The Business Administration team provide a range of business and service management functions to support the operation of SAIL and meet the needs of the users. This includes co-ordinating the setup of projects, running and closure of projects, overseeing invoicing and contractual functions and maintaining compliance with risks, policies and procedures. The team also manage the SAIL financial plan and operational budgets.
The Business Administration team is made up of people with a diverse mix of backgrounds/experiences and expertise, ranging from Account Management, Human Resources, Finance, Teaching, Project Management and Research and Policy.
The core functions of the team within SAIL are:
- Tracking research project timelines and deliverables, and addressing any issues
- Developing and implementing the core operating policies/procedures of SAIL including the Charging Model
- Managing cost recovery, procurement and contract agreements
- Managing the financial and staffing plans for SAIL
- Processing amendments to projects
- Administering communications to SAIL users
- Supporting bid development and administration of grant funding
- Undertaking funder/ stakeholder progress reporting
- Administer the operation of the SAIL Scientific External Advisory Board
- Maintaining SAIL records and documentation
- Provide secretariat support to SAIL corporate committees and Boards
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Supporting SAIL users – by co-ordinating the smooth passage of projects from initial queries to approval, set up, through any amendments and to eventual closure.
Supporting data providers – By providing general information about SAIL and signposting specific queries to the appropriate person within the governance, data acquisition or data management functions.
Supporting internal teams – By running the network of committees and Boards which enable information dissemination / decision making across SAIL, by undertaking cost recovery for services to ensure that there are sufficient financial resources to maintain and grow teams and by facilitating input from all teams into the development of operational policies and procedures.
Supporitng the public – By leading on production of the SAIL Annual Report and other public facing information.
Supporting funders – By providing reporting against agreed budgets and targets.
Meet the team >
SAIL Databank’s Communications Services Team are responsible for a range of impact, engagement and marketing communications to internal and externals stakeholders. The team utilise a range to tools, formats and medias to promote the work of SAIL. This includes:
- Website content management such as news, impact stories, the data use register and all general content.
- The SAIL Databank User Newsletter which features latest news, dataset acquisitions and important user information.
- Generating impactful press releases to showcase how approved researchers use SAIL for public benefit.
- Coordinating and representing SAIL at events and conferences to engage directly with key stakeholders.
- Creating and leveraging brand and promotional graphical assets to acheive maximum reach and engagement.
- Managing and growing SAIL’s social media accounts to showcase the outputs from SAIL research.
- Working closely with partners and collaborators on joint PR campaigns to acheive common goals.
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If you have a SAIL story to tell as a result of your research using SAIL we’d love to hear from you at: SAILDatabank@swansea.ac.uk
Meet the team >
The Data Acquisition & Governance Team plays a key role in delivering a variety of essential services for the SAIL Databank. This includes engaging with organisations holding data which is potentially of interest to the SAIL Databank, and facilitating the sharing of this data. The team operates all information governance functions related to use of SAIL data in line with standard operating procedures.
Within SAIL, the team’s core responsibilities are:
- Managing the information governance review process for new project applications and project amendments
- Advising researchers on the requirements for access to particular datasets in SAIL
- Liaising with data providers to seek relevant approvals for use of their data
- Negotiating with data providers for new datasets to be shared with SAIL
- Assisting researchers with their Research Accreditation Panel (RAP) applications, to access data brought into SAIL under the Digital Economy Act
- Processing SAIL user account applications
- Managing aspects of the data provisioning process
- Manage the administrative aspects of the SAIL project audit process such as drafting reports, communicating audit findings and tracking required actions
- Administering communications to SAIL users
- Maintaining all documentation relating to SAIL projects, users, policies and datasets.
Meet the team >
The Finance team provide financial and HR functions to support the operation of SAIL. This includes monitoring expenditure against profile budgets and managing forecasts to support senior management in strategic planning of procurement and staffing. They also compile financial information for quarterly and annual reports meeting funding requirements.
The Finance team comprises professionals with a broad spectrum of experience, spanning financial management for overall strategy, financial accounting for daily operations, research project management, procurement and compliance, and human resources.
The core functions of the team withing SAIL are:
- Monitoring expenditure and addressing any issues
- Providing support for procurement and compliance
- Monitoring expenditure against funding profiles
- Developing forecasts for strategic planning
- Managing recruitment and retention of staff
- Producing financial reports for funders and senior management
- Maintaining financial records and documentation
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Supppoting internal teams – by ensuring robust financial management of funding which enables recruitment of skilled staff to lead and deliver SAIL projects, and assisting with the procurement processes for essential IT infrastructure and data.
Supporting funders – by providing timely and accurate financial reports meeting agreed budget targets.
Meet the team >
The Legal Team’s operational role within SAIL is multidisciplinary, advising on a wide range of legal issues including GDPR, taking an active approach in audit and compliance exercises, drafting and negotiating high level contracts and providing governance advice within the IGRP process. The team also play a key role in academic SAIL projects, public and stakeholder engagement.
The User and Data Support Services (UDSS) team plays a core role in delivering a range of critical services for the SAIL Databank. Our multidisciplinary team, in partnership with other SAIL teams, supports users and projects across the whole SAIL project lifecycle, from initiation to completion. Services delivered by SAIL Databank’s UDSS team enable projects to use SAIL for impactful research that leads to benefits for the public and their services.
A multidisciplinary team of data scientists, from a diverse range of professional and academic backgrounds, working collaboratively across SAIL services.
The UDSS team leads on and provides input to a range of SAIL services, including:
- Project scoping.
- Project application reviews.
- Metadata.
- Data quality reviews.
- Provisioning data to approved projects.
- Disclosure control.
- Audits.
- Data extraction and processing.
- General advice and expertise about SAIL policies, processes, data, and research methods.
Project scoping helps prospective SAIL Databank projects to understand how they can use data in SAIL to answer their research questions and provides them with clear costing information to support funding applications. During the application stage, the UDSS team participates in reviewing applications that wish to access and utilise the SAIL Databank trusted research environment (TRE) for safe and impactful research.
The UDSS team supports SAIL projects and users by assisting in the acquisition of new data sources, the ongoing refreshing of existing data sources and flows, performing data quality assurance, provisioning data to projects, and creating and maintaining metadata. Where projects require additional support with their data preparation, the team may be able to provide data extraction & processing services. The team is responsible for the disclosure control process, which governs the release of outputs from the SAIL TRE. The team contributes to the development of SAIL policies and processes, ensuring the safe and appropriate use of SAIL and improving the experiences of SAIL users.
It is essential for projects to engage with the UDSS team at the earliest opportunity, as this will enable the team to assess project feasibility and requirements, and provide the most suitable level of support.
“As part of our DEA accreditation, the UK Longitudinal Linkage Collaboration (UK LLC) tracks the time it takes for disclosure control requests to be processed, with this service provided by the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank User and Data Support Services (UDSS) team on the UK LLC tenancy on SeRP. The UK LLC team isvery pleased with the service the SAIL UDSS team provides, and we’ve noticed further improvements to the disclosure control service and timelines in recent quarters and wish to thank the UDSS team for all their hard work.” –
Dr Katharine Evans, Senior Data Manager, UK Longitudinal Linkage Collaboration
Meet the team >
The SAIL Databank analytical services team was established in 2014 to support SAIL Databank users. Over time our services and experience has grown to become an interdisciplinary group of data scientists that collaborate with internal and external research groups on various projects. The team lead SAIL Databank’s own methodological research projects in developing new methods of working with large datasets.
The analytical team’s project scoping service helps potential SAIL Databank users to understand the potential possibilities and help shape research questions around our data. The team can provide an indication of how much support is likely to be needed for the project and associated costs, offering excellent value-for-money. During the application stage, senior members of the analytical services team also participate in reviewing the applications to use the SAIL Databank for safe, impactful research outcomes.
The team can support any project ranging from fully developed ideas, which have a clear research question, method and a definitive list of required datasets, to early-stage projects that require support and advice to help define or refine ideas and research methodologies.
SAIL Databank’s support services offer an agile, straight-forward and economical one-stop-shop that unlocks the potential of routinely collected data in pursuit of public benefit.
Examples of the research programmes and projects led or supported by the team can be found here in the Analytical Team’s Annual Reports.
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The User and Data Support Services (UDSS) team plays a core role in delivering a range of critical services for the SAIL Databank. Our multidisciplinary team, in partnership with other SAIL teams, supports users and projects across the whole SAIL project lifecycle, from initiation to completion. Services delivered by SAIL Databank’s UDSS team enable projects to use SAIL for impactful research that leads to benefits for the public and their services.
A multidisciplinary team of data scientists, from a diverse range of professional and academic backgrounds, working collaboratively across SAIL services.
The UDSS team leads on and provides input to a range of SAIL services, including:
- Project scoping.
- Project application reviews.
- Metadata.
- Data quality reviews.
- Provisioning data to approved projects.
- Disclosure control.
- Audits.
- Data extraction and processing.
- General advice and expertise about SAIL policies, processes, data, and research methods.
Project scoping helps prospective SAIL Databank projects to understand how they can use data in SAIL to answer their research questions and provides them with clear costing information to support funding applications. During the application stage, the UDSS team participates in reviewing applications that wish to access and utilise the SAIL Databank trusted research environment (TRE) for safe and impactful research.
The UDSS team supports SAIL projects and users by assisting in the acquisition of new data sources, the ongoing refreshing of existing data sources and flows, performing data quality assurance, provisioning data to projects, and creating and maintaining metadata. Where projects require additional support with their data preparation, the team may be able to provide data extraction & processing services. The team is responsible for the disclosure control process, which governs the release of outputs from the SAIL TRE. The team contributes to the development of SAIL policies and processes, ensuring the safe and appropriate use of SAIL and improving the experiences of SAIL users.
It is essential for projects to engage with the UDSS team at the earliest opportunity, as this will enable the team to assess project feasibility and requirements, and provide the most suitable level of support.
