This guide is intended for Qvain Admin Users in organizations (Qvain Admin, Metadata Admin). In this guide, the term Admin is used for the Qvain Admin User.
Admins have extended permissions for managing dataset metadata within their own organization. Basic functions—such as creating datasets, adding metadata, and publishing—are the same as for regular users. These are described in the Qvain user guide.
This guide focuses only on features and views available exclusively to Admins.
Assigning Admins
- Each organization appoints its own Admin users
- List of Admin users
- When creating metadata in Qvain, the creator selects which organization’s Admins will have Admin rights to the dataset
- All Admins of the selected organization receive the same permissions
Admin Permissions
Compared to regular users, Admins have the following additional rights:
- Can view all dataset metadata within their organization, regardless of who created it
- Can edit metadata even when it is in Draft status
- Can correct, complete and change metadata before or after publication
- Can modify dataset access type and control whether file-level metadata (e.g. folder structure and filenames) is visible in Etsin
- Can publish or withdraw (mark as removed) datasets on behalf of other users
Limitations of Admin Permissions
Admins can only manage metadata and how IDA-stored data is shown in Etsin but by default they cannot access the data itself. They must be members of the relevant CSC project to access or attach IDA data. Admins can edit file-level metadata in Qvain but cannot add or remove IDA data without project membership.
Exception: This does not apply to remote datasets, where data is linked via URLs. These links are part of the metadata and can be freely edited.
Selecting the Admin Organization for the dataset
The organization whose Admins receive the Admin rights is selected during dataset creation.
- Qvain suggests the user’s home organization by default
- The user can change it if needed
- The organization is mandatory when:
- the user belongs to a Finnish higher education institution or national research institute
- or when describing data stored in IDA
Both the user and Admin can change the organization if needed.
🔹 Note: Changing the organization changes which Admins have rights, so if Admin changes the organization, they may lose the visibility to the dataset themselves.
If changes are made to a published dataset and saved as a draft, the organization cannot be changed at the same time. The organization can only be changed when the changes are published (a draft created from a published dataset cannot have a different Admin organization than its published version).
Managing Organization’s Datasets
Dataset Listings
When an Admin logs into Qvain, two lists are available:
- Own and shared datasets
- Same as for regular users
- Includes datasets created by the user or shared with them
- Qvain Admin datasets
- Includes all datasets in the organization, including drafts
Datasets can be sorted or filtered by:
- Title (alphabetically)
- Status (Draft / Published)
- Creator
- Date (creation date)
Editing Dataset Metadata
The Admin can edit the metadata of any dataset within their organization by clicking the dataset name in the list.
The dataset metadata view opens in the same way as for regular end users, and the Admin can modify all fields (except for adding/removing data stored in IDA, if the Admin does not have personal project membership in the CSC project containing that data). The Admin can also publish the dataset on behalf of another user.
The Admin can create new versions, but must take into account the limitations related to attaching IDA-stored data if they do not have project membership (see above). In such cases, it is recommended to save the new version as a draft, allowing project members to edit the associated data (after publication, versioning rules prevent modification of attached data).
The Admin can, if necessary, mark any dataset metadata in their organization as removed (e.g. in case of an incorrect publication). After being marked as removed, the dataset metadata will no longer appear in Qvain dataset listings for any users, including the original creator, and the metadata can no longer be edited. (The dataset landing page will still be visible in Etsin and will indicate that the dataset has been removed, but any data stored in IDA and linked to the dataset will no longer be accessible via Etsin.)
Change Log (Coming Soon – Not Yet Available)
The Change Log lists all metadata changes.
It includes:
- timestamp
- user
- modified field
- old and new values
The Change Log provides transparency into the dataset’s edit history for both Admins and end users.
It helps track what changes have been made, when, and by whom—especially when multiple people are working on the same metadata.
🔹 Tip: End users can also see changes made by Admins in the Change Log and can review how the metadata has been modified if needed.
Use Cases for Admins
When a user needs help correcting a dataset
→ The Admin can open the user’s draft, make the necessary corrections, and save the changes. The user will see the updates in their own view.
When urgent publication is needed
→ If the user is unable to publish the dataset themselves, the Admin can publish it on their behalf.
When a dataset is incorrect
→ The Admin can mark the dataset as removed entirely, or correct erroneous metadata to prevent incorrect information from being displayed in Etsin.
🔹 Note: Marking a dataset as removed does not completely delete its metadata from Etsin. The landing page (the so-called tombstone page) remains accessible via a persistent identifier, but any data stored in IDA and linked to the metadata is no longer available through Etsin. If metadata needs to be corrected, this must be done before marking the dataset as removed, as metadata can no longer be edited after removal.
Completing References and Identifiers
→ Admins can enrich metadata using reference lists
🔹 Best practice: Always use existing reference data and identifiers.
This improves: discoverability, interoperability and data quality.
In some datasets, for example, organization information may have been stored as a name only, without an identifier. The Admin can complete such information by selecting the relevant organizations from a predefined reference list, which assigns an official organization identifier. This ensures that the dataset is correctly linked across other services, such as Tiedejatutkimus.fi.
Best Practices for Admins
- Make changes to other users’ datasets only when necessary and document the actions taken (e.g. in internal guidelines or a shared form).
- Before publishing, ensure that the dataset metadata is complete, meets the required standards, and that the dataset is considered ready for publication by its creators.
- Do not change the data access type, authorship information, or licenses without the consent of the dataset owner.
- Keep the organization’s Admin user list up to date to ensure coordinated maintenance.
Additional Information and Support
- End-user guide: Qvain user guide
- Fairdata support: fairdata@csc.fi (Changes to the organization’s Admin users can also be requested through the Support)