Skip to content

📑 Best Practices — Requesting Yoda Space

Overview

This guide is part of A-LIFE RDM GEMs → Guides.

This document provides best practices for completing the metadata fields in the Request Yoda Space form.

Supporting materials: Getting Started with Yoda
Authors: Irene Martorelli, Brett Olivier — Last modification: 2026-06-22 — Version: 0.4.1

📋 List of Metadata Fields of the Request Storage Form

This list follows the order as found in the form. The metadata fields listed here are based on the Request Storage Form accessed on 2026-01-30.

❗ Please ensure all mandatory fields are completed, and double-check free-text fields for typos before submitting.

Register ticket on behalf of

Metadata

Definition: The person for whom the Yoda storage space is being requested.
Type: Mandatory

  1. Provide the complete Given Name and Family Name of the person requesting space.
  2. If affiliated with VU, suggestions will appear as you type — select your name from the list.

Project Owner

Metadata

Definition: The person responsible for the project and its data.
Type: Mandatory

  1. Provide the complete Given Name and Family Name of the Project Owner.
  2. This is usually the Principal Investigator (PI) or head of the group responsible for the project and its funding.
  3. The Project Owner is the administrator of the storage space and can add and assign permissions to other users.
  4. If affiliated with VU, suggestions will appear as you type.

Project Owner ORCID

Metadata

Definition: The ORCID persistent identifier of the Project Owner.
Type: Recommended

  1. Insert the complete 16-digit identifier with hyphens every 4 digits: 0000-0000-0000-0001.
  2. The field does not accept ORCIDs in URL form (e.g. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3929-0423 will raise an error).
  3. The field accepts X as a last digit (e.g. 0000-0003-3674-598X).
  4. Avoid using the letter O instead of the digit 0.
  5. Do not add trailing spaces — these will raise an error.

Warning

Make sure there are no spaces after the ORCID.
ORCID warning

Will the project owner also manage the data in Yoda?

  1. Yes — the Project Owner and Project Manager are the same person.
  2. No — a separate Project Manager field will appear and must be completed.

Project Manager

Metadata

Definition: The person directly involved in managing the data in the Yoda storage space.
Type: Mandatory (only if delegated)

  1. Provide the complete Given Name and Family Name.
  2. The Project Manager will be made Group Manager in Yoda with the same admin permissions as the Project Owner.

Project Manager ORCID

Metadata

Definition: The ORCID persistent identifier of the Project Manager.
Type: Recommended

  1. Same rules as Project Owner ORCID.

Further reading

Curious about how ORCID identifiers are structured? See Structure of ORCID Identifiers by Geoffrey Bilder.1

What is the name of the project?

Metadata

Definition: Title and description of the project.
Type: Mandatory

  1. Provide the complete title of the project and relevant information.
  2. Treat it as a short abstract — include relevant keywords, affiliation if applicable.

Project Abbreviation

Metadata

Definition: The short name used as the root folder name in Yoda.
Type: Mandatory

  1. Should not exceed 40 characters.
  2. Use hyphens (-) to separate keywords.
  3. Use lowercase letters and numbers only — avoid special characters (~ ! @ # $ & % ^ * |).
  4. Use a recognisable name, e.g. salt-lakes-project or alien-variant-proteins.

A-LIFE prefix in the names

For A-LIFE researchers, your Yoda project folder will have the prefix research-beta-alife- added automatically. For example, if you decide to call your project space salt-lakes-project, then the path for your project folder becomes research-beta-alife-salt-lakes-project.

Faculty

Metadata

Definition: The faculty division at VU to which this project belongs.
Type: Mandatory

  1. Select one faculty from the list (names are in Dutch).
  2. For A-LIFE, select Faculteit der Bètawetenschappen — type BET to find it quickly.

Department

Metadata

Definition: The department within the faculty.
Type: Mandatory

  1. For A-LIFE, select Amsterdam Institute for Life and Environment.
  2. Start typing Ams (not A-LI or ALI) to find it in the list.

Affiliate department or research institute

Metadata

Definition: The research institute name.
Type: Mandatory

  1. For A-LIFE, select Amsterdam Institute for Life and Environment | beta-alife.
  2. Type ali or ALI to find it (unlike the Department field, this works here).

Budget number type

Metadata

Definition: The fund type responsible for reporting the project.
Type: Mandatory

  1. Select Cost center or WBS-Element.
  2. Your Budget holder can tell you which type and number applies to your project.

Budget holder

Metadata

Definition: The person managing the project budget.
Type: Recommended

  1. Contact your Budget holder if you are unsure of the budget number type or fund number.

Project end date

Metadata

Definition: The estimated date by which the project will be completed.
Type: Recommended

  1. Use the format DD-MM-YYYY.
  2. This can usually be found in your grant documentation.
  3. This field is not controlled, so make sure that the date inserted is not in the past.

Are you storing sensitive data?

Metadata

Definition: Whether the data contains personal or sensitive information.
Type: Recommended

  1. Default is No. Select Yes if the data is sensitive.
  2. When Yes is selected, specify the type: identifiable personal data, copyrighted data, confidential data, or anonymised personal data.

Not sure how to classify your data?

Use the VU Basic Research Data Classification Tool.

Have you contacted a Data Steward / Privacy Champion?

Metadata

Definition: Whether a data expert has been consulted.
Type: Mandatory

  1. Select Yes if you have already contacted a Data Steward or Privacy Champion.
  2. If not, contact the A-LIFE RDM team before submitting.

Storage volume required

Metadata

Definition: Estimated volume of data to be stored.
Type: Mandatory

  1. Provide a realistic estimate of the total data volume for the project.
  2. For more information on storage costs, see the VU Storage Cost Model.

What are the costs for active storage in Yoda?

Volume Active storage cost
0 – 500 GB Free (covered by VU)
501 GB – 1 TB €200 per TB per year
1 TB – 2 TB €250 per TB per year
> 2 TB Not covered — contact RDM support

Do you expect to archive (part of) the data in Yoda?

Metadata

Definition: Indication of intended use of the Yoda space.
Type: Recommended

  1. Select Yes if you expect to archive data in Yoda.
  2. Select No if you plan to use Yoda as active storage only.
  3. Select Maybe if you are not yet sure.

Do you expect to publish (part of) the data in Yoda?

Metadata

Definition: Indication of whether data will be published.
Type: Recommended

  1. Select Yes if you plan to publish data in Yoda.
  2. Select No if data will not be published.

Yoda usage agreement

Metadata

Definition: Agreement to iRODS/Yoda Terms of Use.
Type: Mandatory

  1. Check the I agree box before submitting.
  2. Read the Yoda Terms of Use (version 1.0.0) before agreeing.

Yoda Intake — Would you like someone to contact you?

Metadata

Definition: Request for onboarding support.
Type: Optional

  1. Select No if you do not need help getting started.
  2. Select Yes to schedule an intake session.

Recommendation for A-LIFE researchers

We recommend selecting No here and contacting the A-LIFE RDM team directly — they can provide more targeted support than the faculty-level intake.

Additional information

Metadata

Definition: Free-text field for any extra remarks.
Type: Optional

  1. Use this field for any comments or project-specific information the RDM support team should be aware of.
  2. You may also attach relevant documents to the form.

  1. Structure of the ORCID Identifier, Geoffrey Bilder — view document ↩