Requesting work (outputs) out of the TRE

Owned by Aaron Jackson, created
Last updated: Aug 29, 2024 by Laura Ward
3 min read

Introduction

HIC can be considered as data curators, and on behalf of Data Controllers (e.g. NHS Tayside), we will only release outputs in line with the relevant requirements. We will ensure that no sensitive data is released from the TRE. All files coming out of our TRE are checked to mitigate the risk of identifiable information being released. Your files cannot contain any individual level data. Summary results (or aggregate data) must be at least groups of 5 or more. Below that threshold outputs can become potentially disclosive. Cells with results less than this value must be reported as “<5”.

 

The security restrictions of the TRE create an ‘airlock’ so files cannot be removed from the TRE without going through these disclosure control processes. When you have summary results, reports, or files to be requested out of the TRE, you need to follow these steps. We will review outputs to ensure that they do not contain any information which identifies, or which could be used in conjunction with other data, to identify an individual.

 

Security measures within the TRE will not allow you to export any data, documents or other files from the TRE without going through this process.

 

Lastly, our disclosure control approach is informed by best practice and reviewed regularly in line with our certified data security and confidentality certifications (https://www.dundee.ac.uk/hic/governance-service/data-security-confidentiality ).

 Instructions

Example screenshot showing the egress store within Service Workbench.

Extraction of your files can be requested by copying the files into the appropriate egress folder, and then submitting the request from service workbench (SWB).

  1. Copy your files into the appropriate ‘egress’ or output folder.

    1. Ubuntu: The path will start with /home/ubuntu/studies/egress

    2. Windows: The path will start with D:\egress

  2. Wait a minute or two to ensure everything has synchronised.

  3. From the Service Workbench page, find your workspace and click the Egress Store.

  4. Once you are sure you are happy with your file list, click the “Submit Egress Request” button. This will notify us at HIC and we will check for any risks of disclosure.

Submission of an egress request will automatically open a support ticket on your behalf - you should receive an email within a few minutes. It can be helpful to reply to this email to provide additional information which may make the reviewal process easier. If any output is rejected, you will have the opportunity to demonstrate why the output is safe for release. However, the decision to release any output remains with HIC.

Please note that files should be an open file format, for example a “.csv” rather than “.xlsx”

Expected time lines

Requests are only assessed on week days and may take 1-3 days to be approved for simple file requests (i.e., summary reports, tables etc.). More complex requests such as Artificial Intelligence/ Machine Learning (AI/ML) models may take significantly longer.

AI/ML

AI/ML models pose a new challenge to all TREs. Similarly to when building a model, there is a need to balance the model complexity, interpretability, and required amount of training data; models deployed out of our TRE need to balance privacy and utility. These types of methodologies take us longer to disclosure check.

We may ask you to complete a questionnaire about your AI/ML model, providing a description of variables used, new variables/ measures/ indices created, documentation of datasets and programs used in producing your output. This added documentation will ensure that we have the information needed to process the request. We will ‘attack’ the output model assessing the potential disclosiveness, if you want to read more about the ‘tooling’ available around this please visit - https://dareuk.org.uk/driver-project-sacro/.

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