Data. How is data processed in keep.eu?
Data quality is a key issue for any knowledge management tool, such as keep.eu. Data should be, as much as possible, accessible, complete, correct, on-time and synchronised.
Much of data quality can only be guaranteed through clear and transparent procedures applying to the collection, processing and publishing of data (among many other lines of work that, all together, contribute with their share to the quality of the data in keep.eu and to an enriching website-user experience).
Specifically regarding project-partner data processing in keep.eu, the workflow can be summed up as follows (with the exception of data from European Union macro-regional strategies):
- A project-partner data file arrives to keep.eu (either per FTP from a programme’s monitoring system or by mail, sent by the programme’s joint secretariats, or collected by members of the keep.eu team from the programme’s website). Each programme sends their own data, hence each file received in keep.eu belongs to a single programme. The same occurs when a programme’s project-partner data is retrieved from its website.
- The data file is verified for a minimum set of data, without which it is not possible to continue processing. Once this is verified the processing can proceed.
- In the cases of project-partner data received for the first time from any given programme, synchronisation must be guaranteed between this programme’s information in keep.eu (namely its specific objectives, thematic objectives and investment priorities, or thematic priorities in the cases of programmes using IPA funding) and the information regarding each project’s contribution to each of its specific objectives.
- Data is geocoded (that’s how the users can see mapped information) and validated (location-region-country match, programme name, etc.).
- The keep.eu team then needs to make sure that the fields are standardised as much as needed, so that keep.eu manages to seamlessly aggregate this data set together with the remaining data in the database and provide users with as many search options and results as possible.
- If the data at hand concern projects that are new to the database, a software in keep.eu will automatically assign one, two or three themes (thematics) to each project. At the same time another software will detect the language of the data and classify each project also regarding the used languages.
- Now all is ready for publication. If the data came from a programme that has nominated editors and can work out its programme’s project-partner data in keep.eu, the keep.eu team will inform the programme’s joint secretariat at hand that there is data ready for publication awaiting for validation, and the data is then published. If the programme has no keep.eu editors, it will only be informed after the publication of its project-partner data.
- Right after the data is published, it is once more verified by the keep.eu team. At the same time, the information regarding the respective programme’s project-partner data in keep.eu is updated (for example, the percentage of this programme’s projects that are featured in keep.eu). Also a piece of news is published at keep.eu on the recent data update.
- If the programme at hand has no keep.eu editors, it is at this time that the keep.eu team informs it that new data on its projects and partners have just been published, and asks it to verify it.