A project folder is a specific amount of storage available as a folder in your Research Drive instance.
It has the following characteristics:
- It has a quota
- It has a Project Folder Owner
- All data in the folder is administered by that Project Folder Owner
- It is part of a contract
After creation the project folder is only visible to the user with the Project Folder Owner role. This user can share the folder or subfolders as needed with any other Research Drive user or external user or via a public link.
Purpose
Project folders are a way of organising data. Every project has a quota, and a Project Folder Owner who can grant access to groups and users.
The reason for this is simple; people move in and out, but projects generally persist for a longer period of time. By using project folders the data is not linked to a specific individual.
Additionally, billing becomes easier because you can set quota per project, for example when an internal billing system bills per usage on a project basis.
Roles
A user with the Contract Admin role can:
- Create new and manage existing project folders
- Set the quote of a project folder
- Assign the Project Folder Owner role to a user
By default, a contract admin cannot see the contents of any project folder. The Project Folder Owner must first share the folder with this user.
A user with the Project Folder Owner role can:
- Manage all data inside a project folder
- Share folders with other users
A point about datastewards
It is not (yet) possible to assign multiple Project Folder Owners to a project.
Guides
Project folder management via the Research Drive Dashboard: