This case study draws on the portfolio exercise, presentations and shared notes from the Finland edition of the ELIXIR Node Data Management Strategy (NDMS) module in 2023. The original training materials and Node portfolios are available through the ELITMa Finland workshop materials.
During the workshop, participants used a working portfolio to bring together information about data management in their own Node. The portfolio was a structured overview in which they could note relevant activities, services, responsibilities, existing strengths and areas that still needed attention.
Why is this relevant?
A Node data management strategy can cover many different areas. The challenge is not to include everything, but to decide which topics are relevant to your own Node.
In Espoo, participants worked through a portfolio template covering areas such as strategy and sustainability, policies and legal requirements, training and support, data management planning, metadata, storage, sharing and access to data. They described what was already in place, what was being developed and where questions or gaps remained.
Participants also considered who was involved and where responsibilities sat, for example at Node level, within partner institutions or in national infrastructures.
The portfolios were used as working documents rather than formal assessments. Their purpose was to bring together information that was often spread across different services, organisations and people and create a shared basis for discussion.
What can Nodes learn from this?
The Espoo portfolios showed considerable variation between Nodes. Some already had well-developed activities across several areas, while others were still connecting existing services or identifying where support was missing.
There is therefore no single portfolio that every Node should reproduce. A topic may be central for one Node, already covered elsewhere for another or outside the Node’s scope altogether.
The exercise also showed that areas such as governance, services, infrastructure, training and expertise can develop separately. Looking at them together can help make the scope of a strategy more coherent.
This is also where the GORC model used in Chapter 3 can help. It provides a broader structure for organising the areas that are relevant, without prescribing what every Node should include.
What can you do?
Use the areas identified in Chapter 3 to create a first outline of your own strategy. Check whether it reflects the breadth of your Node context and whether the topics you include genuinely belong in the Node strategy.
You do not need to use the same portfolio template (covering strategy and sustainability, policies and legal requirements, training and support, data management planning, metadata, storage, sharing and access to data). The useful principle is to bring the relevant areas together in one overview and use that overview to decide what belongs in your Node data management strategy.