The Case for XCIP: Bridging User and Data Provider Expectations in Research Infrastructures

Abstract

Data integration services are of utmost importance in research data infrastructures like the NFDI, enabling the harmonization of diverse data sources. While significant progress has been made in automatic schema mapping and protocol development, non-functional requirements play a vital role in ensuring fair and transparent collaboration between data infrastructures and providers. Key non-functional requirements include access control, resource usage limitations, quota tracking, and usage statistics reporting. These are crucial for maintaining provider trust and data integrity. For instance, access control ensures that only authorized users can access sensitive data, while usage statistics allow providers to track the impact of their contributions. Balancing these requirements with user experience presents a challenge. End-users expect scalable and fast data access without noticeable restrictions, necessitating a solution that addresses both provider needs and user expectations. To address this challenge, we present the XCIP (eXchange Component for Infrastructure Providers), a novel exchange component designed to facilitate connection and communication between data infrastructures and providers, which builds upon our previous work, the SDExL (Spatiotemporal Data Exchange Layer). XCIP not only addresses non-functional requirements but also introduces innovative mechanisms for data caching and access optimization. These features enhance data accessibility for end-users while maintaining transparency, effectively bridging the gap between provider requirements and user expectations. This paper details the design of XCIP, demonstrating how it addresses non-functional requirements while simultaneously improving the end-user experience through transparent data caching and statistics collection