The Open data lifecycle management model for the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, published in 2023, is a description for data administrators of the tasks related to opening and maintaining data and the responsibilities of the data administrator and the HRI service.

The data administrator’s responsibilities and duties

In this context, ‘data administrator’ refers to the party or person responsible for the source system of data (datasets), data resources or data which will be opened within the organisation of a city in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area or an organisation within a city group in these cities.

The Helsinki Region Infoshare service owned by the cities of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area helps the data administrator if needed in all stages of the opening process, as well as in matters related to opening data and using the data catalogue of the HRI service.

Stage 1: Identifying the data to be opened

The data administrator

1. must establish who owns the data to be opened and by whose decision the data can be opened. The administrator must also make sure that no licenses, copyrights, usage fees or other judicial or contractual aspects prevent opening the data.
2. must assess whether the data can be opened as is from the perspective of data protection or general safety, whether it should be anonymised or aggregated, or whether it can be opened at all. In unclear situations, it is important for the administrator to consult a data protection officer, a data security expert and/or the HRI service.
3. should ideally assess the potential overall benefits, risks and costs of opening the data. This assessment can utilise methods such as the one described in the Operating Model for Sharing Data. The administrator should also assess with the HRI service the potential risks of combining datasets together.
4. should assess the quality of the data to be opened. This assessment can utilise criteria such as those of the Data Quality Framework. The quality of the data and any issues can be described in the metadata.
5. must determine a licence for the data to be opened. The rule of thumb is to use a licence that is as open as possible; either Creative Commons BY 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) or Creative Commons 0 (CC0).
6. must decide on the opening of the data and document the technical solution in accordance with the practices of their own organisation. The administrator must commit to updating the content and metadata of the data they have opened at least at the frequency determined in the metadata.
7. must take care of any costs arising from opening and maintaining the data.

Stage 2: Publishing the data as open data

The data administrator

8. must make sure that the data being opened is in a structured format that facilitates reuse – i.e. machine readable (in Finnish) – or modify the data into a structured format. This modification process should be documented and described roughly in the metadata. For example, PDF files or Word documents are not machine readable.
9. must take care of anonymising or aggregating the data if the original data contains elements such as confidential information or personal data. The aggregation process must also take the usability and compatibility of the data into account – the data should be kept as detailed as possible. Instructions (in Finnish) are available for opening survey data.
10. must ensure that the data is openly available. As a rule of thumb, data in a file format is published on the data administrator’s own public server. If necessary, an agreement can be made to use the public server of the HRI service. If data is shared via an applicaton programming interface (API), the API must be freely accessible on a public network and the data must be available for utilisation freely or via a separately provided API key.
11. must appoint a person responsible for maintaining the open data and its metadata.
12. must request an access to use the data catalogue of the HRI service for publishing and maintaining metadata. The access may be requested from the HRI service by email (hri@hel.fi).
13. must enter and publish the metadata of the data being opened in Finnish, English and, where possible, Swedish in the HRI data catalogue. User instructions for the data catalogue (in Finnish) can be found on the HRI website.
14. should ideally announce the opening of the data in cooperation with the HRI service.

Stage 3: Maintaining the open data

The data administrator

15. must ensure that the open data is updated in accordance with the schedule set in the metadata. The update frequency can be one year or one month, for example. If the data is not updated at the update frequency set in the metadata and the data administrator doesn’t react to reminders sent by the HRI service by email (at least two reminders within six months), the HRI service will mark into the metadata that updates to the data have ended.
16. must ensure that the metadata of the open data in the HRI data catalogue is up to date in both Finnish and English, and in Swedish where possible.
17. must assess whether there is a need to announce updates to the open data or its metadata. If there is, the administrator must take care of communication.
18. must announce to the HRI service about any significant changes to the open data or its metadata in advance.
19. must be prepared to answer the questions of those utilising the data.

Stage 4: Concluding the lifecycle of the open data

The data administrator

20. must inform the HRI service as soon as possible if updating or sharing the data is to end and provide grounds for this change.
21. must, at the end of the lifecycle of the data, assess with the HRI service whether the data needs to be preserved in the HRI data catalogue based on the content value of the data.
    • If the data will be available elsewhere, a description of the data will be preserved in the HRI data catalogue and users will be instructed to use the new service.
    • If data opened via an application programming interface (API) will not be available, a description of the programming interface will be preserved in the HRI data catalogue for a year and then removed.
    • If data in a file format only contains a small amount of information and no equivalent data is available elsewhere, the data description will be removed from the HRI data catalogue.
22. must make an entry into the HRI data catalogue indicating that updates to the data are to end or have ended.
    • If the data will be available elsewhere, this information and a link to the new service must be added to the metadata.
    • If the data is to be removed, the HRI service will remove it.
23. must assess whether there is a need to announce that updating or sharing the data will end. If there is, the administrator must take care of communication.
24. must be prepared to answer the questions of those utilising the data.

Responsibilities and duties of the Helsinki Region Infoshare service

‘Helsinki Region Infoshare (HRI)’ refers to the joint hri.fi online service of the cities of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area and the City of Helsinki’s employees who administrate the hri.fi online service, help data administrators with identifying and publishing data to be opened, and promote the utilisation of open data.

Additionally, the Cities of Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen, as well as HSY and HSL, have their own open data contact persons who help their own organisation with the opening of data.

The HRI service helps the data administrator if needed in all stages of the opening process, as well as in matters related to opening data and use of the data catalogue of the HRI service.

Stage 1: Identifying the data to be opened

The HRI service

1. will make sure that the data meets the criteria for open data and the data administrator is covered by the HRI service (Cities of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area and their enterprises, joint municipal authorities, etc.).
2. will help the data administrator assess whether the data can be opened as is or at all from the perspective of data protection or general safety, or whether it should be anonymised or aggregated. In unclear situations, it is important to also consult data protection officer and / or data security expert of the party concerned’s.
3. will help the data administrator assess the quality of the data to be opened, as well as the benefits and costs of opening the data.
4. will help the data administrator identify standards and other procedures related to the opening of data.

Stage 2: Publishing the data as open data

The HRI service

5. will help the data administrator ensure that the data being opened is in a machine readable, structured format and provide instructions on how the data can be modified into a structured format.
6. will help the data administrator with anonymising or aggregating the data if the original data contains elements such as confidential information or personal data. Instructions (in Finnish) are available for opening survey data.
7. will provide the data administrator with public server space for publishing data that is in a file format, if needed.
8. will, upon request, grant the data administrator the access to the data catalogue of the HRI service for publishing and maintaining metadata. HRI will also provide instructions for and help with using the data catalogue. Access rights may be requested from the HRI service by email (hri@hel.fi).
9. will help the data administrator with describing the data being opened in the HRI data catalogue and check the consistency of the metadata. User instructions (in Finnish) for the data catalogue can be found on the HRI website.
10. will make a note of the person responsible for maintaining the data opened in the HRI service and its metadata.
11. will announce the opening of the data in cooperation with the data administrator. HRI will communicate via its own channels and networks, and at various events.

Stage 3: Maintaining the open data

The HRI service

12. will monitor and ensure on a monthly basis that the opened data is updated within the schedule given in the metadata, and that the metadata is consistent. If the data is not updated at the determined update frequency and the data administrator doesn’t react to reminders sent by the HRI service by email (at least two reminders within six months), the HRI service will contact the relevant member of the HRI steering group and make an entry into the system indicating that updates to the data have ended.
13. will collaborate with the data administrator to assess whether there is a need to announce updates to the open data or its metadata. If there is, the HRI service will communicate about the matter as agreed with the data administrator.
14. will forward any questions and feedback regarding the open data to the data administrator.

Stage 4: Concluding the lifecycle of the open data

The HRI service

15. will, at the end of the lifecycle of the data, assess with the data administrator whether the data needs to be preserved in the HRI data catalogue based on the content value of the data.
    • If the data will be available elsewhere, a description of the data will be preserved in the HRI data catalogue and users will be instructed to use the new service.
    • If data opened via a programming interface will not be available, a description of the programming interface will be preserved in the HRI data catalogue for a year and then removed.
    • If data in a file format only contains a small amount of information and no equivalent data is available elsewhere, the data description will be removed from the HRI data catalogue. The HRI service will take care of removing the data.
16. will monitor and ensure that the data administrator makes an entry into the HRI system regarding the end of updates to the data.
17. will assess together with the data administrator whether there is a need to announce that updating or sharing the data will end. If there is, the HRI service will communicate about the matter as agreed with the data administrator.
18. will forward any questions regarding the data to the data administrator.
19. will take care of user management with regard to the HRI data catalogue.

Conclusion

The table summarizes the responsibilities and tasks of the data administrator and the Helsinki Region Infoshare service according to the Helsinki Region’s open data lifecycle management model.