uk>; Claire Carroll <claire.carroll@strath.ac.uk>
Subject: Whitelee SCADA data in Pure
 
Dear Prof McArthur, 
 
I work with the Research Data Management team, specifically the deposit of research data in Pure. I have received an internal notice on Pure to inform me that Dr David Pattison has now left the university and has named you as one of the people to contact for project enquiries. 
 
David was in contact with the RDMS team in Sept 2015 regarding the deposit of a large dataset relating to Whitelee wind farm. The actual data was never deposited due to its size but a registry record was created in Pure (and corresponding Knowledgebase record) with the instructions “Data is held on a MySQL database, currently access to the dataset is available on request from the contact person listed on this record.” Obviously David was originally that contact but having left it’s important that someone else within the university can take over this responsibility. 
 
I’ve attached below the original email conversation between David and my RDMS colleagues Alan Slevin and Andrew MacLellan for background. There are a couple of issues regarding the database that I’d be grateful if you could think about & get back to me on:
 
-          Are you actually now responsible for the maintenance of the Whitelee SCADA Database? If not, could you let me know who is? 
-          Would you be happy to take responsibility for handling external enquiries, including possible access requests, concerning the database?
-          Since Sept last year Pure has been upgraded and has a better capacity for dealing with very large datasets. Do you think it would be preferable to re-try depositing the data in Pure and allow the RDMS team to be responsible for any access requests? 
 
I see you have an out of office notice until July 19th, I’d be grateful if you would contact me when you return and we could discuss these options further?
 
Many thanks
Alan

Alan Morrison
Research Data Support Officer | Research Data Management & Sharing 
Research and Learning Support
University of Strathclyde
Level 5, Andersonian Library, Curran Building
101 St James Road
Glasgow G4 ONS
Tel: +44 (0) 141 548 4468
orcid.org/0000-0003-3032-1553 
RDMS Web: http://www.strath.ac.uk/researchdataproject/ 
 
--------------------- 
 
From: David Pattison 
Sent: 08 September 2015 10:06
To: Andrew MacLellan <andrew.maclellan@strath.ac.uk>
Cc: pure <pure@strath.ac.uk>; Research Data Management and Sharing <researchdataproject@strath.ac.uk>; Alan Slevin <alan.slevin@strath.ac.uk>
Subject: RE: Datasets support
 
Thanks Andrew. It sounds like your last option might be the best one – just uploading the metadata and allowing people to come find me if they need access. Uploading even the raw input files is going to be a task in itself due to the sheer number of large files, and an SQL dump would be over 150GB (and would lock the server up for at least 2 days!). 
 
I’ll upload the metadata as you suggest, and should I ever move on from the university, I’ll delegate responsibility for it on Pure.
 
Many thanks for the help,
David
 
From: Andrew MacLellan 
Sent: 08 September 2015 10:02
To: David Pattison
Cc: pure; Research Data Management and Sharing; Alan Slevin
Subject: RE: Datasets support
 
Hi David,
 
Pure can be used for data which should be preserved, as well as for making data open. Users can choose whether it is open or restricted.
 
If you want data to still be accessible in the future (say 10 years from now), I would recommend uploading it to Pure. To preserve data, Pure will check for files going corrupt or formats going obsolete. It’s unlikely that Access or MySQL databases are going to become obsolete in the foreseeable future, but files stored on network locations such as StrathCloud, or on local drives, could in theory become corrupted and there would be a risk that no one would notice until it was too late.
 
However, for this particular instance, uploading a 150GB database is unprecedented for us. Alan Slevin may be able to advise more whether this is possible. 
 
Can the data be uploaded in smaller chunks or compressed at all? This might make it easier.
 
Note that Pure is a data repository for curation and preservation purposes, not for ‘active’ data. So you wouldn’t be able to run SQL queries on a database held in Pure. It would be a snapshot of the data (probably similar to what you’ve put on StrathCloud, rather than an active database which could be edited and queried.
 
For project-specific datasets that are not restricted by departmental/commercial agreements, can be uploaded to Pure and made openly available. If you want to restrict the data, you can just make the metadata available, and the metadata can include information about what data exists, and whether they can contact you to discuss access. Obviously, in some circumstances you must make data openly available to meet funder or publisher expectations.
 
For general guidance about creating a dataset record in Pure - https://moss.strath.ac.uk/projects/resdata/SiteAssets/SitePages/Pure%20Data%20Storage/Describing_dataset.pdf 
 
Thanks,
Andrew
 
From: pure 
Sent: 08 September 2015 08:51
To: Research Data Management and Sharing <researchdataproject@strath.ac.uk>
Cc: David Pattison <david.pattison@strath.ac.uk>
Subject: FW: Datasets support
 
Hi 
 
Can you advise on David’s query below.
 
Thanks
 
Christine Gallacher
PURE Systems Administrator
Research and Knowledge Exchange Services
University of Strathclyde
50 George Street
Glasgow, G1 1QE 
 
Tel : +44 (0) 141 548 4503
Fax : +44 (0) 141 552 4409

From: David Pattison 
Sent: 07 September 2015 16:42
To: pure
Subject: Datasets support
 
Hi,
 
I am responsible for a large dataset relating to Whitelee wind farm and I am wondering how best to process with adding this to Pure. The dataset itself was passed to us in Microsoft Access format, but I have translated it into a MySQL database which I run from a dedicated PC, but more to the point, is approximately 150GB in size. I already have a copy of the original data on Strathcloud.
 
The data itself is restricted to EEE staff only, as there is a specific agreement with the department and Scottish Power Renewable, so it cannot be disseminated outside this department.
 
Is this something which should be held on Pure? If so, what would the stance be on project-specific datasets I have also obtained (i.e. those which do not have a departmental agreement for dissemination)?
 
Regards,
David

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr David Pattison
Research Associate