Data & Accessibility

1. Individuals and organizations who wish to use the IDS will contact OEO with a project proposal.
2. OEO staff will make an initial review of the proposal, identifying any obvious data availability or legal challenges. If it is clear that the requested data may not or cannot be provided in accordance with the proposal as submitted, OEO staff will contact the applicant with suggestions for revision (if possible) or a refusal to fulfill the request with an explanation regarding why the request cannot be fulfilled.
3. When OEO staff has a project proposal that is clear and seemingly permissible, OEO staff will forward the proposal to a Project Review Committee, which is composed of subject matter experts designated by state agencies and educational institutions sending data to the IDS.
4. The Project Review Committee members, upon review of the proposal, may request the applicant provide needed clarification through OEO staff. Once a proposal is clear, the Project Review Committee members will shepherd the request through the relevant program offices, which are units of their respective agencies with the legal responsibility for the administration and oversight of a program such as unemployment insurance or adult education.
5. Agency program offices will process the request and let OEO staff know if they approve or reject the data request. If the program office/offices reject the request, the applicant may revise and resubmit the proposal to OEO staff, restarting the process; choose not to revise the proposal but appeal to the full Project Review Committee, which may ask the opposing agency/agencies to reconsider; or the applicant may opt to not proceed with the project. Even if an applicant appeals or resubmits a revised proposal, it must be approved by all relevant program offices before a data request can be fulfilled.
6. If all the relevant program offices approve a request, OEO will notify the applicant and prepare data use agreements for the applicant to sign and submit to OEO.
7. Once the agreements have been signed, OEO staff will create a secure research workspace in the IDS and provide access to the requested data to the individuals identified in the proposal for the period authorized by the agreements. 
8. Once the analysis is completed, the project team will submit any material intended for publication or release or sharing to the Project Review Committee for statistical disclosure and methodological review. The Project Review Committee reviews research and results, working with the project team as necessary, before authorizing dissemination of results.

Should the state agencies and educational institutions participating in the IDS like to use the IDS for projects that disclose data to each other, they may negotiate and execute data sharing agreements on their own instead of using the above process. Once a signed agreement is submitted to OEO, OEO staff will create a secure research workspace in the IDS and provide access to the requested data to the individuals identified in the agreement for the period authorized by the agreement.