Data use agreement management beyond document storage

The gap between signed agreement and released data

Executed agreements commonly define permitted purpose, recipients, users, environments, fields, populations, retention, transfer, publication, redisclosure, security obligations, and end dates. Those terms often remain trapped in a document while proposed releases are reviewed in email, spreadsheets, tickets, and code.

That separation creates a predictable failure mode: the organization can prove that an agreement exists, but not that the exact payload, user list, and release conditions were checked against the current version before data moved.

One versioned agreement record

Audarel stores the executed document, amendments, document hashes, effective and expiration dates, counterparty, owner, and version history in a tenant-scoped encrypted record. A change creates a new snapshot rather than rewriting the past.

Candidate controls extracted from a PDF, DOC, or DOCX remain explicitly unconfirmed until a steward reviews the source citation and clause. AI accelerates transcription; it does not become the agreement authority.

Make the terms operational

Confirmed controls use typed operators and values so they can be evaluated consistently. A field term becomes an allowlist or requirement. A population term becomes a row predicate. A date becomes an expiry check. Purpose, recipient, environment, and transfer terms compare against the proposed release.

• Permitted and required fields
• Purpose, recipient, environment, and transfer
• Authorized users and institutional pre-authorization
• Maximum retention and access expiration
• Publication and redisclosure
• GA4GH DUO limitations and population constraints

Control amendments without losing history

When an agreement changes, Audarel retains both versions, displays the structured difference, marks prior release decisions stale when necessary, and queues revalidation. Reviewers can see which term changed and compare release runs before approving again.

This is stronger than attaching an amendment to the same folder. The system preserves which agreement version controlled each decision and evidence pack.

Agreement management evaluation questions

A repository may be sufficient if the only job is document retrieval. For operational data sharing, test whether the platform connects each agreement to actual data-use decisions.

• Can it distinguish candidate extraction from confirmed control?
• Does every control retain a clause and source citation?
• Can it model amendments and show structured diffs?
• Will changed terms trigger release revalidation?
• Can reviewers search agreements, owners, counterparties, status, and expiration?
• Can the organization export a complete evidence record on exit?

Confirm requirements against current source material.

Requirements and vendor capabilities change. Confirm the current source and your approved QC plan before changing a production process.

• HHS — Limited Data Set and Data Use Agreement
• ICO Data Sharing Code of Practice