Glossary
This page lists key concepts and terminology related to the PEP system, and provides concise descriptions of each term. Follow hyperlinks to find out more.
| Concept | Abbreviation | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Access Administrator | AA | The PEP role responsible for data access management and assignment of users to user groups. Users with this role are called "access administrators". Not to be confused with the "Access Manager" service. |
| Access Manager | AM | The PEP service responsible for data access authorization. AM cooperates with the Transcryptor (TS) service to issue data access tickets. Not to be confused with the "Access Administrator" role. |
| Access Rules | AR | Rules describing access, read, and write permissions of User Groups to Data Subject Groups and Column Groups. |
| Application Programming Interface | API | The set of (primitive) operations that a software system provides. Raw API operations are intended for use from programming languages, allowing programs to be written that provide users with a simpler and/or more expressive level of interaction with the system. |
| authorization | Determining whether a user is allowed to perform certain actions in a software system. | |
| authentication | The act of proving a user's identity to a software system. | |
| Authentication Server | AS | A server involved in PEP's access control mechanism. AS takes an externally provided identity as input and produces an OAuth token as output. |
| blending | The combination of several data sets into a single, larger data set. | |
| Castor | An Electronic Data Capturing (EDC) system that PEP integrates with. | |
| cell | The intersection of a column and a row, usable to store a single piece of data associated with a single participant. | |
| Cell Metadata | Each Cell Version can have Cell Metadata (for that Cell Version, the most precise name would be Cell Version Metadata). Data that describes the data, and can be made accessible to Users that do not have access to the cell contents. Cell Metadata for example can contain information about a file extension, or tell whether a Cell Version exists at all. | |
| clinical research form | CRF | A facility for the entry of (clinical research) data on study subjects. CRFs are commonly filled out by assessors during participant visits to a research center. Contrast with surveys. |
| Column | A data structuring primitive associated with a single type of data, or with a single measurement. Columns are referred to by their names. | |
| Column Group | A named set of columns that can be used as a basis for data access management. | |
| command line interface | CLI | A facility to interact with computer software by means of textual input and output. Contrast with GUI, which provides an image-based interface. PEP's main CLI utility is called pepcli. |
| Data Administrator | DA | The PEP role responsible for data structuring and management. Users with this role are called "data administrators". |
| derived data | Data that is generated from (analysis of) data retrieved from PEP. Researchers that create derived data can contribute them back to PEP by uploading them, using the pseudonyms that the researcher received at the time of download. | |
| device | An instrument or apparatus that collects data to be stored by PEP. The term is commonly used to refer to wearable devices (such as smart watches) that collect biometric data. | |
| download | As a verb: the act of retrieving data from PEP. As a noun: a data set that has been retrieved from PEP. | |
| Electronic Data Capturing system | EDC | (Third-party) software used to collect and store data, e.g. from academic research study subjects. PEP provides out-of-the-box integration with the Castor EDC. |
| ElGamal encryption | The cryptographic algorithm used as a basis for PEP's polymorphism. | |
| encryption | A technique to make information readable only to parties that are in possession of an associated secret. Also see "polymorphic encryption". | |
| enrollment | Providing a user (or other party) with the cryptographic materials required to perform actions in the PEP system. | |
| graphical user interface | GUI | An image-based facility enabling users to perform tasks on a computer. Contrast with CLI, which provides a text-based interface. PEP's main GUI application is pepAssessor. |
| identifier | ID | A piece of information that uniquely denotes a single piece of data. The polymorphic pseudonym (PP) is PEP's primary identifier type for rows. |
| Key Server | KS | A server involved in PEP's access control mechanism. KS takes an OAuth token as input and produces enrollment data as output. |
| Local Pseudonym | LP | A row identifier that is unique to a Pseudonymisation Domain. Different Pseudonymisation Domains use different local pseudonyms to refer to the same row. |
| OAuth | A technical standard related to access control. PEP's OAuth tokens allow parties to enroll with the system. | |
| Origin ID | A fixed identifier associated with a single PEP row in the data source environment. Origin IDs are (a.o.) used to create new rows in PEP and stored in the ParticipantIdentifier column of the repository. | |
| pepAssessor | A GUI application used for the registration, lookup and management of (academic research) subjects whose data are stored in PEP. Primarily intended for use by research assessors. | |
| pepcli | A CLI utility providing access to the PEP system. | |
| pepLogon | A CLI utility that allows a user to log on interactively, after which it saves enrollment data to file. The saved enrollment data can then be (re-)used by other applications, such as pepcli. |
|
| polymorphic encryption | (Re-)encrypting data for different recipients without gaining access to the unencrypted data in the process. | |
| Polymorphic Encryption and Pseudonymisation | PEP | A software system geared toward secure, confidential and privacy-preserving data storage and dissemination. |
| polymorphic pseudonym | PP | A row identifier that is partially randomized. While any PP refers to a single row, a row is not uniquely associated with a single PP. |
| polymorphism | The property of the same information taking different forms in different contexts. PEP provides polymorphism for (participant) pseudonyms and for data encryption. | |
| pseudonym | An identifier that uniquely denotes data, but is not otherwise associated with a real-world entity. Pseudonyms are applied to allow data manipulation without needing to divulge sensitive (e.g. personally identifying) information. | |
| Pseudonymisation Domain | A group in which all User Groups use the same set of Local Pseudonyms. By default, each User Group has their own Pseudoymisation Domain | |
| pseudonymisation | The application of pseudonyms to data, making it difficult or impossible to associate information with a particular person or real-world entity. | |
| Reference ID | Static identifiers to connect external data to records in PEP, unique for every external source or application. Usually these are non-digital specimens such as biosamples taken during medical research. The identifier is stored in PEP, allowing the external specimen to be associated with the PEP row. Reference ID's are typically shared with/used by different User Groups (e.g. Uploaders) than the User Group that issued the ID's (e.g. Research Assessors). | |
| registration | The addition of a new row to PEP in such a way that certain cells are initialized with appropriate data. Participants are usually registered using the pepAssessor application. |
|
| Registration Server | RS | A server that can add new rows to PEP, initializing the row's cells to appropriate values. In particular, RS can ensure that participants have a full set of unique reference ID's, and that associated EDC records are created as needed. It also keeps a backup of reference ID values for recovery in the event of catastrophic data loss. |
| Research Assessor | assessor or RA | A person that takes measurements from (academic research) subjects. The pepAssessor application is primarily aimed at this type of user. |
| row | A data structuring primitive associated with a single entity or data subject. Rows are referred to by their identifiers. The term "participant" is sometimes used as a synonym. | |
| Storage Facility | SF | The PEP server responsible for data storage and retrieval. SF may delegate raw (bulk) storage handling to other (e.g. third party and/or cloud) storage services. |
| Structure Metadata | Metadata on anything else then a Cell Version. For example Metadata for Columns or Column Groups or (Data) Subject Groups. | |
| (Data) Subject | A person/subject in the data set, for example a study participant. The term is commonly used in PEP software and documentation as a synonym for a Data Row. | |
| (Data) Subject Group | A named set of rows that can be used as a basis for data access management. | |
| survey | A set of questions intended to be filled out by (research study) participants themselves. Contrast with clinical research forms (CRFs). | |
| table | The conceptual structure of PEP's storage, in which rows refer to data entries (participants or subjects) and columns to different types of data (or separate measurements). | |
| ticket | Proof of authorization to access specific data stored in PEP. Issued by (a combination of) Access Manager and Transcryptor, users must present their tickets to Storage Facility to gain access to data. | |
| Transcryptor | TS | A PEP service that cooperates with Access Manager (AM) to issue data access tickets. |
| upload | The act of storing data in PEP. | |
| user | A person or party that interacts with the PEP software. | |
| user interface | UI | A facility enabling users to perform tasks on a computer. Although UI types include both command line interfaces (CLIs) and graphical user interfaces (GUIs), the term "UI" is often used as a synonym for "GUI". |
| User Group | A named group of users that can be authorized for specific actions. |
Glossary features under development
The Design Document references terminology of features that are under development and not yet part of the stable releases. These features are listed here.
| Concept | Part of feature | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Access Version | [1] | A version of the set of Access Rules a User Group has access to. This version is defined by a Access Rules Timestamp. The Access Version is maintained by the Access Manager. The Access Version also refers to a Data Version |
| Access Version Identifier | [1] | (see Version Names) |
| Access Version Timestamp | [1] | A timestamp that defines which Access Rules (which vary through time) are part of the Access Version |
| Data Version | [1] | The Data Version defines the set of Cell Versions a User Group may access within the allowed Access Rules, based on a Data Version Timestamp which decides what Cell Versions to use. The Data Version is referred to by the Access Version. The Data Version is managed by the Data Administrator. |
| Data Version Identifier | [1] | (see Version Names) |
| Data Version Timestamp | [1] | A timestamp used by the Data Version which defines which cross section of Cell Versions are part of the version |
| Version Names | [1] | To improve readability, the Access Version and the Data Version are referred to by this identifying semantic (user defined) name, resp. the Access Version Identifier and the Data Version Identifier |
New features references:
- [1] Download permission bound by timestamp
Legacy / Old terminology
Over the years, some concepts were given suboptimal names and have later been renamed to better suit their purpose.
| Old (deprecated) name | New name | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Access Group | User Group | |
| Data Card | Cell Version | |
| Metadata | Cell Metadata | In previous releases, Cell Metadata was the only sort of metadata that was implemented. Recently, so called Structure Metadata has been added, allowing to add e.g. metadata for Columns, ParticipantGroups and other 'structures'. |
| Participant | (Data) Subject | |
| Participant Alias | Brief Local Pseudonym | |
| Participant ID | Origin ID | (the column called ParticipantIdentifier remains in use) |
| Participant Group | (Data) Subject Group | |
| PEP ID | Origin ID | |
| Pseudonymisation Namespace | (Pseudonymisation) Domain | |
| Role | User Group | The word role can still be relevant for a type of function in an organisation, but not as a synonym for User Group |
| Short Pseudonym | Reference ID | |
| User Pseudonym | Local Pseudonym (for user ...) |