My projects

Any portal user who meets the following criteria can create a Project proposal:

• has an Active myDATA account, and
• belongs to an organisation with an active Responsible Officer Undertaking.

The researcher creating the project proposal will automatically be set as the Project editor. The Project editor is the only person who can edit the project proposal. All researchers added to the project proposal will be able to read, but not edit. 

The Project editor is usually the Project lead, however the role to draft, edit, submit and maintain the project proposal can be delegated to another researcher.

The role of Project editor can be changed when the project proposal is in Draft status. When the proposal is at Active status, a change request will need to be submitted to change the Project editor.  

Project proposals start in a Draft status, and when all fields have been filled the project proposal can then be submitted to the ABS for review. At this point the project proposal shifts to a Submitted status and cannot be edited by the Project editor. 

The ABS will review your content to ensure the project meets requirements. If more details or changes are necessary, feedback will be added to the Project proposal and an information box as per below will display at the top of each project proposal page. 

All feedback needs to be reviewed and acknowledged, you can reply if necessary. Once reviewed, the information box will no longer appear at the top of the page. 

The project proposal goes through several cycles of review (draft, submission, and feedback) until it meets ABS requirements and is ready for the approval stage.

The proposal will auto save when the Project editor moves to the next page (Save & Next button) or after 5 minutes of inactivity.

If changes are made and the Previous button is selected - changes will not be saved!

When the autosave has run after inactivity an information box will display.

If myDATA is inactive for 30 minutes or more, your session will time out and you will need to log in again.

The project proposal has several sections which all need to be completed in order:

• Access conditions: outlines important points to remember when preparing your proposal.
• Project details: sets the title, editor and start/end dates.
• Project objectives: sets the project aims, outcomes and research objectives, information, purpose of access, ethics, consultation, grants and system options.
• People: links to Organisations with active Responsible Officer Undertakings, and allows you to select the active portal users registered within myDATA. 
• Data: links the available data packages to the project.
• Output: seeks your expected outputs and dissemination methods. 
• Attachments: can only be added by ABS administration, and will reflect supporting documents supplied for this project application.
• Submit: runs checks across the project to ensure you have completed all fields.

People can only be added from organisations with an active Responsible Officer Undertaking and after the person has successfully activated their myDATA profile. 

From the People page of the project proposal add the organisation/s to the Stakeholders section. The organisation can be:

• Lead organisation: the organisation that is responsible for the project
• Member organisations: partnering on the project and may require access to data for analysis and discussion
• Government organisation sponsor: lists out the Government organisations, if the project is being sponsored, these organisations cannot discuss data until data has been cleared through an Output vetting request.

When the organisation/s have been added, you will be able to add Project researchers from the lead or member organisations.

After adding people to the Project researchers table, you can Edit or Remove Project researchers from each row action menu.

From the Data Catalogue card on the Dashboard, you can gain an understanding of what data is available before starting a project proposal. 

To add data to the project proposal you must navigate through the categories to show available data packages. The catalogue structure is

1. Data asset: BLADE, PLIDA or ABS detailed
2. Dataset: Owning organisation or ABS topic
3. Data package: available groupings of data which the project will be granted access to when all approvals are provided. 

When selecting a Data package you may be asked for justification. This is mandatory for access considerations. 

When you save your selection, you can go back and add more data packages, or remove any which are no longer needed from each row action menu.

Detailed steps are outlined in the Data catalogue section of this user guide.

To apply for a new Data Linkage, select the Add button from the Data Linkage Request (DLR) table on the project overview page. 

Complete all the relevant details and submit. 

When the project proposal is submitted, the ABS will review your data linkage request and follow up to seek additional information. 

A DLR can be added to the project that is at any status. Progress can be monitored from the Project proposal overview, Data Linkage Requests table. 

If changes are required for a Data Linkage Request linkage, please contact info@mydata/abs.gov.au.

If you require data not included in the data catalogue, including subsets of existing data and requests to load other unlinked data (including aggregate data), complete the section ‘Other data requirements’ with as much detail as possible. 

Customised subsets of a PLIDA dataset should only be requested when there are extenuating circumstances preventing the provision of the corresponding modules in the PLIDA Modular Product.

Any supporting documentation in the form of an attachment (for example, ethics approval, more detailed scope descriptions) must be sent to info@mydata.abs.gov.au. The ABS admins will attach the file to your project proposal and you will see the file from the Attachments tab within the proposal. 

Navigate through the project proposal using the Previous or Save & Next buttons. These are located at the top and bottom of each page. 

You must complete all mandatory fields. The number of mandatory fields may change depending on responses to questions.  

A warning box will appear highlighting any field missing mandatory information. You can use the link in the warning box to jump to the field that requires a response. 

When the project proposal has been submitted the proposal will be locked from editing and can be found on the ‘My projects – Pending’ view.

If you need to set the project back to draft, please email info@mydata.abs.gov.au.

A project overview is available after a project proposal has been submitted. 

The overview is a summary of the project for all researchers joined to the project and is broken down into:

• Project details, including project status of Draft, Submitted, Under assessment, Ready for approval, Pending approval, Approved and Active.
• Project Lead researchers, this can be one or more key researchers who can be the point/s of contact for the project and administration. 
• Project Editor details, is one person from the project who can draft and submit the information held in the project proposal, including editing and submitting Change Requests. 
• Researchers table shows Active researchers. Use the active menu to change status type to view Removed, or Pending. This table includes the researcher role on the project. 
• Data packages shows Active Data packages. Use the active menu to change status type to view Removed, or Pending.
• Project Data Linkage Requests table shows all requests at their various status. When active the data package is listed in the Data packages table. 
• Change Requests will reflect any submitted changes until the change is Active. Then the Project tables will update to the new active information. 
• Clearance Requests table shows Pending clearance requests. Use the active menu to change status type to view, Closed requests, Draft requests or In progress requests.

To open:

• select the Project ID link from the My projects table, or
• from the ‘Project overview' link (top right) within the project proposal.

An active status means access is available for this project. 

Data Linkage Requests move independently from the project proposal and can also be created and tracked from the Overview page. When a new data linkage is approved the data package will be added to your project proposal and become Active. 

If you are the Project editor of a project, the Overview will also display a 'Close myDATA Project' button at the top of the page. 

Email reminders are sent to all active project researchers at:

• 2 months from expected end date
• 1 month from expected end date.

At this point the Project editor can choose to:

• extend the expected end date by submitting a change request form
• confirm the project is closing by confirming in the project overview.

The 'Close myDATA Project' button is located in the Overview at the top of the page under the title. 

When selecting to close the project you must confirm that the project should be closed. 

After confirming, there is a short survey to gather your experience, selecting Yes will take you to the survey.

Project closure survey is seeking input on:

Outputs

• What were the intended outputs of the project and if they were delivered
• and if relevant, why the outputs were not delivered. 

Insights

• any key insights you have learned from this project that can be shared with the ABS

Publication

• Publication of outputs from the project have been sent to the ABS.

Outcomes

• intended outcomes and if they were delivered
• and if relevant, why the outcomes were not delivered.

Feedback on the DataLab access process, system or data accessed.