What is a Dataset Action Record?

The Dataset Action Record is a non-public record that will collect all of the metadata and details about each distinct set of data created as part of your research, who was involved in the project, where the data is stored and any relevant retention period.

When should I create a Dataset Action Record?

• At end of your project

At the end of your research project/activity, you can create a Dataset Action Record  to finalise your data just as you would close out other aspects such as final reports, funds acquittal, etc. Please note that future requests for new data stores may be impacted if you have past data stores that have not been closed out appropriately. The Dataset Action Record will collect all of the metadata and details about each distinct set of data created as part of your research.  

• At key milestones during your project

You can also complete a Dataset Action Record at key mile stones mid-project as your research progresses, for data associated with research outputs such as publications and data publication, thesis chapters, interim funder reports.

Many of the fields of a Dataset Action Record will be auto-populated from your RDMP. If you completed a Research Data Management Plan (RDMP) at the beginning of your project/activity, the relevant information will be populated from the matching fields in your RDMP. Please update anything that may have changed since the RDMP was last modified. You can create multiple Dataset Action Records from a single RDMP if you have multiple datasets within your project.

Firstly make sure your data is organised in a logical and consistent manner within your electronic and/or physical data store. 

1. Think about how your data could be organised into ‘datasets’. A dataset is a collection of related data. You may feel that all of the data collected as part of your project/activity constitutes a single dataset, or you may wish to distinguish between data collected via different methods or from different sources.
2. Consider reuse or archiving. Do you have funding body requirements to make your data available post-project? Or do you have to comply with specific retention periods due to the nature of your data? Or do you have working data based off the core data such as calculations and analysis that is no longer required. Try to organise your dataset(s) accordingly.
3. Organise your dataset(s) into folders and give each folder a name. It is good practice to include aspects such as region (use abbreviations where possible), descriptive name about specific coverage of dataset, project code/grant ID (if applicable), and year(s) of study. Ideally, your folder name should be under 15 words.
4. You can include a 'for sentencing' folder with duplicate and working data for possible disposal by the University's, Records, Archives & Digitisation Services team (RADS).

Creating a Dataset Action Record in the UWA Research Data Hub

Log into the UWA Research Data Hub. You will be prompted to sign in with your UWA staffnumber@uwa.edu.au (for staff) or studentnumber@student.uwa.edu.au (for HDR students) and your Uni ID.  

There are a number of ways that you can create a dataset action record: 

Option 1: Go to, PLAN > “View & Update RDMP”> Click on the record title of the plan> Click on “Create a dataset action record from this plan”. 

Option 2: Go to, DATASET ACTION > Create Dataset Action Record link. This will open a new form.
 

You can search for the associated RDMP by searching by the RDMP title name. 
 

Option 3: Go to, DATASET ACTION > Create Dataset Action Record link. This will open a new form and you can create the record from scratch. You may also like to consider creating a RDMP at this stage so you can copy the projects details into multiple data set forms if applicable. 

 

Log into the UWA Research Data Hub. You will be prompted to sign in with your UWA login UWAStaffNo@uwa.edu.au (for staff) or UWAstudentNo@student.uwa.edu.au (for HDR students) and your Uni ID.  

Go to DATASET ACTION and ‘View & Update Dataset Action Record’.

You will see a list of dataset records. Click on the record title to view or click on the pencil icon to edit the record.