Building Block View

This section describes the static decomposition of the system components involved in the Access Request Review process. It maps the operational steps from the SIPOC diagram to the underlying technical building blocks that support application intake, conformity validation, ethics review, DAC opinion management, appeals handling, and final approval notification.

Whitebox Overall System

This level describes the main components required to support the access review workflows, including the user-facing application portal, the governance orchestration layer, ethics review capability, and local DAC review systems.

To support the processes shown in the runtime view—such as conformity checks, ethics review, consensus finding, re-dress procedures, and approval or rejection notifications—the system needs modular components that separate user interaction, governance decisions, and review coordination.

Contained Building Blocks

1. User Portal

   • Responsibility: Provides applicants and collaborators with the interface to submit, update, and track access applications. It requests additional details, notifies users about application status, enables appeal and re-dress workflows, and serves as the main contact point for applicants.

2. Access Request Governance

   • Responsibility: Orchestrates the review workflow by receiving submitted applications, managing conformity checks, routing applications to ethics reviewers and DAC approvers, collecting recommendations, and issuing formal approval or rejection decisions. It also resolves deviating opinions and records consensus decisions.

3. Local Access Request Management System

   • Responsibility: Supports national/local DAC review processes by receiving transmitted applications, issuing access opinions and recommendations, and returning local decision outputs to the governance layer for aggregation and final decision-making.

Important Interfaces

• Main Applicant / Collaborator - User Portal: Secure web interface for submitting access applications, correcting rejected applications, requesting clarifications, and receiving status updates.
• User Portal - Access Request Governance: Workflow integration for submitting applications, receiving review status, requesting re-dress, and delivering appeal or approval notifications.
• Access Request Governance - Access Request Reviewer: Interface for performing conformity checks and marking applications as ready for ethics or DAC review.
• Access Request Governance - Ethics Review Capability: Interface for triggering ethics review when required, and for receiving ethics review reports and ethics recommendations.
• Access Request Governance - Local Access Request Management System: Interface for transmitting applications and retrieving access opinions/recommendations from local DAC workflows.
• Access Request Governance - DAC Approvers (1+MG and Local): Workflow interface for gathering access opinions and recommendations, and for invoking formal consensus-based approval or rejection.
• Access Request Governance - User Portal: Notification interface for sending approval/rejection results, project conditions, and appeal responses back to the applicant.

Data Types

Name	Risk Classification	Comments
Data Access Application	Medium	Full application details provided by the main applicant, including proposed research, requested data, roles, and ethical declarations. Managed by the User Portal and Governance layer. It is a package that is forwarded to ethics reviewers and DACs, including any additional documentation or amendments requested during review.
Application Conformity Check Report	Medium	Results of initial validation against submission requirements. Used to identify missing information or non-compliant applications before further review.
Ethics Review Report	High	Outcomes of ethics checks, including identified issues, recommendations, and ethical considerations. Shared with governance and DAC bodies.
Ethics Recommendations	High	Guidance from ethics reviewers on whether to approve, condition, or reject an application based on ethical assessment.
1+MG DAC Access Opinion / Recommendation	High	Central DAC opinion and recommendation for access approval, possibly including conditions or requests for changes.
Local DAC Access Opinion / Recommendation	High	Local or national DAC opinion and recommendation that complements central review and supports cross-jurisdiction consensus.
Approval or Rejection Form	High	Formal decision record issued by governance, including approval, rejection reasons, and any project conditions.
Appeal Form	Medium	Document submitted by the applicant to request reconsideration of a rejected application and initiate the re-dress procedure.
Project Conditions	Medium	Conditions or obligations attached to an approved access request, communicated to the applicant and recorded in governance systems.