Request Data

MPH utilizes the intake responses to determine if the use case is viable and has potential to be fulfilled by the agency, barring necessary approvals and agreements. If yes, MPH engages the requester to begin gathering additional requirements. If no, MPH will direct the requester to the appropriate process or location.

Following requirements gathering, MPH initiates an internal review to confirm necessary regulatory considerations (i.e. HIPAA, FERPA, CJIS, etc.); further vet feasibility; conduct a pre-emptive legal review, as necessary; and confirm access to the requested data.

If it is determined that additional regulatory considerations are applicable, the necessary information will be routed to the agency responsible for providing approval.

Barring or following the completion of any regulatory considerations, MPH develops a project charter outlining the project details and the specific data elements requested. The charter is circulated for review and approval by the agencies with data involved. The charter is an internal document that is not provided to the requester, rather it is used for internal approvals from partner agencies as the data owners.

If the requester is contributing data, MPH will execute a Contributing DSA with the requester to receive that data. Once executed, MPH will coordinate the receipt of the contributed data.

Once the charter is signed by all parties and the Contributing DSA (if necessary) is executed, data development begins internally. If data are being contributed, data ingestion will occur at this time as well.

Once the data product is developed, it is reviewed by the MPH Data Review Team (DRT). DRT may request changes to reduce granularity and/or risk of re-identification. Once DRT has approved the data product, if aggregated and allowable for public-release, the data is provided directly via SFTP. If row-level, a Requester DSA is executed between MPH and the Requestor.

Once the Requester DSA is executed, the data is placed in the Enhanced Research Environment (ERE) for analysis, unless an alternative location has been vetted and approved by MPH legal and the data-owning agencies. Account provisioning will begin for individuals named within the DSA for data-access and analysis within the ERE.