Data Core is a secure, scalable computing and storage environment within which users can share access to a collection of data sets and process the data with a variety of software tools, while meeting appropriate regulatory requirements to protect data. The Data Core is useful for analysis of both secure and non-secure data by research teams, including non-Weill Cornell collaborators.
What's Included
Data Core is intended primarily for faculty and their collaborators, including student projects or instruction. It is designed to facilitate and streamline research and analysis by providing the following services:
- Securely store and customize researcher access to data in accordance with access restrictions from data use agreements, IRB protocols, and other constraints relevant to the type of data
- Provide a shared workspace for members of a research team to ensure all researchers are working with the most up-to-date information, including common reference data. This includes non-Weill Cornell collaborators
- Hold source data in read-only format to prevent overwriting
- Enable software applications for research and analytics (see list below)
- Eliminate duplicative or less secure data management methods (such as local and remote data storage and computing)
- Simplify research data management
- Eligibility for metadata management capabilities as they are developed.
Additional Features
- Default Windows 2012 environment, though others are possible with potentially additional setup cost, including associated relational database.
- Centrally managed login using Weill Cornell CWID authentication. Non-WCM collaborators may request a CWID.
- Remote access (i.e. from anywhere outside the WCM network) is restricted and only available via AnyConnect
- File sharing services for project resources including source data, reference data where applicable, group analytical data, group workspaces, and individual workspaces
- Data transfer upon request, in accordance with data governance plans
- Data archiving upon project completion, also in accordance with data governance plan (cost only for appropriate storage services). The Data Core can assist with certain aspects of making data public, with potential charges depending on what is needed.
- Technical support via tickets automatically created by emailing dcore-ticket@med.cornell.edu (Note that each email to this address creates a new ticket. The service team can follow up by phone if necessary or requested.) Tickets can also be created directly in ServiceNow, but for faster service, please indicate Data Core as the business service.
Cost and Fees
For use of the data core in fiscal 2017-2018, faculty, staff, and students in the Department of Healthcare Policy and Research (HPR) will not be subject to these rates, which is also noted in the onboarding form referenced below. Status for fiscal 2018-2019 is still being determined. Any project for which the principal is not in HPR will be prompted in the onboarding form for a valid SAP fund number to cover monthly costs.
Annual costs are calculated based on the following criteria:
- Base service (decreasing for additional users, to make collaboration and instruction more affordable)
- Storage
- Optional commercial software (some open source software such as R is standard, and other can be installed on request)
- Optional database setup and hosting
- Optional additional computational resources
Monthly Base Service
| 1st user (PI or Instructor) | $203.75 |
| 2nd user | $155.00 |
| 3rd user | $109.58 |
| 4th user | $65.83 |
| 5th user | $22.08 |
| Additional or classroom users | $8.33 |
STORAGE (monthly, for data and user files)
| Primary data: read only with backup | $1.96 per 100 GB |
| Derivative data: read/write with 6 hourly snapshots and daily replication | $11.25 per 100 GB |
| Direct server-attached storage, no backup | $8.33 per 100 GB |
OPTIONAL COMMERCIAL SOFTWARE
Each project is automatically provisioned with Microsoft Office suite (Access, Excel, Powerpoint, Publisher, and Word). The following list indicates additional software available for installation.
| Application | Monthly per user (research) | Annual only for classrooms |
|---|---|---|
| ATLAS.ti | $41.67 | $5300 |
| GraphPad Prism | Free | $50 per user |
| MATLAB | $21.67 | $130 per user |
| SAS | $4.58 | $18 per user |
| Stata/MP | $6.25 | Not applicable |
| Stata/IC | Not applicable | $700 |
| StatTransfer | $2.08 | $20 per user |
OPTIONAL OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE
The software listed below can be installed at no charge to the user. Note that projects containing PHI are not usually permitted to have internet access, and thus all non-standard libraries that are also needed to be installed need to be specified at the time of the request. The CRAN repository is mirrored internally to Data Core, allowing users to self-install R packages even when internet access is not available
| Application |
|---|
| Cytoscape |
| Jupyter |
| Python |
| R/R-Studio |
OPTIONAL DATABASE
| Setup fee | $500 |
| Monthly DB hosting rate per 2 CPU | $166.67 |
OPTIONAL ADDITIONAL COMPUTATION (beyond 4 CPU, 16 GB)
| Each additional 2 CPU, 8 GB | $83.33 |
| Each additional 8 GB | $62.50 |
Service Requirements
- WCM CWID
- VPN or AnyConnect installation is required for remote access