Access, logging and retention
Who can see what, what is recorded about activity, what is kept and for how long, and what the platform does not do.
Reference
This page describes how the platform actually treats the data you put into it: who can see it, what is recorded about activity, what is kept and for how long. It is written so that you can plan around the platform's behaviour, including the things it does not do. Nothing here is a policy statement; it describes the software as deployed.
Who can see what
Every account is created by an administrator's invitation and signs in with a password and an authenticator code. Once signed in, what you can see is decided recordset by recordset:
- A project or dataset is visible to the people on its access list, at the level each was given. Levels differ in what you may change; see Sharing a project or dataset for the exact meaning of each.
- Access applies to the whole recordset. The read-oriented levels do not hide sequences or specimens from a member: anyone on the list can read all of the recordset's records.
- A recordset whose status is
remoteis readable by every account on the platform, not only its members. - Adding someone or changing their level takes effect straight away. Removing someone can take up to about a day to apply, because the record store caches each person's access list and only refreshes it for people still on the list.
- Evidence files attached to records are not restricted by project access at upload time. Any signed-in user can attach a file to any record whose process ID they know, so take care with the process ID when you upload.
Good to know: there is no record-level or field-level permission. If someone can see a project, they can see every record and every field in it.
What is recorded
The platform logs activity against the account that performed it:
- Loading records (batch and single-specimen uploads) and editing them.
- Adding evidence files and sequences, and moving records between projects and datasets.
Analysis jobs are not in that log; the analysis service records who submitted each job and keeps it for a week. Sign-ins, searches and downloads are not logged as activity.
Project managers see recent activity for their recordsets on the HQ dashboard; administrators see activity across the platform, summarised in an activity report that is refreshed about once an hour, so the most recent actions can take up to an hour to appear there.
Statements are an exception. The platform keeps the current state of a statement (draft, under review, approved, returned) but not a history of who changed it and when. If you need a record of a statement's review, keep it outside the platform.
What is kept, and for how long
| Item | Kept |
|---|---|
| Records and sequences | Indefinitely. There is no action in the workbench to delete a record; records can be moved to another project but not removed |
| Evidence files | Indefinitely, with the record they were attached to |
| Original uploaded files | Kept as received in BioStor, with the checksum recorded at upload |
| Analysis results | Available from the Analysis panel for a limited period; download the result package if you need to keep it |
| Search results | Temporary; they expire after about an hour |
| Expert statements | Approved statements are deleted 30 days after they were created, whether or not the signed copy has been uploaded |
| Invitation links | A few hours; the invitation email states how long |
The statement rule is the one most likely to catch people out: always download and file the signed statement when it is approved. See Review, signing and retention.
Sessions
Signing in starts a session that stays alive while you use the platform and ends when you sign out or after a period of inactivity. Changing your password does not end sessions open elsewhere, so if you suspect your password has been exposed, sign out on every device as well as changing it.
What the platform does not do
So that you can plan around it, these are things the platform does not currently do, even though a reasonable person might assume it would:
- It does not send email notifications when an upload finishes, a job completes or a statement is returned. Check the uploads queue, the Analysis panel and the statements card.
- It does not calculate the Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum compliance tier. The tier shown on a record is an imported value.
- It does not check the internal format of every file type. Images, PDFs and spreadsheets are validated and processed; sequence and trace files (FASTA, FASTQ, AB1, SCF, FSA) are accepted by extension and stored as received. Check those files before you upload them.
- It does not re-verify a file's checksum after upload. The checksum is recorded once; comparing it later is up to you.
- It does not keep an audit trail of statement history, as noted above.