Facilitating the USGS Scientific Data Management Foundation by integrating the process into current scientific workflow systems

Accomplishments

• The explicit data management steps required to archive and document a workflow created with VisTrails/SAHM were identified and documented.
• The existing VisTrails/SAHM source code was extended to include tools to automate the steps in this process (fig. 13), such as
  • making clean copies of the relevant data files needed to reproduce the workflow, as well as the core outputs to create a self-contained archive bundle of the workflow’s outputs;
  • using the MetadataWizard, now integrated directly into VisTrails/SAHM, to create FGDC-compliant metadata for the archive bundle (fig. 14); and
  • moving the completed archive bundle to ScienceBase and using the archive bundle’s metadata to populate the item (fig. 15).
• The software and data management workflow were tested by a data manager at the USGS Fort Collins Science Center (FORT).
• The software is currently being used by FORT scientists to document a data release associated with a new publication.  Contingent on the results of this test case, the team hopes to release the tool for wider, more comprehensive testing in the fall of 2016.